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Chapter Text

Pain rippled through Childe as he tried to come to consciousness. His body ached and burned, both from his foul legacy and the All Devouring Narwhals attacks. Primordial seawater had seeped into his wounds and while he wasn’t Fontainian and thus not at risk of becoming sea water sludge, his wounds still stung. Almost like he poured firewater directly into them. And he has had to do that before. He felt himself being to drift away from consciousness from the pain. His head swam as he tried to breach the surface of his mind and reenter the waking world. His lungs began to burn from lack of oxygen, only further muddying the dark waters of his mind. 

Desperate to breathe again, Childe tried to take a deep breath only to immediately feel water clogging and filling up his lungs. Through pure instinct did he turn onto his side and hack up some of that archon-damned water. He peeled his eyes open as he heaved and shuddered his way through breathing again. His lungs protested at the movement as his newly reshaped and broken ribs pushed against them the wrong way. As he regained his senses he watched the dark area he was in slowly begin to clear and make sense. 

He was in a cave, illuminated by some kind of glowing moss. Great, he could be anywhere in Teyvat or even the Abyss. He quickly dismissed the latter however as the lack of abyssal energy from the area around him became clear. In fact, the only abyssal energy he could feel was from himself. Usually he could always feel the abyss scratching to get into his mind but for now it was silent. Slowly, he pushed himself up, his head protesting the movement. But Childe was anything if not stubborn, constantly pushing his body to its limits. Like being in his foul legacy form for…who knows how long. It felt like years but it could have been only a few days or months in the real world. You could never trust the passage of time in places like the abyss or the pseudo abyss-primordial seawater place. He glanced at the sparkling puddle of the water that teasingly glittered up at him. If he could, he would beat the shit out of it, but he couldn’t because it was water. Most water you couldn’t kill. He supposed that when he got out of this place if he was still angry by the existence of water then he couldn’t destroy some hydro eidolons. But maybe after a small break from fighting. Especially after his last fight. 

Fighting the whale was not fun in the long run. Sure he enjoyed fighting and at first greatly enjoyed the challenge, but after a while it became boring and it had hit him that he would probably die to it. So he went all out and let foul legacy run rampant, far more than he had ever dared since he had left the abyss, even when his body began to feel like it was actively ripping apart. Childe was quite shocked that he lasted as long as he had. The last thing he remembered was hitting the All Devouring Narwhal with a large blast of electro from his delusion before it exploded and he got sent hurtling backwards and was knocked out. 

MY DELUSION! 

 He quickly, much to the displeasure of his body, reached for where his delusion normally was. It was gone. No surprise, he had felt the thing disintegrate as the rest of its power exploded. He could only hope it did a good chunk of damage to the monster. So now he was without his delusion, vision, and only had foul legacy to rely on. Considering that he could barely move, it didn’t look good. 

Childe sighed and tried to push his hair out of his eyes. His forehead erupted with pain and he hissed, pulling his hand away from his head. Now focusing on his hand in the dim lighting he felt his heart drop. Turns out being in his foul legacy had done more damage than he thought. His nails now looked closer to claws and were the near black of his armor in that form. From there it went from that to the dark purple galaxy of the abyss until it faded into his upper forearm which thankfully appeared to be the same as his arm from before. It was quite similar to his master's arms and legs. Taking a deep breath, Childe carefully touched his forehead and shuddered as he felt two horns sprouting from his forehead, the same place that the horns of his foul legacy mask were. However they felt much smaller and were more like nubs then the large twirling horns. 

He tried not to freak out and instead reason with himself. It wasn’t that bad, all he had to do was commission a headpiece or new mask that would make the horns look like they were fake and as for the claws he could just take a note from Arlenchinos outfit and make them appear to be gloves. He needed a new outfit anyway if the tattered, barely held together state of his current outfit meant anything. Yes, that could work. He would just have to be careful with them around his family. His family.

Childe felt his heart get heavy and his eyes water at the thought of his family. Did they think he was dead? Gone for good now? He didn’t want to imagine how Tuecer, Anthon, and Tonia would react to hearing about his death. Tonia knew what his actual job was and would understand but the other two were so young. Would their parents lie to them still or finally tell the truth? He didn’t know what was worse. 

“No, don’t think like that. I’m sure the Tsaritsa is acting like I’m still in jail and managing this. I’ll just get out of here and get back to Snezhnaya. That’s a good plan, get back and damage control from there.” The harbinger slowly stood up on shaking legs and stumbled over to the tunnel leading away from the small cave he woke up in. 

He braced himself against the rock wall as he began his walk. The stones were sharp and dug into his side as he dragged himself along its length. It didn’t bother his hands, seemingly toughened with their transformation. The walls began to curve and weave randomly as Childe lost track of time in the depths of the earth. The glowing moss had long since disappeared but he found he didn’t need it. His eyes had gotten better at seeing in the dark as well. Hopefully they didn’t look any different from their previous dead look. 

He attempted to shut down his spiraling thoughts to focus on getting out of the underground maze he was in. For all he knew he could be in one of those cave systems that never reach the surface. Childe could somewhat remember Zhongli had talked about how caves such as that were dangerous since no one knew they were there and if someone fell down into them they would surely perish. 

“There was once a large issue due to those caves back before the chasm was as excavated as it is today. Workers or an overly ambitious adventurer would leave out for the hills and never return. Their bodies would be found occasionally stuck in tiny fissures or broken from falling from a great height. You should always be careful around caves Childe, I would hate for such a misfortune to befall onto you.” Zhongli had told him with that intense look he got when saying something he saw as terribly important. All those sayings had been cemented into Childe’s mushy brain without a single thought. 

Childe had of course reassured the man and played it off as him being a mother hen, which the older man adepti  Archon had huffed at him for saying. Breaking eye contact much to the ginger’s disappointment. He had however brushed off the warning until a week later, after finishing up a debt collection, nearly fell down one such hole. Childe didn’t like falling down places and that paired with his dear friend’s warning left him a little more careful around the mountains and mines. He also brought along some extra rations just in case. 

But now, he was stuck in a cave system, trying to crawl up a steep hill made of loose rocks. Of course he didn’t fall down into it and of course he didn’t have a flare or any proper caving equipment because he wasn’t anywhere near caves in the first place, but he still felt like Morax was secretly laughing at him for taking cave safety more seriously or planning ahead to be in a cave.. 

“I was fighting a giant fucking whale in the abyss seawater bullshit land, I didn’t know I would have to bring along some rope and a headlamp. Stupid cat-fishing old ass lizard. When I get out of here I’m gonna take you out to eat and then have you pay the bill! Let’s see you get embarrassed you- you” he finally grabbed the rock he had been reaching for and pulled himself up onto a small ledge “stupid dragon!” 

He collapsed with an angry huff as he stared into the darkness above him. It seemed to him like the rock wall went on forever and perhaps this was a punishment from Celestial for being a heretical, abyssal monster who aligned himself with the god who sought to bring them down. It began to seem more and more likely every second he spent down in this cave system. 

“…this is shit…can I go back to eternally fighting the whale now?” Nothing answered but his own echoing words and the faint drop of water. 

His eyes shot open. Water. Archons he was thirsty. He would gladly kill an entire legion of that damned whale to get some water. He quickly sat up and tried to pinpoint the sound. It seemed to come somewhere above him so he was going in the right direction. Childe patted himself on the back before attempting to climb towards the glorious sound. He began his ascent by seeking out a few easy to reach ledges and began to pull himself up. 

Another good thing about his new claws was that he felt more secure climbing the rocks. He could cling to the little ledges easier and also dig them into the rock if no ledges were in sight. I. Short they were quickly becoming an asset. 

After what seemed to him like a few more hours ( it was only about fifteen minutes) he finally reached the top and let out a happy whoop at his accomplishment. He quickly looked around the newly revealed area, taking in the shear drop off he just climbed up. His head, still swimming from everything that had happened, began to swim even more. Little stars popped into his vision as he rapidly scooted from the edge. He did not want to pass out and fall down that cliff. Even with his new…additions, he doubted he would survive. 

Childe looked away from the ledge and tried to figure out where the sound of the water came from. This cave was full of stalagmites and stalactites, creating a hanging garden of stone. Some of them had connected into large pillars, holding the ceiling up as mineral deposits make it appear that the columns are melting somewhat.. Along one side of the cave he could make out a huge amount of stalagmites reaching up into the gaping darkness above them, no ceiling to be found. A group of Stalactites reached down floating above the ground, waiting like icicles on the roof, sharp and ready to take an eye out. He found his eyes being drawn up to a small drop of water about to drop nearby. It glinted teasingly to him before it fell. It twinkled as it splashed against the air, becoming one with it. 

Childe paused. Air didn’t react that way with water. Water however did. He slowly pulled himself towards where the drop fell and he quickly found the edge of the underground lake. It sat underneath the stalactites without any stalagmites forming underneath. It made sense now that he thought about it. He listened to quite a few lectures from Zhon- Morax about rocks and their formations. Stalagmites and stalactites were often found together due to the dripping water carrying deposits that would form the formations. Or something like that. He wasn’t a geologist, geo vision holder, or the Celestia-damned Archon of Geo. Pushing aside his wandering thoughts, he focused on the small lake. From what he could see, the water was so clean and clear, he didn’t even know it was there. He carefully scooped some of the water and took a sip. 

The fresh cool emanating from it immediately revitalized him and he gave up on propriety and manners, beginning to shovel it into his mouth. Childe hadn’t had anything to drink since he had been lured by the abyss and whales' siren song. And that seemed like it was years ago. The cold water had a strong mineral taste but it was some of the best water he had ever had. 

The water was also soothing to his soul. He had grown up around water and had a hydro vision for a reason. The hydro vision he no longer had, which had basically rejected him. Yay, fun memories. Childe sat back on his feet sighing. No longer having his vision or his delusion left him much weaker. Still dangerous but much weaker. No longer being able to create weapons out of his elements, outside of his foul legacy transformation, would now require him to always carry a weapon around. 

Now Childe didn’t need a weapon but it would make things much much easier in the long run for him. He always carried a small knife in his boot but a quick check had shown that it was gone. A large tear in the side had caused it to fall out at some time. It could have been before his fight with the All Devouring Narwhal, while he was stuck in a trance traveling towards it, during the fight, or in this Archon-forsaken cave  while he stumbled through with an aching body, spinning head, and no fucking clue what was going on or where he was. 

A small involuntary chuckle slipped through his lips as he realized how lost he felt. It was like he had been stuck back into the abyss at fourteen. But at least there he had his vision and Skirk, even if she hadn’t been the most attentive master. The chuckles turned into giggles that devolved into deranged laughter. His ribs screamed along with his laughter as they were forced to expand and contract rapidly. He collapsed onto his side with giggles. 

“Oh thats-hehe- that kinda hurts…he.” He whispered to himself in the dark. His hand limply laid in the water moving back and forth, watching the tiny ripple disappear in nothing. His eyes began to droop as the pain and mental exhaustion caught up with him. He slowly pulled his legs up to his chest and fell into a dreamless sleep next to the underground lake. 

———————————————

Childes eyes immediately shot open at the faint sound of a pebble scraping against the ground. Now hearing a rock fall in a cave didn’t seem very strange, hearing one scrape against the ground nearby was. The sound of something dragging and moving a rock. He continued breathing softly and slowly, feigning sleep as he stared into the dark. He gave a quick prayer to the Tsaritsa for letting him turn over in his sleep, away from the water and toward the unexplored darkness. Toward the sound in the deep dark depths. 

Slowly, a long leg came into his view. It was long and spindly like a spider but with the articulation of a crab. A nightmare spider-crab if the size of just one was as long as his entire leg and as thick as his forearm. Soon a few more legs showed up and the idea of the creature being a spider or a crab disappeared. It was a giant centipede. Its body was as long as a small boat with a hard looking shell on top. Each part of the shell overlapped the other creating an armored appearance that was also most likely practical. The plates faded to a softer looking underbelly, similarly to a turtle. Despite its size it moved silently through the stone cavern as it crept up on its chosen prey. It reminded Childe of some of the creature’s from the Abyss, large, silent and deadly. The creature had two tiny eyes that were nearly enveloped by the creature's top shell. Creatures in the dark usually had larger eyes if they used sight to hunt so this one probably used smell or sound to hunt. Either that or it used a sort of elemental resonance to feel for living things through the stone. 

Hoping that it didn’t use elemental resonance, Childe pushed himself up into a sitting position. The centipede froze for a minute as it and Childe sat in a silent staring contest. It began its movement again, all hundred-some legs moving in quiet uncanny synchrony.  Carefully he raised his hands into a defensive position. While he didn't have a weapon, his nails had become claws and that creature had a softer looking underside. And if worse came to worse, he could probably peel the armor along the back off. 

The centipede’s front pincers opened and closed a few times, only a few feet from Childe’s face. A foamy liquid dripped out from in between them, making tiny plop plop plop noises as the spittle landed on the rough rock underneath. Another pebble was caught underneath the creature’s legs and Childe lept into action. 

He slid in between two of the legs and slashed upwards towards the seemingly soft belly. His nails dug in with a surprisingly little amount of force and hot blood sprang out from the beast. It let loose an angry clicking noise as the legs began to thrash around him and attempt to impale him. He rolled out of the way from one and grabbed another, twisting it in an attempt to rip it from the body. The centipede screamed again and tried to fling him off the leg. Childe hung onto it and gave it another twist. The limb popped a few times before the bottom half of it slid away from the joint above it, similarly to cracked open crab legs. It began to thrash even more, one of its legs cutting into Childe’s side. 

He jumped back with a grunt as his own blood was added to the growing mix of fluid on the once drab stones. The ground gained a layer of blood above its lifeless stones. Childe smiled as his hands and legs dragged through the puddles.

The centipede lowered itself closer to the ground, unwilling to give an opening to be attacked, its pincers snapping to where Childe just was as he moved around the beast. He was lucky that this creature obviously relied upon sneak attacks and not brute force to catch its prey. Not seeing an easy way to get back under the creature, he quickly jumped over a few legs and onto the back of it near the head. It started chittering faster and high as it swayed in an attempt to get him off its back. The issue was that its limbs didn’t seem to reach its back, an issue that worked perfectly to Childe’s favor. 

His smile broke into a grin as he attempted to break apart its back armor. The large plates were thick and most creatures wouldn’t attempt to attack from the top because of it, but Childe was no ordinary creature. He had fought things with much tougher hide and armor before, this was just a warmup to him. He jammed his claws underneath one of ridges and began to pull up, his nails shredding the softer connective tissue underneath. The centipede began to slam itself against the stalagmites and stalactites in an attempt to get its assailant off its back. 

Childe barely hung on as his back was smacked against a stalagmite, his still aching bones and muscles protesting the rough treatment. He gritted his teeth as he forced his arms to pry off the top of the creature. They shook with exertion from the earlier transformation and climb but they remained true to him. Just as he felt the plate about to give, the creature flipped itself upside down, slamming the ginger's head into the ground. 

His eyesight turned pitch black before small stars began to swim across the fading view around him. It was as if he was looking through muddy water, trying to find a fish that was darting between the stones. Light sparkling off both the surface of the water and the fishes scales.  He let go of the creature and tried to reorient himself. Through the jumble of his vision and thoughts, Childe saw the giant creature push itself upright again before letting out more of its archon damned noise. 

Spittle and fluid now flowed freely from its pincers as the angry beast snapped at the young heretic. Its legs made little splashing noises as it scurried through the mixed blood and spit to kill him. In that moment Childe’s muscle memory took over and he made a grab to summon a hydro blade into his hand. A small distorted voice in his head scream at him that it was suicidal and that he would just end up dying to the monsters wrath, but that voice was drowned out by his own bloodlust. 

How dare this weak beast think it was strong enough to kill him. How dare it try to kill him with his back turned. He would rip it apart and devour its unworthy flesh to serve as a bitter reminder to all who attempt to do so again. His instincts took over and he suddenly dropped and slid along the ground, blood getting rubbed into his skin along with loose rocks and gravel as he blindly slashed upwards with a knife that wasn’t there. 

But then, blood began to rain down onto his face and he closed his eyes, slashing and stabbing above him at the centipede. It cried out in agony as its legs smacked and scratched at the bloodthirsty monster beneath it. It gave one last attempt to squash the offender, the prey it had sought out and found in its world of darkness, only for it to become the prey instead. It released one final panic and pain filled chitter before it died. 

Childe let his arms slump to his side as the creature fell next to him and gave its death shake. He quickly grabbed what remained of his shirt and wiped it over his face to clear it of blood before looking at what was in his right hand. In it sat a small blade of hydro. Another manic grin stretched across his face along with a giggle. 

He let it dissolve before summoning it back again. He could summon hydro without a vision! He began to laugh loudly as he pushed himself up. With an exaggerated whirl, he summoned his twin blades to his side and spun them around a bit. His arms protested the movement but the adrenaline from his kill and this discovery let the pain fade into the background of his consciousness. 

As he slowly began to calm down from his laughing and his discovery, he began to try and figure out how this could be. Childe gave his surroundings a look for a hydro vision shining out from the gloom, a sight he had seen once before as he fell. But the familiar glow of blue was not there. All that was there was a bloody mess of a centipede whose blood had begun to mix with the lake, turning the once crystal clear waters into a cloud of red. As he stared at the changing lake, the rocks at the bottom vanishing from his limited sight, he tried to figure out how this was possible. How was he able to use the hydro element when even before fighting the whale he had struggles. After taking a deep breath, he came to the conclusion that the source of his new/reawakened powers were not from a vision. . 

No vision meant that the Primordial sea probably fucked up more than just his appearance, it gave him the ability to use hydro without a vision. Trying to use his probably broken brain and what little science he understood, from listening to a few of Dottore’s rants about elemental energy and blah blah abyss bullshit, he concluded (wow big word) that perhaps since the Primordial sea was hydro affiliated, he also became hydro affiliated. That or because he used to have a hydro vision it just connected or something. Childe didn’t know and frankly he didn’t care. Not needing a vision to use hydro would be a boon to him. If becoming less of a human means getting stronger then so be it.

His thoughts were interrupted by a growling from his stomach. It wasn’t a surprise considering that his last meal was technically a pretty weak pea soup from the Fortress of Meropede. And that meal had felt like a lifetime ago for Childe, perhaps it was one. His fingers twitched as he stared at the lump of dead flesh next to him. He didn’t have the choice to be picky in the Abyss and he didn’t have the choice here. Slowly he slid over to the mangled side of the creature. The entire bottom front half of the creature was torn into a mush from his newly rediscovered hydro blades. The armor plate on the head that he had failed to peel off had blood oozing around it and was hanging on at an unnatural angle. 

Carefully, Childe pulled the creature towards him as he resummoned his blade and took off the armored piece. Underneath was bloody flesh that had the same look and texture of fat, not particularly appetizing. In fact it reminded him of the maggots and worms he would dig up and use for fishing. He took a sharp inhale to steel himself, getting hit with the strong scent of blood and iron. He began to slice off pieces of the centipede to eat. It was soft and not the best flavor or texture. It was strangely bloody and the noise it made in his teeth almost made him shiver in disgust. He forced himself to eat a few more chunks before he couldn’t handle eating anymore. He got up on shaking legs and wobbled over towards a place further down the shore. He didn’t fancy drinking centipede blood after a meal of centipede meat. 

After drinking his fill and cleaning his mouth of the taste of centipede, he looked around himself. Childe knew he had to keep going and get out of the caves. Looking around himself there were a few options, some looked very dangerous and others seemed to go down instead of up. Childe closed his eyes and tried to rack his brain for any more cave safety tips that Zhongli gave him. The only thing that came to him was remembering conversations about the Chasm and some incidents around it. Perhaps he had mentioned it but Childe had tuned it out in favor of paying attention to more important things that surrounded his meetings with the funeral consultant…like bringing Osial back and causing chaos…yep. That was definitely all that was on his mind at the time. Definitely just getting information out of those meetings one-hundred percent. 

“Shut up and just work with me for once!” He yelled at himself as he shook his head, once more forgetting about his head injuries. He hissed as he head once again swam with the stars of the Abyss as he stumbled over towards one of the larger stalagmites. He pressed his head to the cool surface in search of some relief. When he opened his eyes a small, mostly hidden, tunnel lay before him. It angled upwards and was wide enough for him to comfortably walk through. He would have probably walked right past it if he hadn’t decided to be stupid just then. “Thank the Tsaritsa.” He mumbled. Before he could start walking towards his chosen exit, his cut on his leg decided to make itself known with a stabbing pain as soon as he put weight on it. 

Quietly hissing he sat down and tore off the surrounding material around it. The wound was luckily not very deep and was no longer bleeding excessively. It was strange how little it was bleeding. Childe poked at the wound a little and on the edges he could already see some faint scabbing already happening. He sucked in a sharp breath before tearing his destroyed jacket into strips of fabric and wrapping it around the quickly healing wound. While he did heal slightly faster than a normal human it was never this fast. Carefully, CHilde stood back up and walked over to the tunnel. He paused when he reached the entrance and looked back at where the body of the centipede was. He couldn’t make out the body anymore but the smell of blood was still strong.  

The idea of going back to find some way to carry the bug meat with him popped up but he discarred it due to the horrific texture and the fact that he had no way to preserve it. The caverns might just be cold enough to maybe keep it okay for longer, but hauling around bug meat could be a giant blinking light for more of those creatures to find him. He also didn’t need to carry any water with him since if it got to a drastic point he could simply summon hydro out of the air to drink. Not the best when it came to taste but it beat dying of dehydration. 

Childe slowly began climbing along the passway as it twisted and turned, the amount of hanging rocks began to slow down until the tunnel became much smoother and easier to maneuver about without accidentally stabbing himself on a rock. He came up to one drastic turn and had to pull himself up a small ledge. As he crawled to the top, he froze. 

He froze as the smell of water hit him, salty water. Reinvigorated, Childe scrambled to stand up as he blindly followed the smell through the twists and turns. Eventually he took a sharp left and was met with a tiny pinprick of white somewhere above his head. He felt a smile spread over his face as he nearly broke out into a run to get closer to the promised hope of freedom. A part of him yelled at himself for hoping and that it would just turn out to be more glowing moss or another centipede. Luckily, as if Celestia had finally decided to smile down on him for once, the light got larger and larger until Childe was climbing up another rock wall trying to get closer to the new sound of waves splashing and sea birds chirping. He would get out of that forsaken cave and collapse in the sea before finding some food that was warm and not centipede. 

Finally, his hand hit the sunlight. He paused for a second at the sight, taken aback by the change in color. Sure he knew that it had changed color but seeing it in sunlight made him pause for a moment. It didn’t look like the hand he had grown up knowing, the hand riddled with scars and burns. Ones from learning to fish with his father and cook with his mother, ones from the creatures of the Abyss and from the Fatui, all of those that used to be on his hands were gone. He wondered if his body was the same or if he would be allowed to keep those memories. His hand flinched backwards into the shadow of the cave unintentionally. Childe sighed before forcing himself to move out of the cave and into the sunlight. He pulled himself over the jagged entrance and collapsed outside of the cave. He ended up misjudging his weight and practically flung himself out to tumble down a small hill. His injured leg hit a rock during his tumble causing him to let out a pained hiss. Groaning quietly he opened his eyes only to have to close them again. The bright sun blinded him from seeing his surroundings. 

He turned over onto his side and covered his face with an arm, trying to block out the rays as his eyes acclimated to the light. After a few minutes, the man slowly removed his arms from his face and sat up. The sun shone down on his face as he squinted in its harsh beautiful light. Childe felt like a plant as he sat there absorbing the rays. The wind ruffled his hair and the scent of the outside surrounded him. Eventually he was able to open his eyes fully and could now take in everything around him. 

His hands were still near black at his fingers before it began the starry abyss pattern his master had. A quick look at his legs through his scuffed up and torn pants showed that his legs were the same. He quickly checked on his wound and it had now fully scabbed over and seemed to be already closing up. He decided to leave it unwrapped since if it continued at the rate it was healing then it would probably close up completely in a few hours. Childe scooted over to the sea that sat just a few feet away. He looked into the clean blue water at his changed reflection. 

His forehead did in fact have two small red horns that came out before his hairline and curved backwards a bit. He also had a diamond shape in the middle of his forehead. It was the same color as his abyss colored arms and when he moved his head he could swear the pattern of the stars in it changed.  As he reached to poke at the spot, his hand brushed aside some of his hair revealing his ears which now had a small point to it. He felt like he was losing his mind.

“Could be uglier.” He chuckled, stretching his sore limbs over his head. Sure he cared enough about his appearance to look nice and didn’t appreciate suddenly looking different, but it wouldn’t be a life changing setback for him. He would get through this like everything. He looked at the mountains around him and the sea that lay in front of himself. The unfamiliar peaks seemed to pierce the sky in the distance. Very unfamiliar. Childe unconsciously cocked his head to the side as he tried to see if there were any mountains in his memories from Fontaine that looked like that. There were none, and anyway those mountains were very far away, far away and still giant looking. Quickly Childe looked up at the sun to see if he could determine his position on it. The sun sat directly over his head and didn’t indicate which way was which. He couldn’t even tell what could be north or south. 

Giving a frustrated huff, he pushed himself up and walked around in a circle as he took in the mountain he had just crawled out of. Calling it a mountain was perhaps a bit grand, it was more like a sharp jut of rock from the water around it. The trees around him looked similar to some Fontainian species but they just didn’t look quite right. 

“What is going on here? What’s with everything not looking right?” Childe climbed up the hill to perhaps get some height and see beyond. As soon as he got over the hill he felt something in his mind snap into place. 

He was on an island in the middle of a sea, a sea that looked like the sea that surrounded Fontaine, floating slightly above the rest of the world. But that didn’t make sense since the waters of Fontaine were fresh water not salt water. He looked around just to be sure but it sure did look like he was on the water plate of the world. The mountains looked almost correct but definitely not correct. The area that could be the Beryl region was completely wrong, Childe was currently in what could be the Morte region but again it wasn’t right. The giant tower was gone and the mountains were also wrong. But if he was in the Morte region, near the border next to Liyue, then those giant mountains…

Childe looked behind him once more at those imposing beasts in the distance as his mind was suddenly flooded with memories of his father telling stories of how thousands of years ago the entirety of Teyvat had mountains taller than Dragon Spine and more dangerous but they had been leveled by the Archon war. By gods fighting in battles that destroyed and rebuilt the land a thousand times over.

  “There’s no fucking way.” Childe gave a burst of laughter spinning around, taking in the ancient landscape as it hit him that the fucking whale had hit him so fucking hard he went back in time. As he chuckled and spun around with his arms outstretched. He staggered in place a few times before immediately collapsing on top of the rocky hill. The pain of multiple head injuries and too much information finally overloaded him. As it turned out, his increased healing did not stop a whole bunch of concussions from finally kicking his ass. He felt himself get consumed by the deep recesses of his mind as he drifted off into the calming darkness, far wavy from the bright and chaotic world he was now in. 

Chapter Text

Whispers of birdsong threaded through Childe’s consciousness as he slowly became aware of the world around him. He slowly cracked open his eyes, getting blinded by the sunlight above him. Quietly cursing he rolled over onto his side, rubbing away the last vestibules of sleep that clung to him. He was still on top of the rocky outcrop but now the sun had gone further down in the sky. Due to not feeling terribly thirsty, Childe concluded that he had only passed out for a few hours at most and not a whole day. 

Sitting up, Childe stretched out his arms as he once more looked around at the surroundings around him. The landscape was still not correct. It was still foreign and new…or old. Childe knew he wasn’t the smartest person but even a smart person would probably have trouble figuring out whether to call this place new or old. Rubbing the back of his head, the ginger tried to figure out what he was going to do. If he was indeed in the past, then when? He could be over four thousand years in the past for all he knew. 

Even if he was only two thousand years in the past, towards the end of the Archon War then he was still two thousand years away from when he was supposed to be. Thousands of years away from his family who didn’t know where he was. His family that he might never get back too. Childe let loose a shaky breath at the thought of his siblings. The idea that he was now separated due to thousands of years instead of just miles made his heart ache. He had to find his way back to them, he didn’t want their parents to have to sit down and explain to bright eyed Anthon and Tuecer that their big brother was never coming back. To have them tell Tonia that her knight had fallen…no he wouldn’t allow that to happen. He would find a way back. 

But if he didn’t find a way back to his time, then he would either die of old age or by fighting something he shouldn’t. The latter was more likely than the former but even if he did try to stay alive, it would only end with his bones aching and joints creaking, a broken old man far away from everything and everyone he has ever known. But then again…he wasn’t entirely human anymore. Even before he got sent back in time, before he became a harbinger his fellow soldiers would also poke fun at him for his ‘baby-face’. Not only that, but his delusion didn’t take as much out of him as other people, his hair and body not aging at a faster rate. Only a few chunks of his hair suffered from its effects. Even Dottore had remarked on it and theorized that he would have a much longer lifespan than a regular human. 

But even immortals get old and tired. Was what he witnessed in Liyue not exactly that? Hadn’t Morax given up his Gnosis to retire? If he did manage to somehow survive until then, would his siblings even still exist and would he even still remember their names and faces? He had heard the legends of Azhdaha from Morax himself, a great immortal beast that had forgotten itself. Could the same fate await himself if he lived? Would he be destined to be continuously searching for something he couldn’t recall? What if he did find his family, but having forgotten them, continued his search in vain. 

Childe watched a sea bird dive into the water like a knife into flesh. Swift and exact, not missing its mark as it triumphantly reneged with a squirming fish in its jaws. At that moment, Childe didn’t know if he felt more like the bird or the fish. Frustration bubbled up in his chest for he had too many questions and no answers. He felt powerless and weak. For all his new strength, he could do nothing about his situation.

Blinking back tears, Childe looked away from the disappearing bird to instead stare at the water. He knew water, knew how it worked and what it did. Even in the past, water would surely just be water. Unless it was the Primordial Sea, then he didn’t know anything about it. He snorted at that thought before leaning back and staring up at the sky. A few clouds floated over his head in happy, fluffy clumps. 

Why was he thinking so much about what could happen if he didn’t get back to his time? Childe was a soldier who was sent in to cause chaos, death, and destruction, he shouldn’t be making plans. If Liyue taught him anything, it taught him that even if he did make a plan, someone else would come along with some other plan and completely railroad his plan. He wasn’t still angry over what happened with Signora, totally not. Childe would just have to focus on getting home now. Not waiting for time to pass with him, maybe living a couple thousand years to see his family again. 

Hopefully since it was in the past, many more gods and elemental creatures should be roaming which raised the chances of him meeting someone who could help him return home. There had to be some being out there in Teyvat who could help him get home. Perhaps there was some random god of time traveling that got murdered by a giant meteor hurled by some rocky lizard bastard. Definitely still not angry about the Signora Incident. If he couldn’t find one then he’s gonna jump back into the Primordial Sea to see if the whale is there and willing to punch him forward in time. 

Childe looked back up at the strange land that had taken over the Fontaine he once knew. The sun had fallen even more, the golden rays lighting the sea aflame as fish jumped from the waves. The fish sparkled as they dove up into the air before diving back down into depths of the sea. As Childe watched them in their flying dance, he felt something in him fade away as the flame of hope he had to return home fully withered away and died. Who was he kidding, no one would be willing to help him, a heretical monster from the Abyss. Even if the Archons hadn’t been chosen, any godly being would take one look at him and know that there was something wrong with him.

Fighting past his growing sense of despair, Childe stood up looking once more at the fish before starting his walk down the hill and to the beach. If a bunch of gods won’t help him then fine, he would just have to help himself. And he would gladly do it. He brushed aside a low hanging branch as he stared across at the landform in front of him. The gears began turning as he made a plan to survive in this place. First, he had to find a source of fresh water if the scent of salt water meant anything. It was strange since he couldn’t remember hearing anything about the Fontaine sea ever being salt water. The waters were also much lower than he remembered,  a new observation that he made as he looked at where he would be traveling. The water table seemed lower than in the future which did make sense. Childe could remember overhearing some of the orphans from the House of the Hearth discussing how the waters had greatly risen in the past few years. 

He stood by the shore of the water, waves lapping at his feet. Looking down at his battered shoes, Childe quickly took them off and threw them to the side. He then began to walk into the water. The cold water felt amazing on his sun warmed skin and washed away the rock dust and dried blood that clung to his clothes and skin. The thought that his wound might sting in the salt water lit up in his mind, causing him to look down at his leg. But instead of his wound, and the painful sting of salt water in it, all that was there was a long dark blue scar. He stared at it for a few seconds before deciding that it wasn’t the weirdest thing that had happened to him in that past day so he could ponder it later. Eventually the water came up to his chest and he dove into the waters, beginning to swim towards the other shore of what might be the Morte Region in the future. 

As Childe swam through the cooling waters, he suddenly remembered that the waters of Fontaine were blessed, giving people the ability to breathe. Without thinking, he immediately stuck his head underwater and attempted to breathe. Salt water quickly filled his nose and lungs as he was forced to push his head back, coughing up the water as he struggled to breathe. Keeping his body afloat as he tried not to drown was a little harder than if he had simply tested this out before beginning his swim. He eventually managed to catch his breath and continued his swim. As he swam closer and closer towards the opposite shore, the sun sank closer and closer to the horizon. Just as the last rays of the golden light slipped into the darkness of the water, Childe felt solid ground under his feet. He stopped swimming and began to walk to the shore. His legs began to shake as he emerged, tired from propelling his body across the channel. 

Childe stepped onto the shore, the waves lapping at his feet as he fell to the ground in exhaustion. Sand dug into his back as he stared up at the sky, panting from swimming. The sun had now fully vanished, the canvas of stars shining down on him with the moon nothing more than a thin crescent in the sky. He shivered a bit from the cold ocean air that flowed over his soaked form. But he couldn’t find it in himself to move at the moment despite the chill. It didn’t even really bother him that much, having grown up swimming in the frigid Snezhnayan sea. Childe’s cold tolerance however didn’t offer him much help as his stomach began creating a symphony of growls that sounded like they belonged to the Abyss. The fill he had eaten from the centipede had since been burnt off by his strenuous swim. While he could go a while without any food, perhaps longer now due to his ‘enhancements’, he didn’t enjoy starving. He was also cry and tacky, having had no water since he left the underground lake. An angry groan from him startled some birds that quickly fled from the scary not-human-anymore human. He watched them disappear into the dark sky. Quickly sitting up, CHilde summoned a small burst of hydro in his palms for him to drink. It was warm and had a strange tang to it that was rather unappetizing. There was a reason many people didn’t drink from their vision and instead opted to carry canteens. He forced himself to stand up and walk towards the woods that sat at the edge of the beach. 

The trees were skinny but stood close to each other, creating a natural wall barring the ginger from entry to the woods. Testing the give of one of the branches, Childe pushed it back and found the wood to be soft and flexible. Knowing this he pushed through the low hanging branches that had attempted to stop him, the wall parting to allow him entry. He carefully stalked through the brush, trying not to make too much noise as he searched for water and something to eat. The small light from the barely there moon and stars shone through the leafy canopy, creating dappled spots of starlight on the floor of the forest. Small bushes and plants dotted the ground along his path. He had to be careful as he maneuvered sticks and rocks that jutted upwards. A few of the trees and bushes had fruits hanging from them but Childe didn’t touch them.

Being in an ancient land, he couldn’t trust the plants to be safe. Childe had grown up in a rural community where they were taught to forage for the smaller wild varieties of fruits that were in the market. He knew that humans domesticated plants and made them easier and better to eat. Due to this, he would probably be currently limited to a diet of meat and fish until he hopefully found a human settlement. From there he could figure out what was safe, when he was, and hopefully get some new clothes. 

He was currently in tattered pants, his left pant leg torn off mid thigh while the other was littered with tears and holes. His jacket was long gone and his shirt was not in the best condition. The boots had been tossed away before he had entered the water, but his feet were like his hands. They had become tougher so the rough ground didn’t bother him anymore. He would prefer to have shoes but he would survive without them for now. Childe just needed some new clothes that were not actively falling apart. He might scare people a lot more now due to his appearance but he didn’t want to scare people by being half naked and looking like he had lost a fight with a pair of scissors.  

He was snapped out of his thoughts toward fashion by the clear happy bubbling of water. Excited, Childe took off a little louder and clumsier than he had originally been traveling at, almost slipping as his foot landed in some mud. He staggered for a few moments before he righted himself on a nearby branch. Carefully, he moved under said branch, leaves and branches hitting him in his face and shoulders.  He popped up from under it and was met with the angelic sight of a small pool of fresh clear water with a small waterfall. A stream flowed away from the pool on the other bank. 

The water called to him as he traversed the muddy bank to get to a large stone that sat near the edge of the water. He carefully sat down before extending his hands into the water and raising it to his face. It shimmered in the faint moonlight as he quickly drank it down. The cold water quenched his thirst and he could feel it already beginning to reinvigorate himself and his tired muscles. As it turns out, not giving your body time to relax in between strenuous activities on top of injuries was not smart. All he wanted to do was slide into the water and disappear under the waters. 

Doing a quick look around, Childe began to take off what remained of his clothing. He could try his best to wash them off while also cleaning himself, it was a smart decision. After stripping, he slid into the cold waters. The temperature didn’t phase him since as a child he and his siblings would swim in the cold lakes and ocean of Snezhnaya for fun. If anything the water was more relaxing in its frigidness.  He smiled as he remembered the first time he had swam in the ocean in the middle of winter after one of his older brothers dared him to. 

He had been so scared but eventually did it, tears in his eyes as he edged to the end of the pier. The ocean was dark and angry that way, foamy waves splashing up at the shivering child. His older brother had called him a little baby for crying. Ajax denied it then took a running jump off the pier and into the water. His brother promptly started freaking out, having not expected the then baby of the family to jump into the rolling near frozen sea. Their mother had been so angry when they returned home. She kept screaming and bundling Ajax in blankets insisting that he was going to die of a cold now. He did get a cold and his older brother had apologized profoundly for the incident. Ajax had been nine years old, five years before everything came to an end. Five years before that same older brother called him a monster and Childe proved him right.

Childe quickly grabbed his clothes and began his best to wash them out. Cleaning had always been a way for him to forget the world around him and focus only on his task. It was a lot like a good fight. The water began to turn a dirty brown around the swirling fabric as he tried to scrub out the dirt, dust, and dried blood. Eventually it got to a point he could live with and stood up to hang them on some of the lower hanging branches. The thin branches buckled a little and for a second Childe thought they were about to dump his newly washed clothing into the mud but they luckily held up. With his clothing now secure, he returned to the water to finish washing off. He dipped his head backwards and ran his hands through his hair being careful to not stab himself on his new horns. As he did, flakes of dried blood came off and swirled into the water, a remnant from the multitude of head injuries he had incurred. He stood watching bloody water drip from his hair into the dirtied water below, his eyes drifted to his new scar. 

It was shorter than his hand and was rather thin, but the color of it threw him off. If he found a mirror and rummaged through his hair, would he find similarly colored scars from hitting his head across the ground? If he got any other injuries would they heal like it? He softly poked at it and moved the skin around, seeing if it would break open or begin secreting something. It simply felt and acted like normal skin. The only thing that was different was its bluish hue and the fact that it had fully healed by now. Perhaps it would fade in time like his other scars. With the thought of his previous ones, Childe quickly checked to see if his old ones were still there. 

He let out a held breath as he saw a familiar rough scar across his side from the Abyss, a sharp jagged white line that was still there. His body was still his own and the one he remembered. It was a little different, but it was still his body. The Abyss and All Devouring Narwhal had chewed him up and spit him out but he was still there. He was still himself. He was still…Ajax…right? 

Ajax stared at his reflection. That was who he was, wasn’t he. He was thousands of years in the past, the Tsaritsa hadn’t come into being and thus there were no harbingers. There was no Eleventh. There was no Tartaglia, for the Tsaritsa’s Vanguard. And there was no need for Childe, the diplomatic face of the Vanguard. In the end all that was left was a monster in ill fitting skin with the name of a long dead child. All that was left was a fourteen year old who fell down and came back up with the light gone from his eyes but with the fire of blood lust ignited. All that was left of him when he was removed of all his titles and awards was Ajax. Just Ajax, the boy who fell into the Abyss and crawled out with his own skill and determination. 

He was Ajax, even when he didn’t recognize himself. 

Ajax shakily sighed, brushing his wet hair out of his eyes, using his new horns to hold back some of the strands. He knew he had to keep going but it seemed like everything was against him. But that was fine, he was used to being alone. 

The sound of a snapping twig breaks Ajax out of his mind, his head snapping towards the sound. From a low bush emerged a squirrel, its fluffy brown tail twitching in the air as it cautiously scampered over towards the waters edge. Ajax very slowly raised his hand and summoned a thin spear of water behind it. Just as the squirrel reached the water, the water nettle shot through the back of its skull. It slumped onto the ground twitching as it died. 

Ajax got out of the pond and quickly put on his somewhat dried pants before going over to the dead squirrel. Summoning another knife, he cut open the squirrel and began to remove the organs. Throwing the guts to the side, he began to skin it. The motions came easy to him, having been taught the basics by his father and refining it under Skirk. After preparing it, he quickly collected some nearby dry twigs and sticks and began to start a fire. After a few minutes of rubbing two sticks together a spark flies and his bundle of twigs ignites. Soon he has a small bonfire to cook his butchered squirrel over. 

He twirled it over flames evenly as some fat and juices from it dripped down and sizzled as it hit the hot coals and branches. His stomach growled once more at the sight. Ajax pulled it away from the fire with it probably being a little undercooked but he was starving. He tore into the meat, heat from the freshly cooked meat sending tingles up his nerves but not burning his fingers as he expected. It burnt his tongue as he chewed and swallowed the definitely undercooked meat. It reminded him of a rabbit in taste, but a little nuttier. He giggled at the revelation, it made so much sense but he hadn’t expected it at all. It could use a little bit of salt however. 

The roasted squirrel quickly disappeared and soon Ajax was left licking the bones for any remaining flavor. After tossing them to the side, he walked over to where he left the guts. He had originally planned on burying them to try and avoid predators coming to check out the smell but he decided that he wanted the predators to come. He could use a larger meal, or one with a larger pelt he could use. In his rush to eat he had forgotten to extract the brain to tan the squirrel hide so he could keep its pelt. But perhaps that was for the best since he didn’t have a permanent base or way to carry the hide with him. While staying near the pond would be good for having a permanent source of freshwater, he didn’t fancy being ambushed in the middle of the night by a large creature just looking for a drink. He would stay here for the night and tomorrow continue on his search for civilization. 

He walked to the other side of the pond and set the guts down on a rock. It was within easy sight of his temporary camp so if something stopped by because of the smell it would be far enough away from him to prepare but close enough that he would be able to see it. However the creatures of the ancient land might stay away from him because of his smoke and fire. It didn’t seem like humans were as widespread as they would become, animals and creatures might not be as used to them encroaching on their territory and thus be more cautious. AJax could remember stories about how a pack of wolves got too comfortable with the humans in the town near Morepesok and eventually killed a child during the day. The entire pack was eradicated and everyone became more cautious, even in Morepesok. 

 Ajax got back to his fire and sat down, staring across the pond as the mirrored image of him and his fire shimmered with distortion in the pitch black of the pond. In this reflection, he could almost delude himself into believing there was a spark of life in his eyes. The light from the stars catching on the top of the water’s ripples, carrying light into the dark reflection of his irises. But just as soon as they landed there, they drifted away in the inky darkness and all that was left was nothing. 

The sounds of bugs and animals' far off cries echoed around the former, or future, harbinger as he waited for someone or something to stumble upon him. Patiently sitting as still as he could, letting the shadows and light of his fire consume his form until he was nothing more than another feature of the landscape around him. Soon the fire would die out and he would be plunged into the night, an invitation for the wild to come creeping back to this side of the pond. And waiting for them would be Ajax. 

Chapter Text

The sun rose up from the ocean, slowly casting the forest into the soft morning light. Ajax looked up at the lightening sky as birds began to wake up and sing their melodies of summer. At least he thought it was summer. Fontaine was known for pretty temperate weather so it could be spring or autumn instead. It was luckily cooler than Liyue in any case, the first summer there was one of the hardest things he had ever experienced. If he could he would have laid in the middle of his office with a cryo delusion to keep himself cool. But no, he had to run around in the hot sun to entertain a certain consultant. Ajax had that summer learned what it truly felt like to melt. 

He began to carefully stretch out his stiff muscles and joints. Sitting still the entire night had left his body sore and stiff. He stood up, arms reaching upwards as his shoulders made a somewhat distressing series of cracks and pops.  He walked over to where his fire had long burned out, a charred spot on the cleared ground. Ajax threw some dirt on top before stepping on it just to make sure there weren't any remaining embers. Starting a forest fire was not what he planned to do. If he wanted to keep a somewhat low profile, it was also smart not to be found in the center of a raging fire. 

Looking across the waters, Ajax didn’t see any change to the pile of organs from the squirrel, nothing brave enough to check them out. He was disappointed that nothing had shown up. After deciding to leave them there, hoping something would eventually come and dispose of them, he sat down once more at the water’s edge, drinking down his fill. . 

Now rehydrated, the ginger stood up and tried to figure out where he was going to go now. He needed to continue going inland, hopefully either getting to high enough ground that he can see any signs of civilization or finding a town on the way. Knowing that humans liked either settling near bodies of water or where there was fertile farming land might help him if he couldn’t see any obvious settlements.He didn’t think that would happen though, based on what little he knew of Fontaines history. He had gotten a quick overview from Zhongli who had mentioned it as a midpoint of the Archon war and the first Archon to be selected in the wake of the previous civilization and the gods' collapse. Egeria, the first hydro archon. So there was a civilization in Fontaine at this point. Picking a random direction, he ventured back into the forest. 

As he traveled further inland, the trees became taller and thicker, the branches no longer easily bending under Ajax’s hand, now needing to dodge and duck under them. Luckily, the branches soon started above his head, the trees stretching up as high as they could to grasp at sunlight. The forest floor had also become more shadowed as the canopy became denser. The once dappled pattern of sunlight on the ground disappeared. The only solid streams of light came down in a few sparse clearings, in a few years even those would vanish as trees greedily shot upwards to the heavens. Clawing their past the others for even a smidgen of sunlight. 

Chipmunks and squirrels scurried around, avoiding Ajax as he wandered deeper into the forest. Their quiet chatter and rustling turned into a background noise along with the birdsong far above his head. The drone of insects provided a base for their songs. By some stroke of luck the insects avoided landing on him or buzzing close to his head. Probably repealed by his new primordial makeup. A chipmunk darted quickly in front of him pausing for a second to look at him in fright before dashing into a bush. He didn’t bother trying to hunt it down, it would be a waste of time and energy if he went after every little critter to fill his stomach. He had decided to travel throughout the day and night, focussing on travel over sustenance. He continued traveling for a while longer until he felt like he would fall over if he walked anymore. 

Ajax sat next to a tree, dried leaves crunching under his weight. He looked around the area before swiftly summoning some hydro to drink down. He winced a bit at the taste, a sharp contrast to the water from the pond he had earlier that morning. It almost seemed like he had been walking in circles with how similar nearly every tree looked. It would be easy to get lost in this forest with how the trees blotted out the sun and the ground sloped up and down at different intervals, making it difficult to tell if you were traveling up the mountain or out of a valley. Ajax suddenly had the realization he should have been leaving marks of where he had been. He quietly cursed for forgetting one of his master’s main lessons of survival. 

“Keep track of where you have been, you don’t want to get turned around down here or you’ll never be able to right yourself again.” 

A blade of hydro slashed into the tree he leaned against, creating an x that would be difficult to mistake for something natural, unless there was something else in these woods that liked making x’s on trees. If that was the case then he would probably be confusing a lot of animals as to the edge of their territory. He took a few more minutes to catch his breath before he jumped up again, trekking further into the trees and underbrush. Every few minutes he would leave a mark behind on a tree along with a small arrow in the direction he went in relation to the tree. That way if he did stumble back upon the marks, he would know which ways to not go. 

Soon the trees began to thin out, no longer blocking the sun completely. The sun was now a few hours away from setting. He had been walking for nearly twelve hours on nothing but some summoned water and a squirrel from the night before. He had been through worse but it was uncomfortable. Still a break wouldn’t be the death of him nor set him back much. Just as Ajax was about to stop, the thick scent of rot and death hit his nose. He turned his head towards where the smell was coming from, looking up through the trees revealed a few circling scavengers. They looked similar to the vultures in the deserts of Sumeru. 

He began to stalk closer towards where they were circling, a hydro sword out to defend himself if there was something larger scavenging there. He walked towards the clearing where the stench emanated from and had to take a second to steal himself against it. What first caught his attention was a dead hydro vishap. A very large hydro vishap. Arrows and broken spears stuck out of it, its stomach brutally hacked open, blue organs and dark purple blood spilling onto the ground below it. Its jaw was also hanging at an odd angle, a cut from the corner of its mouth to where its jaw met its skull. A blade had gotten caught in its mouth and its wielder had obviously used it to their advantage. 

What drew his attention next was the copious amount of red blood. Grass stuck up through the inch deep pool of blood. A demolished cart sat to the side, contents smashed up and strewn throughout the clearing. Although it was less of a clearing and more of a wider part of a small road. Ajax looked further down the road and saw a foot, still wearing its shoe, sitting in the middle of the road. In fact, now that he looked closer there were other chunks of human body parts strewn everywhere. It made sense with the amount of blood there. What didn’t was the lack of dead bodies or the too few amounts of ripped up chunks of flesh to make a whole person or persons. It looked cleaned up. That meant that the bodies and what could be retrieved was taken away, most likely to be buried or burnt, however the ancient fontainian’s took care of their dead. 

Carefully, Ajax approached the corpse of the vishap. Depending on its state of decay, he might be able to determine how long it had been since it was dead. If it was more on the fresh side then he could possibly find the people who had carted away the dead and wounded. It was sitting out in the hot Fonatinian sun so if it had been for a while the state of decomposition would be farther along. He slowly stretched his hand out and touched the scaled side of the great beast. As soon as his hand made contact he felt a spark of something zip up his arm and into his center, he immediately yanked his arms back, inspecting the clawed hand for any sign of what had just happened. It seemed completely normal, or as normal as it was now. 

“What the hell was that?” He asked no one. Despite not expecting any answer, he felt Foul Legacy give a pleased grumble as it rumbled away inside of his mind. “Was that you? Fucking asshole, don’t do shit like that!” He yelled at the monstrous entity that constantly haunted the recesses of his mind. It simply laughed at him and his confusion, giving no answer as to what had happened. Despite its response and strange behavior, Ajax felt somewhat glad that it was still the same as before. Something that had remained constant even with the journey back in time. Foul Legacy gave an agreeing noise before settling back down again, disappearing into the dark ocean of Ajax’s subconscious. A rather docile response compared to its usual behavior. 

He sighed and stood back from the dead vishap. Its body wasn’t horribly decayed but it was at most a day old. Since the stomach had been cut open, he didn’t have to worry about a build of gasses inside it exploding on him. Perhaps that was why it had been cut open, a postmortem wound. Luckily he only had two options on which way the people traveled. Either towards the dismembered foot or away from it. Looking down the road didn’t offer any answers, trees and turns blocking him from planning which to go. Looking around at the trees next to the road, one was somewhat taller than the rest. Its trunk looked thick enough to bear the weight of an adult. Making his decision, Ajax began to climb the tree. The close branches made it easy for him to climb, as he ascended towards the sky. Soon enough he was sitting on the top of the tree, looking at the forest around him. 

The wind blew his hair in his eyes, letting go of a branch to brush it back. Now that he saw the surrounding area he felt quite proud of himself, the sea of Fontaine far away from where he sat in the tree. He glanced behind himself, seeing the mountain he had been aiming for. He had been going the right way all that time. Looking away from where he had been traveling, he tried to follow the road below him through the trees. He could make out a faint divot in the mass of trees around the road, his eyes following one path that seemed to go towards the sea while the side with the foot went towards an open area in the distance. 

Ajax rested his head on his fist and sighed, either path could lead him to a town. There could be a seaside town or a farming town. He was somewhat partial towards the possibility of a seaside town, having grown up in one, but something in his gut told him to travel further inland. Maybe the severed foot would bring him luck. He began his descent, jumping down the last few feet. After quickly brushing any stray leaves or bark from his clothing, he began his trek down the dismembered foot lane. He debated bringing it with him for extra luck but quickly decided that it would not let the locals know he meant no harm and it really wasn’t his style. That was more along the lines of Dottore’s bullshit than his. 

Things were going rather well in his opinion since a worn dirt road was easier to walk than in the forest. The slowly setting sun lit up the path in a soft golden light. Ajax found himself enjoying the trek listening to the last songs of the birds for that day. Insects also made their own music, the symphony of the cicadas rang out, a constant comforting  buzz. His adventure through an overgrown forest had turned into a pleasant hike along a trail. It was very enjoyable, dare he say fun. As he rounded the bend in the road, he froze. The people in front of him also froze. 

The two parties stared at each other, one party dressed in rough cotton tunics and pants while the other was in a tattered military uniform. No one moved or said anything for a while, the ancient Fontainians' eyes however moved rapidly as they took in the sight of the Abyssal touched man. Fear grew as they saw the starry purple skin and claws, the blood red horns, the pointed ears that were the same color as the strangers arms and legs, and finally the dead blue eyes. This was either a monster or a god and neither was a good outcome for this posey of farmers turned soldiers. 

The deafening silence was broken by Ajax slowly raising his hand in a nonmalicious greeting, smiling at the now shaking humans. “Hi, I’m Ajax.” They stared at him, jaws dropped and eyes popping out of their skulls. One of them lifted a trembling finger to point at him before yelling something in what Ajax assumed was ancient Fontanian. 

“~~~~~~~~~~~~~!” The man then began waving his hands around at his companions. One of which looked halfway to fainting, clutching their staff with white knuckles. Another one of them, who held a bow with the familiarity of a hunter or soldier, also pointed towards Ajax. Her hands and eyes went to the top of his head and hands. The two who seemed to be the most vocal appeared to be having an argument. Ajax stood there silently waiting for them to finish up their decision. The two of them pointed and looked back at him as they talked rapidly. The third one refused to break eye contact with Ajax, trembling like a leaf in the wind. He almost felt a little bad for terrifying them so much. 

“Hi again, I don’t intend to do any harm to you guys but could you maybe point me in the direction of civilization. My clothing is kinda destroyed.” Ajax spoke slowly and gestured towards the group of humans, the road up ahead, and finally his clothes. The people seemed to somewhat understand what he was saying, the one with the bow reached into the cart next to them and tossed a cloak at him. It was a bit too small for him and was made from a rough, definitely homespun, cloth. It was still greatly appreciated in helping cover up the rips and tears in his clothing. “Thank you.” He gave a small bow towards the group. 

“~~~~~~~~~~” The bow user asked him something but all he could do was shrug. She then flipped her hair, turning towards the man who first spoke and began to seemingly berate him. He looked over at Ajax skeptically. He gave a loud sigh before giving into whatever the bow user said. The brown haired woman smiled before turning back to Ajax. “~~~~~~” She bowed low to him, hair brushing the ground and one arm extended towards him. The terrified person quickly followed her example, dropping their staff in the process. The man gave an annoyed huff but glanced over at Ajax with fear still evident in his eyes. He might have agreed to something concerning him but he didn’t trust the heretic at all. 

“~~~~~~” He gestured for Ajax to follow them, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. Ajax very slowly approached the group, cloak wrapped around his shoulders. The staff user looked ready to shit themself at his closer presence while the bow user looked at him with a mixture of fear and reverence. It was very strange for the young Snezhnayan who had never had anyone look at him in such a way. It was always fear or greed. It felt similar to his own gaze when looking at the Tsaritsa. It felt…wrong to have it upon him. It was a gaze suited for a god or holy being, not him. 

The group walked silently onward along the road, Ajax behind the man with the sword with the bow user and the quaking staff user behind him pulling the cart. Their hands were still clutching their weapons, not trusting him despite the underlying awe they held in their eyes. Even the sword user who didn’t seem to trust Ajax as far as he could throw him had a look of respect or something underneath. He couldn’t understand why though, he hadn’t done anything. If anything they should be attempting to run him through. 

The mismatched group exited the forest as night began, the sun gone once more marking possibly the second or third day Ajax had spent in the past. Only about a million more days to go till he’s back home. Yay. The area past the forest at first seemed to be a field of tall grass but at closer look it was a grain similar to some wild varieties he had seen during the summer in the fields behind his house. They were farm fields, the first signs of a settlement nearby. 

They walked past the waving stalks and towards the distant bright lights from fire in the distance.Short buildings coming into view in the flickering red and orange light.  A village, full of people living their simple lives of just trying to have enough food to keep themselves and their families bellies full. He almost felt jealous of them for living such a life, a life he nearly had himself. Being a fisherman like his father, going out early in the morning on a boat to brave the half frozen sea all to get a sub par haul of fish, repeating it everyday over and over again. He found himself somewhat angry that it had been taken from him, but now that it was he would never be able to return to itt. That future was long gone the moment he had snuck out of his family's house that fateful night. He would never be a simple fisherman and he didn’t want to be. He ignored those thoughts as the group came closer to the village, a crowd of people waiting for them. He squared his shoulders back and prepared himself for the mess this was going to be.

Chapter Text

Ajax watched as the people standing at the entrance to the village lit up when they saw the returning three. He watched their expressions change from joy to confusion to fear as they took in him and his appearance. Children were quickly pushed to the back of the group as they rapidly began demanding answers in the language that eluded Ajax, for now. He was surprisingly good at picking up languages, one of the few academically oriented things he was good at and it was very useful in the Fatui. He had shocked Pulcinnella when he realized the feral fourteen year old he had picked up spoke a good chunk of Fontainian and Mondstatian along with Schneznayan and Common. He soon added Inazumian, Liyuen, and Sumerian. He had even pushed himself to learn some of the different tribes' languages from Natlan but Pulcinella discouraged him from it, he had an inkling that the old man was scared he would run off and become a chieftain there. Happy to be in a constant fight. 

He could also speak Khaenri’an but the only person he could really practice with was Pierro and he was not a fun person to talk with. He was depressing and would mainly just ask about the Abyss and Tartaglia would aggravate him by mentioning his rampant hilichurl killing sprees. Let’s just say he had gotten thrown through a wall once or twice for gleefully admitting to slaughtering his former people. 

He drew himself out of memory lane, no severed feet luckily, and back to the group of people debating his fate. The sword user and bow user were now talking with an elderly woman and a graying middle aged man. The four of them were wildly gesturing at Ajax and whispering amongst themselves. As they did, a gang of seven people came closer to Ajax, swords and spear in hand. Many of their bodies were shaking as they wondered why this god had decided to show its face in their simple village. Had it come to enact revenge on them for killing the vishap? Had he come to help them? They didn’t know. 

Ajax had no clue that was what they were thinking, he thought they just wanted to kill him. Trying to appear non threatening, he rocked slowly back and forth as his eyes scanned the crowd and area around him. He quickly found a few escape routes if it got violent. He didn’t want to kill these random people, it would be better to befriend them but if he needed to he would. One of the ways he could try to escape was back down the road. The only person really behind him on the road was the terrified staff wielder who seemed frozen in place with no idea on where to go. Another way that he could get away was off into the fields around them, he could use the grass to help hide him from any archers that might be in the crowd. The only problem would be getting past the semi-circle of scared villagers. It would be easy but again he didn’t want to harm anyone. 

 “~~~~~~~~~~” Ajax looked back at the group discussing his fate and stepped back a little. The old woman was now standing extremely close to him, he hadn’t even heard her move closer. Either he was getting rusty or this lady had some skills. She was staring at him expectantly and with that same look of reverence. It made his skin crawl. How could someone ever get used to anyone looking at them like that. It reminded him of the looks the common people, and even members of the Fatui, would give the Tsaritsa and the Harbingers. A look of fear, reverence, and idolism. He never really got those looks, seen as one of the more approachable and down to earth Harbingers in Snezhnaya. This was a gaze meant for deities. No wonder Zhongli wanted to give it all up to live a normal life. He would have gone stir crazy with people looking at him like that all the time. 

“Hi, I’m Ajax.” He placed his hand on his chest, the elder watching him carefully with a small knowing smile on her face. It was somewhat creepy. 

“~~~~~~~ Helene.” She also gestured towards herself before repeating what Ajax assumed was her name. It sounded like a Fontainian name. 

“Helene, you are Helene.” He pointed back to her and she nodded. 

“Ajax, ~~~~~~~~” She reached out for his hand and grabbed it, a synchronous gasp sounded out from the crowd, the sword user shouting out at the old woman for daring to touch a god. She turned back to them and laughed, patting Ajax’s hand in a comforting way. She looked back up to him, her eyes sparkling with both mischief and awe. “Ajax, ~~~~~~~~” She then tugged on his hand and pulled him towards the entrance of the village. 

A few people squawked in outrage, stammering arguments that were shut down by the middle aged man who yelled something at them. It seemed to Ajax that this old woman was seen as the leader of this village or her opinion held a lot of weight. He followed after her obediently, still keeping a close eye on the other villagers they passed, especially the ones with weapons. As he scanned the crowd, he could see small children hiding behind their parents' legs, staring up at him. Some looked at him with scared watery eyes while others shyly smiled and waved at him. He gave a small wave back to one of the brave ones who yelled something at him and waved with both their hands. A concerned adult pulled the child back with a sharp reprimand.  

Ajax felt his own small smile fall a little bit. He turned away from the chastised child and back to Helene who was pulling him into a large open pavilion. It was made out of tan stone, its columns having been carved with images of water and sea creatures. In the center was a large bonfire, illuminating the surrounding area. The houses and buildings around the pavilion appeared to be made from a mixture of stones and wood. Their roofs thatched, the overhanging straw creating strange shadows on the walls of the buildings. It was a beautiful village in Ajax’s opinion. 

He was led to sit down on a bench near the fire, Helene sat next to him still holding his hand and staring into his soul. She gave him a smile, a few of her front teeth missing. Ajax couldn’t help but smile back at her. Helene seemed to like that as she pulled Ajax into a hug, much to the displeasure of the people who started filling in the area around them. 

He awkwardly patted her back a few times, staring directly at the sword user and middle aged man who looked like their eyes were going to pop out of their heads and roll across the smooth stone floors. She smelled like burnt wood and dirt but in a very comforting way. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had given him a hug. It was probably during his last trip to his family. He had given Tonia, Anthon, and Tuecer a hug before he left, his mother had simply stood to the side watching him leave. The last time she had hugged was when he returned home covered in blood and before she realized it was because he had mauled one of the neighborhood boys who had spread a nasty rumor about his older sister. The next day before the sun even rose, his father dragged him from the house and away to a nearby Fatui camp. Thinking back it was probably to avoid them having to watch their once sweet fourteen year old dragged into the town square and murdered for disfiguring the mayor’s son. The next time he saw her, she had heard about how he had torn an entire squad apart in anger at being abandoned, sold, given to the Fatui. A massacre his father had watched helplessly standing to the side. He was only stopped when Pulcinella showed up. After that she would flinch whenever he got too close and would tense up when his younger siblings would run happily into his arms. The only reason she didn’t say anything was because she was scared of what he would do to her if he was denied his siblings. It made him sick. 

Ajax quickly pulled back from Helene much to the older woman’s confusion. “~~~~~Ajax~~~~~~~~~~?” She asked, reaching up and touching his face. He didn’t trust this, he didn’t need this random woman’s attention or pity. 

“I’m okay. I don’t need anymore hugs. If you are going to sacrifice me for something or just kill me please let me know.” Ajax grabbed her hands off his face and scooted back from her. Helene nodded a few times, it seemed like she could understand what he was saying for a second before she burst into another smile, examining his arms and hands. He wanted to rip them from her gasp, to not contaminate her with his touch, but he didn’t want to anger her or the group of people watching his every move with bated breath. 

“Ajax ~~~~~~” She bowed her head to him which was followed by everyone else also bowing to him. Even suspicious sword guy. Ajax looked nervously between everyone wondering what in Teyvat was going on. “~~~~~~~~~~~” Helene stood up suddenly announcing something to the crowd. She then pulled Ajax up and slapped him on his back with a surprising amount of strength in her fragile little hand. He staggered for a bit at the slap. The act caused the villagers to loosen up a little bit. If the strange god wasn’t going to kill Helene for slapping his back then they probably wouldn’t be murdered for existing. Probably. 

The villagers all looked at the god in their mist that Lady Helene had just proclaimed to be a protector sent down to protect them and their fields from the tyranny of the vishaps and barbarians. Some felt nervous, others felt overjoyed, and others didn’t trust this god who looked closer to the monsters than Remus supposedly did. But still they would all listen to their leader and seer. If she trusted him then so be it. Even if there did seem to be a bit of a language barrier, perhaps he was a newly born god who only knew the language of the gods. 

Helene turned back to her newly born god. He was strange and seemed ready to bolt at any loud sound or fast movement, he also seemed like he was hurting inside. A wound or a few pounds upon his heart that never fully healed and were allowed to fester and become infected until they eventually hardened. If she helped him with this hurt then maybe he would bless their village and keep the monsters and barbarians from killing their friends and families. Just one vishap two days ago had slaughtered four of their fishermen returning from a fishing trip and left three of them injured. While the fields and farms offered food for them, they still needed the fish to fill in the gaps of harvests. No one should be going hungry in her village. 

Ajax watched as Helene talked to the middle aged man a little before bringing him to him. “Basile, Ajax. Ajax, Basile.” She pointed between the few. The newly named Basile bowed to Ajax, confusing the ginger and causing his brows to wrinkle. 

“~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~” Basile rambled for a bit, gesturing into the air and the area around himself. Ajax stared at him blankly with a confused smile on his face. Helene seemed to pick up on it, laughing and patting Basile on the shoulder, ending his rambling. The older man flushed red murmuring what Ajax assumed was an apology and ducking back into the crowd. Then Helene began to pull more people to Ajax, introducing them all. 

The grumpy sword user was Just, the bow user who had argued him in favor of Ajax was Blanche, and the shaking staff user was Valentin. After them names and faces flowed past him rapidly. He tried his best to memorize them but he probably missed a few. The small child that had waved to him ran up to his leg, hugging it. Their parents yelled at them and began simpering to Ajax. Ajax just rolled his eyes at it and patted the small child's head. They beamed up at him with the innocence of childhood, still as evident in the past as in the future. “Yves!” They shouted their name at the heretic who smiled back. 

“Ajax.” He responded. Yves' eyes widened and they giggled a bit. Then they began poking his strangely colored leg and rattling off rapid fire questions that even a native speaker might have trouble answering. “Okay, Yves,” Yves stopped speaking at the utterance of their name. “I don’t understand what you are saying but I am sure once I do I would love to answer your questions in a child friendly way. Now, go back to your parents please.” He lightly pushed the child away and towards their parents who quickly grabbed them and pulled them away with more apologies. Yves looked very disappointed for being sent away from their strange new god.  

After seeing him interacting with a young child in a very positive way, the people began to relax some more, giving a little more trust to their new god. Helene let a few more people introduce themselves before she stepped in announcing that it was getting late and their god would need to rest after the long journey he evidently had. She had not missed the way he used the small cloak to cover the rips and tears in his clothing. And strange clothing at that but who was she to judge the way that gods dressed up in Celestia or from below it. When she first saw him, she had the impression of darkness and a struggle to the surface. Perhaps this god from the depths of the sea. 

Said ‘god’ was now being pushed out of the pavilion and towards one of the larger houses. Basile followed behind her along with Valentin who looked like they didn’t want to be there at all. Helene opened the door and motioned for Ajax to enter the building. It was made from light gray stones with a white mortar in between. The building had two floors with wooden posts sticking out of the stone where the flooring for the second began. A stone silo sat nearby the house, the only silo in the village it seemed except for one by the very edge near the fields. The door was a heavy wooden thing that Ajax smoothed his hand over as he passed Helene. 

It took his eyes but a second to adjust to the darkness of the home. There was a large fireplace with a cooking spit in the back with long tables and chairs set up throughout most of the ground floor. A wall and door was in one corner near the fireplace, possibly food storage. A small staircase sat on the opposite side going up to the second floor. Helene pulled him over towards the fireplace, pulling out a nearby chair for him to sit in. 

Ajax whispered a thanks as Basile went into the possible pantry and exited with flour and cheese a few minutes later. Helene said something to him that he didn’t understand as Basile cut off chunks of the food and set them a few plates. He then passed one out to each of the three other people. Valentin sat across from Ajax and stared at their food as if it had grown a pair of eyes and was staring back at them. 

The four of them ate in complete silence, with Helene and Basile occasionally glancing over at their strange new guest, waiting to see what his response would be. Ajax sat quietly and enjoyed the simple meal. He hadn’t eaten anything since the squirrel so this was more than enough. If anything the homemade cheese and coarse bread dinner reminded him of the long winters when food and fish were much scarcer. When the summer had been too short and the crops wilted. He chewed thoughtfully on a chunk of cheese, it tasted similarly to some of the homemade goat cheese he had bought from Chenyu Vale. Somewhat different but it had a much smoother taste than his aunt’s cow cheese. 

A wooden cup was pushed over towards him, Basile holding a pitcher of what Ajax assumed was water. “Thank you.” he gulped it down, the fresh water a soothing balm from his parched throat, both from the long day and the dry bread. It tasted much better than condensed hydro. Basile repeated the words ‘thank you’ under his breath a few times before saying something to Ajax. 

“~~~~~ ~~~” He repeated himself looking expectantly at the slightly confused ginger. His eyes widened when it hit him that they were exchanging gratitude words. Basile must have noticed that his guest was constantly repeating this whenever someone did something for him. “Thank you” He repeated in the somewhat similar swirling ancient Fontainian. 

“Thank you.” He repeated back much to the pleasure of both Basile and Helene. The two of them began talking amongst themselves excitedly. Valentin just stared at all three of them like they were insane and well they were definitely right on one count. Helene might also have a few screws loose with how quickly she accepted the strange man/creature into her house and village. They still seemed terrified and fearful of this guest in their home. They did not like him here nor did they want him here. Ajax got the feeling that they would be the toughest person in this house to win over in this house, in the village he got the feeling that it would be Just and his sword. He snickered a little at his unintentional innuendo and got an even stranger look from Valentin, who looked away as soon he made eye contact with them. 

Once everyone was done eating, Helene quickly gathered the plates and set them to the side for later. She then said something to both Valentin and Basile who nodded, one with more reluctance, and quickly went up the stairs. He could hear footsteps above his head along with a harsh quiet conversation. It sounded like Valentin was getting chewed out by Basile, for being suspicious of the suspicious man. Yeah maybe Basile was also half crazy. Speaking of crazy, Helene had reattached herself to Ajax’s side and was now beaming at him with a sinister old lady smile. A drop of sweat beaded on his forehead as she spoke to him in words he still couldn’t understand! She manhandled him back over to the stairs and up them. He would have gone willing but this old lady wanted him to move when she wanted him to. Scary. 

The top floor had a small hallway with four doors, two on either side. One of the doors was wide open with voices emanating from it. When Helene and Ajax stepped through, Basile righted himself up from where he had been fixing the bed while Valentin sulked in the corner like a moody teenager. Shit maybe they were, Ajax was never good at telling how old short people were. Nevermind what they went by if they were also androgynous, he had once spent an entire evening drinking with a green clad bard in Mondstat totally confused on what to call or refer to them by. He hadn’t even known if they were old enough to drink! The only reason he didn’t ask for their age was that they obviously had experience in throwing back shots as they drank him, an experienced firewater drinker and somewhat alcoholic, under the table. Archons damn the short androgynous people with their youthful complections. 

Basile walked up to him holding a bundle of fabric in his hands. Ajax accepted it and held it out, revealing two shirts and pants in the same rough homespun material as what everyone else wore. “Thank you.” He smiled at Basile, folding the clothing back up. Basilel stammered out something in response, giving a swift bow before dragging Valentin out of the room with him. Then that left Ajax and Helene. 

“Ajax, ~~~~~~~~~” She curtsied before shutting the door and leaving Ajax alone. The first thing he did was take a deep breath. It had been a long day. He set the clothing down on the bed, not wanting to immediately change into them and then ruin them with sleep. The room was simple with a wooden bed that had a straw stuffed mattress and rough blankets. A small table sat next to it was a water pitcher and flickering candle. What he assumed was a chamber pot sat in the corner across from the bed on the ground. Ajax grimaced a bit at the realization that there was no plumbing. Something he could definitely live without but he was still a little disappointed at its loss. He walked over to the solitary window and peered out of it and onto the village below. A few people still walked around but the crowd from earlier had cleared. He turned his eyes away from the people and to the sky above. The moon had turned into a tiny sliver of silver against the dark sky. He smiled at it, enjoying the twinkle of stars as his eyes scanned the sky.

 His smile dropped when they fell upon an island in the sky, floating above Teyvat, unwilling to dirty itself by touching it. Celestia. Foul Legacy mirrored his resentment towards them with an unhappy rumble. If Ajax found out that Celestia had a hand in displacing himself from his family there would be hell to pay. He pushed himself away from the window and got into the bed. The straw dug into him and was much different from the soft mattresses he had as a harbinger but it was a large upgrade from the hard ground or the Abyss. He pulled the blankets over him and rolled over to blow out the candle. He watched its flame flicker for a little bit before blowing it out and plunging the room into darkness. The only light coming from the window, tainted by heaven's presence. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ajax awoke before the birds began their song, having not slept as long as his aching body wanted to. He was still on alert and as such he slept very light and not for very long. While he could probably survive an attack in his sleep, he didn’t want to risk anything. He got out of the bed and began stretching. He began what was his normal warmup that he would do in the mornings. It was something he could do to help make himself believe everything was fine and completely normal. The only thing that upset his familiar routine was when he accidently stabbed his arms onto his new horns. They were much sharper than he thought but they luckily didn’t pierce the skin. 

He examined the lighter purple of his upper arm, no white lines from the scratch of his horns in sight. He sighed and sat down on the rough bed, head in his hands. He wanted nothing more than to start screaming and how fucked everything had gotten. Why did it seem that everything and everyone had something against him? He looked up from his hands and at the dimming night outside, the sun came up once more. Another day passed in the past. 

Ajax fought the urge to let out his frustrations in vocal form, he doubted that anyone in the house would appreciate waking up to their crazy guest screaming about seemingly nothing. He made the bed in the military style, edges sharp and tucked in to perfection, yet another grasp at familiarity. He then turned towards the side table where he had placed the gifted clothing the night before. They consisted of a pair of pants, a long sleeve shirt and a looser shirt that seemed to fall just at the knees. It was very similar to what he saw many of the villagers wearing. The outer tunic was a light blue with some light yellow stitching and embroidery along the collar, sleeves, and bottom of the tunic. Meanwhile the pants and undershirt were shades of gray without any embroidery. 

He slipped out of his softer uniform, looking at it forlornly as he folded its tattered form. For the sake of sentimentality, he slipped it under his pillow. He didn’t wish to part with a physical reminder of where he came from. His earring had somehow survived the All Devouring Narwhal and the cave system, including the centipede fight. It offered a comforting weight on his ear. Even on the ear that he didn’t recognize in shape and color, the earring provided him with familiarity. He also added his belt to cinch the waist of the tunic that was much flowier than he was used to. Even without his vision on it, it was something else that he knew and could trust to be the same. 

The creak of wooden floorboards broke him from his thoughts. Listening to the movement of someone else awake, he patiently waited for them to pass his door. The footsteps walked past his door and stopped for a little bit before making their way down the stairs. Ajax waited a few minutes, the sounds of other people moving in their rooms and the person who went downstairs cooking, the smell of cooking eggs coming up through the gaps in the boards. He slid open the door and closed it behind himself. He glanced further down the hallway, to where the rooms of the other three inhabitants were. All of them were closed, not giving any hint towards who was up. 

He made his way down the stairs, waving at Basile who was moving eggs from an iron skillet onto the plates. Basile gave him a smile back. “Ajax, ~~~~~~~~?” he asked a question that Ajax simply couldn’t understand. He seemed to realize this and his face turned slightly pink. “~~~~~.” 

“~~~~~?” Ajax repeated the word, it seemed to him like it was an apology, similar to sorry. 

“Sorry.” Basile repeated back at him, smiling once more at his new god’s quickness of picking up their words' meanings.  Basile set the plates of eggs, accompanied by some more bread and cheese, onto the table. Before either of them could dig in, Valentin thudded down the stairs, pausing when they caught sight of Ajax, eyes going wide then avoiding him altogether. They slowly walked over to the table and sat down in the same spot as last night. The three of them all then began to eat in awkward silence. Helene soon joined them, sitting confidently beside Ajax. She gave Valentin a glare and a sharp word, causing the younger to stiffen up. 

“~~~~~~~!” Valentin snapped back to their…Grandma? Great-Grandma? Ajax didn’t know. Either way they stood up and stomped away from the table, slamming the door on the way out. Basile sighed loudly saying something to Helene before getting up from his seat and grabbing the empty plates. 

Helen smiled at Ajax, an apologetic look upon her face. “Sorry, Valentin ~~~~~~~~~~~~” She rambled a little bit, muttering the apology every now and then. Ajax felt a muscle in his forehead twitch at the constant apologies. Why did she continue doing so, a teenager was just being a moody teenager, if they were actually a teenager. There was no harm done. He grabbed her hands, silencing her. 

“Miss Helene, it is okay. I have no problem with Valentin being upset with my presence. I am a stranger, a weird one at that. Everything you and everyone else has done for me so far has been more than enough.” Ajax gave her his best innocent young man smile that nearly always worked on the older women of Liyue harbor, even after Osial. It had been one of the few lessons he had gotten from Signora, how to make people like you. It always made him wonder why she never used it herself. 

“Stop grinning like you’re gonna murder someone. Let your eyes crinkle up a bit so it looks like a real smile. NOT THAT MUCH! That’s too fake and makes you look strained.” Signoria pinched and poked his face with each imperfection, her sharp nails digging into his skin. “Only Dottore is allowed to be a fucking weirdo with his smiles, we can’t have another harbinger bringing down our name in such a way.”  

He absolutely hated it. Signora’s manners lessons had been almost as bad as the abyss. She insisted that he practice for a million different situations and even forced him to learn as many waltzes as she could cram into his head, both parts at that. Ajax had a feeling that she had used him as her own doll, spinning around and forcing him to play along with her stupid scenarios. The only good thing that came of it was that he could now deal with bitchy self absorbed assholes and pretend to absolutely agree with everything they said. She had been perfect practice for that. Despite learning how to placate her, he still enjoyed pissing her off because fuck her. He was almost disappointed that she was now dead, he missed arguing with her. 

Helene smiled back at him, squeezing his hands back. “Ajax, ~~~~Valentin~~~~~Thank you ~~~~~~.” She stood up, pulling Ajax with her. She then wrapped her boney arms around his waist, hugging him once more. Again he awkwardly patted her back, trying to not make eye contact with Basile who was definitely NOT chuckling about the awkward god who didn’t understand hugs. He found it quite amusing that this terrifying being froze up and whose cheeks turned pink at the small amount of human affection. It reminds him of when his son had become older and no longer wanted to show any signs of affections as he was no longer a child anymore. Basile missed him. 

Helene eventually pulled back, smiling at Ajax and rambling to him as she dragged him to the door. She pulled him out into the softly lit sky, the sun having just risen a few minutes ago. Despite this the village seemed to be waking up all around them. People herded goats and fowl to the fields as farmers took off to work in the fields of ancient wheat. With how far it was along, Ajax could guess they were in either late summer or early fall, he couldn’t be more precise because he didn’t know the exact growing and harvesting times of wheat. 

Helene pulled him closer to the silo near the house, it was a few stories tall and made of large gray stones. It was a sturdy structure that stood out as the tallest building in the town, its height only made more visible by the slight hill it and Helene’s house sat upon. Next to the silo, and Helene destination, was a stone and wood barn, the bleating of goats emanating from it. The elderly woman opened the door and beckoned for Ajax to follow, he was surprised she didn’t just pull him into it. 

The barn, or more aptly the shed, was dark but light came in through a few small windows situated towards the top of the pen. It smelled of animal, straw, and dirt. Five goats immediately encircled Helene, who laughed at them. She gave each one a pat on the head before giving them something from her dress. Ajax didn’t see what it was as the goats immediately inhaled whatever it was. If he had to guess it was either a piece of fruit or a sugar-like substance. She turned back to Ajax and pushed him back out the barn in her usual bossy fashion. 

The few minutes they were in the barn it had gotten much brighter outside, Ajax needing to squint for a bit as his eyes adjusted. If he had to hazard a guess, his eyes were much more sensitive to bright lights, a trade for being able to see much better in dark conditions. He felt a solid thump on his shoulder, his hand reflexively snapping up to grab whatever had hit him. He was met with solid wood, a staff that he had often seen herders use in the few picture books his mother had read to him. Helene shoved the stick into his hands “~~~~~~~~~~ Ajax~~~~~” She motioned towards the sheep that were following her in an almost perfect line. The only two who stood side by side were a pair of kids. “ ~~~~~.” She pointed at the goats behind her repeating the word. 

Ah goats. “Goats, those are goats.” Ajax responded, saying goats in her tongue. Helene nodded happily and began pointing at each of them and giving him their names. The large black and white one was Armand, he seemed to be the head honcho. The fat tan one was Cecile and if Ajax had to hazard a guess was pregnant.  The next was one composed of a mixture of brown, black, and white and looked like she wanted to eat Helene’s dress was Martina and she was the mother of the two kids, Jean and Jeanne. The last two sounded almost identical to Ajax. These goats were the source of the cheese they had and once old enough, probably a nice piece of meat. He couldn’t help but say a little prayer for Jean and Jeanne. 

Helene didn’t give Ajax anymore time to ponder the fate of the goats as she began her march down the hill, goats trailing behind her. Ajax took up the end of the goat train, staff loosely held in one hand as he kept an eye on the two kids and their mother who kept trying to stop to munch on something. He ended up having to click at her and nudge her with the staff. Helene had looked back at him every few minutes, as if she expected him to get lost or fall behind. Luckily for her he had experience with following a long line of marching people. The FAtui had taught him well for this moment. Perhaps it was all worth it in the end if this was the result of his training. Ajax, goat marcher. He laughed softly to himself at the thought. The other Harbingers would be rolling over with laughter if they saw him now. Actually, Dottore would probably be trying to stick him with a needle and something. Like a deranged teal mosquito. 

They passed through the already busy village, people staring and whispering behind their hands at the strange march, at the sight of their supposed new god behind a bunch of goats and the seer Helene. Lady Helene had always been strange but her visions were never wrong, if she said this monster in a human like form was their god and would protect them then they would follow her. But seeing him happily follow her and a trail of goats made them less wary and softened their hearts. Perhaps she was right about him being a newly born god and that’s why he was so weird and jumpy, it was almost cute how serious he looked in his task of making sure the goats didn’t fall behind or wander off. 

Ajax however was unaware of these thoughts and when he saw the eyes upon him began to stiffen up. All of his military training kicked in so that he was flawless in how he walked and portrayed himself. He didn’t want to appear as a useless mouth to feed and clothe. If Helene wanted him to take care of these goats then he would become the best damn goat herder that Fontaine would ever see. If he showed them that he could pull his weight then they wouldn’t chase him out with pitchforks and torches. 

Soon they left the small village and were surrounded by the large golden fields. Farmers and fieldhands were already beginning to cut down the stalks, Ajax arriving just in time to view the beginning of the harvest.  The golden stalks fell down as their sharp silver sickles fell down upon them. Their once proud heads, crowned with golden jewels, falling into the muck and mire of the ground beneath them. Soon scooped up in large bundles where every one of them were the exact same and then thrown onto a large pile of collected bundles. It was hard work, sweat beading along their brow bones, unable to look up from their work to gawk at the new freak in their town. 

Ajax felt compelled to offer his help but Helene obviously had plans for him. Perhaps once he got further into learning the language he could offer his help. He was good with grueling manual labor, it was what he was trained to do. He was jolted from his planning by a loud bleat. It was Martina who looked annoyed that he was no longer continuing their song and dance of her stopping to eat and him pushing her forward. He scuffed at the bossy goat, much like her owner, and quickly caught up to the rest of the group. 

It had been about an hour since they left the barn and they finally arrived at a large open field of grass and other grasses. Other people congregated at other places with their own animals. He could make out a couple groups of goats and a large herd of sheep. From what he could tell, there were no cows or horses, animals that were common in his small fishing village. Large hardy beasts. Helene sat down on a large stone, a tired sigh emanating from her as she sadly looked at the field. 

“Ajax, ~~~~~~~~~~.” She looked at him with both relief and anguish in her eyes. 

He knew she couldn’t understand but he still asked, “What’s wrong?” Helene shook her head as if in response to his question. She patted the empty space next to her, the stone weathered smooth and into a chair by the erosion of many people using it as a resting spot. As he sat down, he followed her gaze to the field. Her goats ate happily in the field as the kids jumped around playing with one another. It was peaceful. 

“Ajax, ~~~~~~” He looked back at the old woman who was holding a small stone in her hand. Ajax put his dark purple, almost black, hand out to her. Her sun tanned and wrinkled skin brushing against his colder than normal skin to drop the stone in it. He pulled it closer to inspect it. It was a slightly uneven oval, a milky white with bright colors that popped out in the bright sun. An opal. 

He remembered seeing a bunch of unprocessed opals in Liyue with Zhongli, he had said something about how they symbolized purity and hope. Ajax’s corner of his mouth twitched at the irony. Him the most impure person being given rock that meant purity. He could almost laugh at it if he didn’t think it would offend Helene. Speaking of the woman was looking at him expectantly. “Thank you.” He smiled at her and tried to give it back to her but she shook her head and pushed it towards him. 

“~~~~” She pointed at it “~~~~.” 

“Opal.” He repeated back to her. He looked at the simple stone in his hand. He preferred red gems, or at least when Pulcinella asked him if he had a preference for a stone he had simply said rubies because he was seventeen and he thought they looked like blood. It was something new, like everything else around him but this was a simple change, a small one. He carefully tucked it into one of the inside pockets of the outer tunic, Helene probably also had one somewhere which was where she kept taking things out of. 

Helene tapped his shoulder, as soon as he looked at her she pointed at the rock they were sitting on and repeated a word a few times. Ajax felt a laugh burst from him at that, he had been so worried that this was to be a test to see if he could help out around the village and it was actually a language lesson. Helen just looked at him with the patience of a saint. Tsaritsa bless Helene. 

Chapter Text

The sun beat down on Ajax’s back as he helped till the field. It was only early spring and yet the sun harshly shone down, intent on setting everything ablaze. He wished it was still winter, a few small puffs of snow on the ground and a refreshingly cool wind. Despite his best hopes, winter in Fontaine had ended rather quickly and turned into a warm summer, and according to Helene it was one of the hottest summers they had ever had. She insisted it was because something or other was unbalanced. He still couldn’t fully understand some of the more obscure concepts in her language, yet. 

He stood up from hoeing the ground to glare at the sun. The past few months had passed much too quickly for Ajax’s taste, the winter being a blur of Helene’s almost hellish language lessons and Basile forcing him to cook as much as possible once the man realized he knew how to cook. He still didn’t allow him to help clean the house, always muttering about how it was beneath him to sweep the floor and brush down spiderwebs. He was probably still considered a guest by them, a guest cleaning their home was probably taboo or something. 

“Ajax, do you need some water?” Fillicien, one of the more outgoing field hands asked, also standing up and cracking his back. Ajax nodded and quickly caught a waterskin that was not so gently chucked at his head. It was a part of a ‘fun’ game that he and the other workers had started when they realized he had abnormally sharp reflexes. Everynow and then they wold attempt to get him to miss something being thrown at his head, it did wonders to Ajax’s fight or flight response which was hardwired to only be fight, the urge to send a burst of hydro towards the offending object and person constantly there. Nothing like desensitization training, right? 

Ajax took a slip, giving the sun another ugly face. “This sun makes me so angry.” He yelled back to Fillicien, tossing the water back. The young brunette stumbled a little in trying to catch it but he managed in the end. 

“Ah yes, I remember you being mad about the ~~~~~ of the snow.” the other man grabbed his hoe in both hands and put on a sad looking face. “I want the snow, I can’t ~~~~~ without the cold. I will melt!” He feigned falling to the ground, a hand draped dramatically over his face. 

Ajax rolled his eyes at his antics, it was refreshing since he was one of the few people outside of Helene and Basile who felt comfortable enough to joke around with him. “Ah yes, I will die without it, just like you would die without Larissa.” He smirked at Fillicien’s growing blush and stammering. “If you like her so much just tell her.” He turned back to his work trying to ignore the sounds of footsteps coming closer. 

“But she is so…Larissa. And I am ~~~~~~~. He flung himself over the heretic’s shoulders, completely foregoing pretending to work. “She will never say yes, I don’t own my own field or even house. She wouldn’t want to ~~~~~ in a house with my mother, father, and younger sisters. It would be ~~~~~~~~.” He lamented to Ajax who just kept working even with the added weight. It provided him with a more intense workout. 

“Those who don’t take action due to fear will soon find themselves full of regret that they didn’t take a chance. Like a beautiful cliff face that you never stop to look at until it is completely eroded away by the crashing waves.” 

Fillicien pushed himself off of the other man with a huff. “You must stop doing that.” 

“What?”

“Suddenly saying wise stuff, it’s confusing when you act like a ~~~~ and speak half of the time like a drunk ~~~~~. Just where does wise Ajax come from.” 

Ajax gave him a pinched smile, trying to figure out that most of ‘his’ wise sayings were actually from a 6000 year old retired god who was technically alive right now but didn’t know him and was probably still in his bloodthirsty emo phase. “An old friend of mine used to give me advice, I ignored lots of it and here I am. Gotta help others from going down the same path as me.” He chose the mysterious friend who is no longer there, a cheap but simple way to get out of hard conversations. He had been using it more often than not, and not only for Zhongli. He used it for his family, friends, and coworkers. 

“Uh-huh, and do you feel regret about this friend?” Fillicien gave him a shit eating smile. “Don’t look at me like that, you get this ~~~~~~~~ look sometimes whenever you mention your friend. And then you have the other look when you mention your other friends, that one is less regretful and more ~~~~~~ and sadness.” Ajax gave him an incredulous stare, he didn’t look sad or whatever. His new friend was just being delusional.

He made this known to said friend who gave him an unbelieving chuckle. Standing back from Ajax, he was about to say something else when a reprimanding voice began yelling at him. “FILLICIEN! WHAT ARE YOU DOING? GET BACK TO WORK YOU ~~~~~~~~~” Just had begun stomping towards the two, looking very angry. Fillicien cursed under his breath, words that he had happily taught Ajax after Helene had smacked him over the head for asking about. 

Just had begun to warm up to Ajax, beginning to see him as a positive for the village after he had happily offered to fix some holes in roofs and walls in the middle of a small snowstorm. The other man still didn’t relax much around him still but he didn’t feel the constant need to watch over him. 

“Ah, Just. I was just ~~~~~~” Filicien wrapped his arm around Ajax again. Blanche just stared at him, disgust on his face. 

“Stop being ~~~~~. Get back to work and stop bothering Ajax.” He pulled the boneless young man off the ginger and forced him to stand on his own. “Now get back to work!” He shoved the now whining and flailing Fillicien back towards where he had been previously working. The other people who had been working alongside the two were now watching and laughing at the shenanigans. Ajax also found himself chuckling along. Just gave Ajax an apologetic look for his nephew's behavior, his long black beard swaying with the movement. Ajax just shrugged and got back to work. 

He could hear the others also get back to work, talking intermittently with each other. Ajax was often excluded from those conversations, still an outsider. Even with Fillicien’s efforts to talk to him and include him in conversations, they usually ended up being awkward and cut short due to him not fully being able to understand what they were saying and that they were still visibly uncomfortable around him. Still not trusting of the strange newcomer with purple arms and legs, horns, and dead fish eyes. It made perfect sense and if it was him in their shoes, he would be even more suspicious. 

He quickly got farther away from the group, steaming ahead with his tilling. Being a messed human who had been in a military organization had some perks. As he kept working, he could feel people's eyes on him, wondering how he could simply keep working despite the hot sun and the wear of tilling. They truly felt like they were witnessing the strength and resilience of a god. Sure it was a god who was more relaxed and seemed to want to integrate himself without becoming an overpowering deity. Similar to the god of the neighboring Rumeria, Remus. 

They had heard about how his expansion had destroyed the Aremori Castle, one of the survivors defecting to his side becoming a Harmost. They had heard whispers of a resistance being led by another survivor, Erinnyes. All the villagers felt uneasy about what would happen if the resistance gained traction. As a village near the border of Remeria and close to what was Aremori Castle, they worried about becoming a frontline for the two sides. They already had to deal with the attacks from Vishaps and Barbarian raids from the horrid dragon Scylla. 

The fieldhands looked towards their god and his simple showing of strength, praying that he would prove strong enough to protect and save them from the flames of war that lapped on their shore and thundered in the distance. They had heard rumors of worse conflicts to the south with the soil turning red under stone spears  and a god who had imprisoned his subjects under a furious storm to the east. They only wanted to continue their peaceful life without getting involved in the petty squabbles and fights for power and strength. They had no need or want for it. 

Lady Helene had told them that their village would still see violence but that once the war of the gods was over, they would know peace under their god. Valentine, Lady Helene’s future successor, had also told them that their god was one of bloodshed and death, that he would turn their soil into blood and would help imprison their descendants under the waves. It was a grim foreshadowing from one from the line of Sybilla. Helene had simply brushed their predictions off saying that war was messy and there was more than one side to a story. Some villagers felt inclined to believe the older seer, knowing that she had never been wrong before. Some believed the newer one, knowing that they would soon be the only seer and thus have more visions on the young god. But most however, would just wait and see what he would do and the meaning behind his actions. And so far those actions were helpful, so they would allow him to live in and protect their village. Afterall it took someone with a wellspring of patience to deal with both Lady Helene and Fillicien. 

And speaking of her, Helene came walking down the outskirts of the field, her long gray hair swirling in the wind as she carried a small bundle in her arms. Ajax stood up and smiled softly at the older woman. Seeing him smile at her with pure fondness made it harder for the villagers to distrust him, even if his eyes didn’t gleam like normal. 

“Ajax, I have a gift for you.” Helene carefully stepped over the small stone wall and onto the soil, being careful not to step on a tilled section. Ajax walked up to her trying to figure out what was wrapped up in the cloth in her arms. 

“A gift? What kind of gift?”He walked closer to her, helping steady her as she stumbled a bit avoiding the holes. She gave him a wicked smile and carefully unfolded one edge of the blanket. Inside was a small baby goat, its coat was a dark brown with a few random splotches of light brown on it. Its left eye was shut tight and somewhat sunken in. The eye wasn’t in the socket and was the most probable reason as to why its mother abandoned it. It gave a little bleat to the sun now blaring down on it. “A kid? I thought that Martina wasn’t pregnant and Cecile gave birth only a few months ago.” 

Helene nodded while carefully handing the now squirming bundle into his arms. Ajax softly cooed at the little goat, a noise that was only somewhat less human than normal. “She isn’t ~~~~~~ Martina or Cecile’s, a neighbor's goat gave birth to three but ~~~~~~~~ this one because it is weak. I thought that you could raise it. You can choose what to do with her, you have a bleeding ~~~~~ towards Jean and Jeanne knowing they are for meat.” 

“I do not! I have no issue with slaughtering animals for meat, even if they are cute.” He mumbled, pulling the edge of the blanket from the mouth of the kid who was attempting to suckle from it. Helene gave him a skeptical look, if only she knew of the squirrel from his second day in this place. He was a cold blooded killer to all things cute and fluffy. “Despite that, I think I would like to keep this little guy.” 

Helene gave her dastardly smile to the man softly holding the baby goat. She knew he wouldn’t hesitate to offer to take care of it. “Well that’s good, now come with me.” She grabbed his elbow, pulling him away from the field. “I will give you supplies, you can use milk from Cecile to feed her.” 

Ajax carefully stepped over the holes and rested his hoe against the edge of the wall after he made eye contact with Filliciene who waved at him to put it down there. He got a wave from his…friend? He returned it awkwardly, between holding a newborn goat and being pulled around by Helene it made it difficult to give a substantial wave. The other man appeared to laugh at his struggle to wave. Ajax gave him a rude gesture that only garnered more boisterous laughter from him and the other workers. 

“Stop being ~~~~~ and hurry up. You are slower than an old woman.” Helene chuckled at him. He sighed at the comment before slipping on a mischievous smile. 

“Well I am slower than you because you are young and spry enough to be my mother.” He gave her an exaggerated wink which earned him a well earned liver punch. It did in fact pact a lot more power than expected for an old woman. 

“Stop being a cocky bastard,” one of the few bad words Helene had taught him through nothing but insults aimed at him and his ‘charm’. “You charm no one and only make yourself look like an ~~~.” She grumbled the last bit as they passed a few young children who chased after a flock of ducks. Archons forbid they hear Lady Helene curse. 

“I will when you stop dragging people around in a….quick walk?” 

“A rush?”

“A rush.” 

Ajax got another punch to his side. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that night, Ajax sat at the table closest to the fire, nursing the goat kid with a rag soaked in goat’s milk. Basile watched fondly as he kneaded bread for the next day and Valentine sat next to Ajax petting the goat, a miracle really. As it turns out, cute little goats can cause moody young adults to tolerate your presence. 

Helen sat in a corner watching it all fondly, she was spinning yarn on a drop spindle out of wool she had gotten from a neighbor. She had a reputation of being the ebay at it as well, creating the softest and finest fiber to use in making fabrics. Making the fabrics however was something she was apparently horrendous at that part of it. 

“What is her name?” Valentine quietly asked, petting one of her soft ears. Ajax froze for a second trying to think of a name. He looked down at his goat greedily drinking milk like no tomorrow. Maybe he should name it Hungry. He voiced that option and got three responding no’s. 

Back to the drawing board, he tried to think of a name that might relate to the goat’s coat color. Sadly the only thing that came to mind when looking at the brown fur was dirt. He wasn’t gonna name her dirt, that was a shitty name. If she had been a white goat then he could name her Tsaritsa, as a joke of course. Ajax smirked at the idea of presenting his Archon with a goat named after her. The goat would probably be frozen along with himself. 

She looked up at him with her singular eye and gave a tiny happy bleat. That’s when it hit him, he did know something brown that wasn’t dirt. It also only had one eye! “Mr. Cyclops will be her name.” He announced and raised her in the air, much to the displeasure of Valentine and the newly named Mr. Cyclops. 

“Mr. Cyclops?” The two words rolled awkwardly from Basile’s lips as he tried to properly pronounce it. “Is it a good name? You shouldn’t name it something vulgar.” 

Ajax laughed at his hestinane to accept the strange word as nothing inappropriate, Hele had already learned a few Schnexnyan curse words purely from tone already. “It is not bad, it is the best name possible.” Created by childhood naivety and wonder, in honor of my little brother, is what he didn’t say. He pulled Mr. Cyclops down and petted her head, giving her a sad look. Helene and Basile shared a look that Ajax didn’t see. 

“It sounds ~~~~~~.” Valentine grumbled, folding their arms and leaning away from the ginger and his goat. 

“You’re ~~~~~~~.” He fired back. 

“Valentine! Ajax! Behave!” Basile yelled at the two, his voice raised to an uncharacteristic volume. The two adults who were acting like young children furthered it by sticking their tongues out at the other. It had been something that Ajax had unwittingly taught Valentine. Basile gave a groan and threw his hands up at their antics, the two heathens giggling together at the site of what their tomfoolery did to him. 

Helene smiled at all of them, glad that they were slowly getting along more. She was worried that her great-grandchild would never warm up to the young god, too stuck in their vision to see that there was a real…being in front of them with thoughts and feelings. It would only serve to drive him towards possibly hurting them if they isolated and kicked him out. Only peace and kindness would help crack his shell, the goat kid was a step in the right direction. Give him something that is his and only his to make him feel like he belonged and others would soon back up that sentiment. 

She went back to focusing on her spindling, the spindle dropping and spinning around as the wool turned into thread. The sounds of Valentine and Ajax trading insults made her sigh in fondness. They acted so much like siblings even if they didn’t realize it. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next week for Ajax was off of field duty and into pure goat watching. Due to Mr.Cyclops being a hungry and needy little bastard, he had to feed her constantly. So here he sat on the rock Helene had taken him to his second day in the village, watching his goat stumble over her feet as she tried to chase after Cecile’s two kids, Snow and Rain. Ajax had been asked to name them and he quickly and randomly chose their names because it was raining sleet that day. Valentine had called him an unimaginative idiot or something along those lines, he didn’t understand the words she used but he could recognize the tone. 

He scoffed at that and smacked a rock with the end of his staff. It went sailing through the air and landed near Armand who slowly blinked at him before going back to eating his grass. As always unimpressed by the heretics' antics except when it involved helping him scratch that one spot between his horns. Damned spoiled goat. 

As if sensing his strings of profanities towards goats, Mr.Cyclops came romping up to him with a happy bleat. He smiled down at her and her energy, reminding him so much of Tuecer and his limitless energy. The kid jumped and flicked her tail a few times, headbutting his legs with bleats every few seconds. It wasn’t her hungry bleats luckily, those were so loud and long he would wonder if her entire body was a lung. 

“What do you need, little princess?” He whispered to her in Schneznyan, picking her up. She wiggled a little bit before bleating in his face and headbutting his chin. He laughed and let her nuzzle against it. He patted her side before letting her lay against his shoulder. She quickly scampered up to stand on his shoulders and peer down at the goats grazing below her new perch. He had begun teaching her to be comfortable up there after he had seen someone in future Fonatine who had a cat sitting on their shoulders as they walked around. He had found it adorable and decided he would be teaching Mr.Cyclops to do that as well. 

She luckily seemed to enjoy it and that height. “Is this what you wanted sweetheart?” 

“Meeeeeeh!” She yelled into his ear, earning a wince in response. Her little hooves dug into his shoulder muscles in an almost painful way as she shakily stabilized herself. After a few more minutes of her teetering back and forth, she carefully laid down with her front legs hanging over his chest while the back legs over his back. Ajax carefully patted her side as Mr. Cyclops began chewing on his hair. 

“Please don’t chew on that, I’ll look very ugly if you keep that up.” He chuckled, pushing her head away from the orange locks. She tried a few more times before ultimately giving up and letting loose an ear piercing bleat. Armand, Cecile, Jean, and Jeanne all looked up at her and bleated back. Martina simply flicked an ear towards the screaming kid, her grass being much more entertaining. Jean and Jeanne ran up to Ajax’s legs, headbutting both of them as hard as they could, their sharp little horns digging into his discolored legs.”You little brats, if you keep headbutting me like that I’m not gonna feel bad about eating you.” 

The two older kids took that threat to heart as they scampered away to bullying Cecile’s kids. Mr.Cyclops began wiggling to be let down from her perch to go play with the other kids soon after. Ajax set her down and off she ran, her little tail flicking about as she jumped around the others. The man smiled at the folicking goats before settling back on the stone, his face turned up to the sun basking in its glow. 

In the now pleasant heat, his mind began to wander towards the village and its inhabitants. While most of them now somewhat trusted him, there were still a few that didn’t. Little Yves’s parents were two of those people. Yves the child who had been overjoyed at having a weird stranger in his village had on many occasions attempted to insert himself into Ajax’s daily routine, following him to the pastures and trying to interrogate the ginger for all he knew. Yves’s parents had caught on and stopped the little terror from doing that but Yves still found a way to bother Ajax, not that he minded it. If anything he looked forward to it, Yves’s energy reminding him so much of his younger siblings, in particular Teucer. 

Ajax shook his head, smiling in fondness as he remembered a time when his little brother had attempted to be just like big brother Ajax and manipulate hydro into different shapes. He had only ended up flinging water around while insisting that he meant to do it. Their mother had been so angry when she found that her favorite rug was now soaked. Tuecer had begun crying so much it really did seem like he had a hydro vision to create all the tears. 

His smile faded as he pondered over when to let the village know he could use hydro. He had meant to show it to Helene a few months ago but whenever he was about to something else came up or it wasn’t the right time. The young man didn’t want the villagers to think he was hiding things from them but he worried over how they would respond to him using it. There were no vision bearers in the village and if he just started using hydro without one in sight, they might call him a witch or something and run him out of town. That would be the best-worst outcome, the worst-worst outcome would be them all attempting to burn him at the stake. 

Before his mind could conjure even worse scenarios, he heard the now familiar gait of Basile. The salt and pepper haired man smiled down at Ajax before sitting next to him on the stone. He silently handed over a basket with bread, cheese, and a fresh waterskin in it to him. “Thank you Basile.” He said before tearing into the small roll. 

“It is no issue, I figured that you would be getting hungry and thirsty out in this sun.” He gestured towards the giant ball of fire in the sky, Celestia conveniently right in it’s path. Ajax glared at it much to Basile’s fearful amusement. “You have such an anger towards that palace of gods-”

“They aren’t gods, they are nothing more than a bunch of hacks and losers. One of these days I am going to rip them out of the sky.” Ajax growled, a noise that was distinctly inhuman rose from the back of his throat. Basile gave him a startled look before glancing at the heavens, his face morphing quickly to one of fear. 

“You can dislike them in private but try not to do it in public Ajax. Others in this world and village might not share your ~~~~~~~~. They were strong enough to ~~~~~~~~ the gods to fight to the death, I do not want to know what they would do to us.” He grabbed the other’s hands, squeezing them as he looked around at the other shepherds in fear that they might have overheard something. 

Ajax rolled his eyes but patted Basile’s hands in a consoling manner. “Apologies Basile, I will try to keep my anger to myself.” Basile smiled sadly at him and shook his head.

“Even if you keep it in your heart, ~~~~~~ will know. I have heard the old stories passed down through my family. The gods there  are ~~~~~~~~~ and ~~~~~~~~. I fear for you often in regards to them.” The older man carefully picked up Mr. Cyclops and softly rubbed the soft fur of her ears. “Just be as careful as you can.” He handed the kid over the Ajax and sighed as he stood up. “Don’t forget, we have the  ~~~~~~~ for ~~~~~~~ today. It will start in a few hours. If you want you can help me finish up some of the cooking.” 

“Okay, give me about another hour, Martine would be upset if we left now.” He cuckold and pointed to the goat inhaling grass. Basile laughed and gave her a pat on her side. He began to walk away from the heretic whose soft smile fell a little more as he got further away. Ajax leaned back a little more, glaring up at Celestia. It pissed him off to no end that those assholes in the sky terrified Basile and this quaint little village. He already hated them but now he hated them even more. 

He jumped up and began to stomp around the pasture, trying to walk off his anger. He wanted nothing more than to find something and tear it apart with his own hands. He felt Foul Legacy move under his skin begging for blood to be spilt. But he couldn’t give into it, not here. If he lost control then…it wouldn’t be pretty for anyone involved if that happened. After an hour or so, he felt calm enough to reenter the village. Ajax rounded up the goats and began to walk back. 

As he made his way up the hill and to the goat’s pen, he saw people already in action setting up hand woven garlands of plants and flowers, stringing them around the columns of the central meeting place. Basile stood off to the side with a group of the best cooks in town, surrounding a couple fires and pots suspended above them. Him and Helene had mentioned that today was a sort of feast they had in the middle of planting crops and at the end of winter. It was supposed to help pray for more fertile soils and a sunlit summer. Fontine in the future already had a reputation for rain but as Ajax had seen in his months living in the past, they also had lots of rain. He found it quite lucky that the past week had been all sun and soft fluffy looking clouds. A true miracle. 

All the goats but Mr.Cyclops go into the pen. Being his special pet, Mr. Cyclops gets to join in the festivities. He picked up the little goat and walked back down the hill to Basile and everyone else. When he returned, there was a much larger crowd as people began mingling and drinking. One thing the past definitely had in abundance was alcohol. It wasn’t as sharp as the firewater from back home but it still had a pleasant burn as it went down. 

“Ajax, get over here!” Fillicein waved at the ginger to get his attention. He held two cups of the alcohol, holding one out towards Ajax with a grin. His cheeks were already slightly flushed and he seemed unable to stop giggling at the small goat slung over the heretics shoulders. 

Ajax took the cup from him with a thank you and nodded at the rest of the group. Fillicien’s crush, Larissa, was there along with Blanche, the bow user who had argued with Just to bring Ajax back. She nodded back to him while Larissa meekly gave a wave. 

“So Ajax, I was just telling these two ladies about your wise words ~~~~~~~ from a friend.” He got a small nudge to his side from the partially drunk brunette. Ajax rolled eyes and didn’t see fit to respond, wanting to see what idiocy Fillicien was on about. “Why don’t you tell us some more of this wisdom eh.” 

“Oh yes please. I am sure any wisdom from you or from your friend is very important.” Larissa smiled with innocence up at Ajax. She was not the best for picking up hidden meanings in words and was just a sweet girl. She probably did think that any guidance he could offer would be worthwhile. 

“Fine, just give me a second to think of one.” He rubbed his chin as he tried to think of a good one. “Oh I have a good one! Ahem, the only good sea creature is one that has been chopped into a formless paste.” He snorted at the memory of Zhongli saying that while giving a horrified look at his speciality dish, A Prize Catch. Shortly after he had said that, Childe had speared one of the octopus's tentacles and attempted to force feed the consultant. The octopus tentacle had been turned to stone and thrown out the window. Thinking back to it he had thought he heard the consultant  hissing but chalked it up to his imagination but now knowing what he is well…

“That’s ~~~~ advice. Fish are delicious! Give us something better!” Fillicein ordered, his drinking sloshing around. 

“Oh leave the ~~~ alone. He is having a hard time thinking.” Blanche smirked over the rim of her own cup. Ajax grinned back to her. 

“Oh I just thought of another, osmanthus wine…” Ajax took a sip of the alcohol and nodded sagely. Both Blanche and Larissa began laughing at his expression. Fillicein began bemoaning about how Ajax was making him appear stupid. 

“Oh you are very funny Ajax. I am glad you and Fillicein are friends.” Larissa managed to stop laughing. She looked over at Fillicein before quickly looking away. Both Blanche and Ajax looked at each other and began laughing again. “What is something funny?” 

“No Larissa, it’s nothing.” Blanche patted her shoulder before draining the rest of her drink “I think Basile needs you Ajax.” She gestured behind the man who spun around, the goat on his shoulder giving a displeased bleat. Basile was standing next to a steaming pot of something and was gesturing for Ajax to come to him. 

“Looks like I am being forced to cook. Here watch Mr. Cyclops.” He carefully handed the baby goat over to Fillicein who immediately began cooing at it in drunkenness. Larissa also got closer to Fillicein to pet it causing both their faces to become even more flushed. “Uhm make sure they don’t drop her please.” Blanche gave him a thumbs up in response as Ajax bounded off to Basile. 

The man was holding a wooden spoon in hand as he directed the people around him with ease. It reminded Ajax of watching a commander ordering his men to set up a camp or besiege an enemy camp.Basile whipped around and his face lit up at the sight of Ajax. “Come here now, I want you to stir this.” He then thrusted the wooden spoon into the younger man's hands and pushed him over to a pot. It appeared to have some type of soup in it. It had a distinct fish smell and bits of collected seaweed floated lazily to the top as he stirred. All in all it smelled delicious. 

“What is this called?” He asked Basile who was now furiously chopping up the ancestor of the buule fruit. Basile stopped for a second, pointing at the soup as Ajax nodded that this was the thing he was asking about. 

“It doesn’t have a name, it is just a watery fish soup. Although we do use a hearty ~~~~~ with lots of flavor.” 

“What is ~~~~~?” 

“Water that has had things cook down and away in it. It tastes very good on it’s own and good for colds.” Ah, stock. 

“Thank you.” Ajax smiled at Basile who smiled back before beginning once more on his chopping. Ajax fell into a calm loll as the other people cooking milled around him, sometimes adding something to the pot or pulling him away from it to help chop onions, pour things together slowly, or fold together dough around a hearty meat filling. Despite being outside, everyone was cramped together working around each other perfectly. Like water flowing between different stones in a river. And even though ajax had jumped in and caused some ripple and the river to flow differently, the water soon adapted to him. 

He found himself being included in conversations and inside jokes.The older folks whispering about the town gossip as the younger ones added their one take on it. It reminded him of when his family used to all get together and cook to celebrate the end of winter, a festival very similar to this one. He hadn’t been invited to one that felt like this in years, not since he changed. Ajax found himself feeling like he had a home that wanted him there, at least until Auntie Hildegarde pushed him out of the way to get at the soup because she insisted he was stirring much too fast. 

Basile looked over at the young god being bullied by the older woman, nodding along as she demonstrated the perfect stirring technique. He was glad that everything was working out and that he had become accepted so readily. Afterall, nothing brought people together like food.He finished up the finishing touches on the sweet breads, drizzling a honey and buule fruit coating on top before stepping back and nodding at his creation. He paused before grabbing one and rushing over to Ajax. 

“Ajax, tell me your thoughts on this.” He held out the bread to the ginger who carefully took it with his dark purple claws. They pressed against Basiles fingers for a moment, the skin rough like the hide of a Vishap but much warmer than it. He held the bun up to his face before taking a large bite, his eyes expanding as he let out a noise of surprise. 

“This is delicious! It’s so soft, like a cloud!” The god began to devour the bun with a speed and fervor only matched by the hungriest of children after playing all day in the sun. 

“Well it is my best recipe, I made it myself.” The older man's chest swelled with pride at the compliments. Ajax gave him a look before glancing to the plate of the rest behind Basile. 

“You made the recipe yourself? That’s ~~~~~~~~~” He beamed at the older man with his boyish smile. Although Basile didn’t understand the word he used, sharp and heavy on the tongue, he could understand the sentiment behind it. 

Ajax watched with amusement as Basile began to fluster and stammer at all the praise, insisting that it was too much for a simple bun. He was aware of how difficult some breads and desserts could be, a science all on its own. WHile he was skilled in cooking and baking, he never could get his bread to be as soft as the one he had just eaten. And when you take into consideration that the man had made it with more ‘primitive’ tools and supplies, it was extraordinary. 

But before he could begin to explain his reasoning a sharp horn began bellowing to the east of the village, near the forest. The villagers instantly stopped what they were doing, grabbing tools and weapons around them as a guard from the small stone wall around the outskirts came running towards everyone. Helene came from somewhere and went to the man who was talking much too quickly for Ajax to fully grasp what was happening. One word he kept repeating he didn’t know, but everyone shuddered when it was said. 

Then the screams started, horribly screams of people dying along with the roars of something else, something that sounded familiar. Finally the screams stopped and everyone watched in fear as a hydro vishaps slowly came out the woods, a human arm dangling from its jaw as it chewed on it. Blood coated its sharp teeth and claws, the grass becoming stained under its foot. 

Blanche and Just came out of the crowd with a few other people, swords, spears, and bows in hand. Some however, held rakes, hoes, and scythes. Larissa’s mother even held one of her larger blacksmithing hammers. Ajax found himself moving slowly through the crowd and up near Just and Blanche. Blanche gave him a look glancing at his empty hands before going back to the vishap who simply watched the villagers, its tail swinging from side to side. 

“Go back to everyone else if you don’t have a weapon.” She murmured to him. Ajax looked at her, making eye contact. Blanche froze as she suddenly got the feeling that there was something much more dangerous than the vishap here and it was right next to her. Its eyes were dead, not a single pinprick of light from the setting sun or fires around them shone it. Despite there being no light, something was in that eye and it was monstrous and strange. She wanted to look away, look back to the thing that had eaten and killed one of their own, but she couldn’t move, couldn’t look away. 

“I don’t need a weapon.” It said, grin growing as it looked away from her, freeing her of its spell, and back to the vishap. The vishaps own gaze also seemed pulled to the thing beside the archer, its eyes small and beady but with light in it. So unlike the one before it but the same bloodlust inside. “Stay back for now, ~~~~~~~ are known for being together. If there is one then there could be more.” Then he began walking forward. Just hissed under his breath at the monster who had resided among them to come back and to not be stupid but it didn’t listen. Instead it held its hand out towards the beast. 

Suddenly a light blue light appeared in front of its hand, moving and dancing around it with the fluidity of water. Everyone gasped as the realization hit them, it was water. It was hydro. The hydro suddenly sharped and condensed into a sword, the tip of it forming a shape similar to a fish hook. The vishap hissed and something akin to words rolled from its core, the hand dropped onto the ground. The villagers’ god laughed and said something back in that foul hissing language before ripping his sword in two, holding two identical versions of it and racing forward with a burst of speed. 

Ajax jumped at the vishap, his sword ready to swing as he attacked near its neck. The beast jumped back avoiding the blades as it summoned its own hydro burst towards the abyssal man. He dodged in turn and closed the gap, slashing upward and only nicking the vishaps front leg. It roared in anger and pain, swiping towards the ginger with its claws only to meet nothing but air. It was slow and cocky, attacking this place on the belief that only simple humans lived there with dull iron that would need to strike over and over again to even dent its scales. It had not prepared for this enemy. 

Said enemy was already twirling around to its blindspot in a burst of hydro, the swords merging into a spear that came down and impaled the vishaps back. He jumped back dodging the sweep of a claw. WHile he unfortunately didn't drive it too far in, having hit bone, the wound was bleeding it’s dark blue blood all over the grass staining it. Its jaw opened wide as it moved in to take a chunk out of him, jumping over its head and stabbing at its eyes. One of his water knives missed but the other hit soft tissue, the eyes folding inwards as he attempted to stab it all the way into its brain. The Vishap shrieked and hissed, tossing and turning its head every which way and swatting at the bloodthirsty ginger on top of  it. Ajax was hit by one of the claws, flying through the air before landing with a role a few feet away. 

The vishap kept wailing, moving its head and body erratically as it dealt with the pain. It turned its head to the side, the good eye looking at the heretic with pure unbridled hatred. Ajax simply laughed, a distorted and bloodchilling one. The other monster gave a roar and charged, hydro condensed on its claws and tail swinging around trying to bat the abyssal one into the ground. The two engaged in a deadly game of avoidance, where one made a move to kill and the other moved to live. Back and forth it went until Ajax dove right at its already destroyed eye. The vishap moved to block him and hopefully turn his stomach into a bunch of ribbons, but Ajax had expected that and went instead for its good side. 

The last thing the vishap saw before it died was a true monster that had somehow snuck its way into a human skin. Then its head fell from its neck, sliding onto the ground. The beasts body also collapsed, nothing left keeping its legs from collapsing under the weight of its body. The death twitches soon began, blood being worked into the ground and more grass and earth torn up. 

Unable to stop himself, running purely on instinct and the whispers in the root of his brain where foul legacy sat, he walked up to the twitching corpse and placed his hand upon it’s side. Once more he felt that strange spark that zipped along his arm and through his veins. This time however it felt sharper and more angry. He wretched his hand away from it, observing the discolored limb for any signs of difference. Once again, it was the same as it had been since he ended up in the past. 

He was snapped from his pondering as the branches creaked in the woods and another vishap came tearing out, jaws open and ready to get revenge for its fallen brethren. Ajax slowly turned his head and was about to resummon his swords when an arrow whizzed past his skull, nearly nicking his ear, and into the mouth of the beast. 

It immediately fell down choking on the arrow and blood welling up from its esophagus. Ajax walked up to it and slid a spear of water through one of its eyes and out the other. As soon as he ripped it out, the vishap fell down dead. He once more placed his hand upon it but this time turned about to the crowd of armed villagers and gave Blanche a thumbs up. Blanche who was shaking like a leaf and down an arrow. 

“Good shot!” He yelled, before quickly summoning his own bow hydro spinning into the familiar form of Polar Star. A large beam of hydro condensed together as he pulled it back and aimed, letting it fly through the air in a smooth arc. People screamed and ran to the right when they saw the bolt of hydro come near. It never touched a single one of them, impaling itself into the side of a third vishap which had been sneaking up from the back of the crowd while they were frozen watching the carnage in front of them. Ajax cursed, he had been aiming for the head to kill it in one blow but once again the mastership of the bow failed him. 

Just quickly rallied his soldiers and they descended upon the partially downed vishap, slashing and stabbing it, avoiding its claws before it ultimately let loose its death roar. Its claws no longer longing to be colored with human blood. Ajax however felt his own claws twitch, foul legacy urging him to run up and bless the beast with his touch, that it would be a sin not to. But Ajax ignored it, the want to spill blood and cause destruction around himself sated for now. Foul Legacy growled deep in his chest at the impertinence of its host.

Said host continued to ignore it as he carefully walked towards the crowd. More than a few people were actively looking like they were going to pee themselves while the rest just looked terrified, great. The one who bore a dissimilar look in her eyes was Helene. She stared at Ajax with a hint of pride? Ajax stopped walking confused at why she would look at him like that. She made up for him stopping by walking up to him, grabbing his hands and kissing them. “Helene what are you-”

“You have ~~~~~~~ that no one else would die tonight, taking on those beasts as easily as a ~~~ would. For you are our ~~~, our ~~~~~~~~, our Ajax.” She turned to the crowd getting louder with each word. As soon as she finished talking the crowd erupted with cheers, people coming closer patting arms, back and a few even following Helene’s example and kissing his fucking hands! The heretic just stood there stunned at the response and unsure of how to react. He looked over at Larissa and Fillicein who were luckily still holding Mr.Cyclops. The two both had their mouths open and respect in their eyes. Ajax looked away partially ashamed, unsure of how to deal with everything, with everyone. 

He had just finished a fight, adrenaline still pumping in his veins. His instincts screamed at him to let loose a burst of hydro to push everyone back and run. To get away from all this life and happiness before he spoiled it. Before he-

“Everyone STOP!” a voice rang out from the back. The villagers stopped their crowding to see Valentine pushing their way through. They came up to Ajax and grabbed his arm and began pulling him through the crowd. “Can’t you see you are ~~~~~~~ him! You will cause your own death if you continue this ~~~~~~~!” they spat the last part at Helene whose smile dropped, his brow furrowing in annoyance. 

Valentine ignored the questions and whispers around them as they pulled their so-called ‘god’ through the village and to the home they were forced to share with him. They gave a look back and found him giving one of his unreadable blank dead stares. They ignored it and partially threw him inside and shut the door with a loud bang. 

“Thank you.” He whispered sitting on one of the remaining chairs, many of them having been pulled out for the festival. He seemed to curl up on himself, making him almost appear like a lost child. Valentine snorted at that image and poured each of them a glass of water from the nearby pitcher.

“I only did it because you looked ready to kill your way through the crowd to get away.” They sat down and slid the cup over to him. He took it and drank from it but not before doing what he always did. A quick swirl and glance down, a few sniffs, a small sip that he seemed to swirl around for  a minute, then he would drink normally. It spoke of someone on the edge, it was strange. “I don’t think you are our god. I think you might be one for you are something not human. I don’t understand why my great grandmother is so intent on establishing you as such but you are dangerous.” 

Ajax simply blinked at her and leaned back. “I didn’t understand all of what you said but I got the ~~~~. I’m not going to hurt anyone, unless I have to.” He added. Valentine gave him a sharp smile back, mirroring his laid back posture. If he hadn’t added the last bit, they would have called him a liar. 

“I still don’t like you, but I will put up with you. As long as you don’t lie or become insufferable then I won’t have any reason to oppose you, got it?” 

The beast across from them gave a wicked and broken smile in return. “Got it.” He then held out one of his monstrous hands, sharp and dangerous. Valentine looked back at his face, taking in the horns, discoloration and eyes, and then shook it. 

As soon as their hands connected an explosion of possible future opened themselves up behind their eyelids. And the young seer shuddered. 

Chapter Text

After the incident with the vishaps and Ajax revealing his ability to use hydro without a vision in sight, the townspeople all began to treat him differently. Not in a negative way, they all suddenly got overly friendly and would often ask him for advice and help. Most of the help they asked for was simple things.He would find himself happily fulfilling these requests since they gave him something to do and helped keep his mind off new revelations. 

That revelation being that these people believed him to be god or some kind. He discovered this after Fillicien asked him if he was buddies with Remus, the ~~~ of Rumeria. At first Ajax assumed he was talking about a king or ruler and thus said no. Fillicien had then begun asking that if he wasn’t a ~~~ then how could he use hydro and why did he look the way he did. His next sentence broke something in him. 

“Well since you're not a human then you must be a ~~~.” 

A god. Not a human, a god. The heretic had stared at the man with shock, confusion, and hurt. Ajax didn’t want to be mad at Fillicien for his words, he didn’t know that they hurt. After coming out the abyss all he heard from people he once considered friends and family called him a monster, not human anymore. Even in the Fatui among people who straddled the line between the mortal and divine, he was just another thing that wasn’t fully human. And now in the past, arms and legs a different color with horns upon his head, he was even more inhuman. But a god? No he wasn’t a god, maybe a god of being a failure and having people lie to him, but he wasn’t divine in any way. He was a being corrupted by the abyss and its poisonous presence. 

“I am anything but a god.” He gave Fillicien a sad smile and attempted to focus once more on the herd he was watching. Hildegard had twisted her ankle and she had entrusted her sheep and goats to him. Fillicien gave a dramatic huff and reached out to pinch Ajax’s ear. He flinched back with a hiss, his ears twitching at the pinch. 

“See that wasn’t very human, and if that isn’t godly then I don’t know what you are.” Ajax glared at the other before flipping him off. Fillicien returned the gesture before sitting next to the ginger. He seemed to think over something hard, a true miracle that Fillicien can even think of anything in depth. “If you aren’t a god…then what are you?” 

A looked over at his companion who was now picking at the claws on his hands. The stars embedded in his skin twinkled in the sun as the muscle underneath flexed. “...I don’t know anymore…” He whispered into the breeze, an almost silent thing. Fillicien immediately felt kinda terrible for even bringing the topic up in the first place with how downtrodden the not-a-god god looked. 

“Well…if you don’t know, then you could be a god. And before you say anything I think you would make a great one! Unlike Remus, you actually help out everyone and you never ask for anything in return. You also protect us without being a crazed power and land hungry asshole with a propensity for music!” He got a chuckle out of the other and smiled at his accomplishment. 

Ajax looked over at him, his dead eyes not quite twinkling in the sunlight but with something definitely alive hidden in there, and patted the other on the back. “Thanks, I’ll try not to be terrible.” He watched as Fillicien geared up to go off on a tangent about how he was definitely not terrible and actually super amazing. He watched the other man with an amused expression, the other man almost reminding him of that one oni he met in Inazuma who had tricked him into a battle with bugs instead of an actual battle. Ajax had still won in the end but it had sent the other into a tizzy over his apparent ‘skill’. He thought it more that the oni was shit at it instead. Even with only meeting the man once, his obnoxious enthusiasm and happiness had stuck in the harbingers memory. And now here he was in the past, once more comparing someone to someone who had a couple thousand years left to be born. It was strangely cathartic. Fillicien would probably lose his mind if he heard that bug battling was a thing in the future. 

“Enough about me, how is your courting of Larissa?” He had to hold back a  loud snort at how quickly the brunette turned bright red under his mess of curls. He stammered a few times and began to kick a small stone through the grass. 

“Oh it’s…good? I mean I have been talking to her more and I think she likes me but I still don’t think her mom would like us being together. I am a ~~~~~!” He groaned and covered his face. “And she’s scary! If I say something wrong she’ll twist me into a ~~~~~~~!” 

“I can’t believe you are more scared of Cecile and not me.” He chuckled, Fillicen uncovered his eyes and pathetically slumped onto the ground. One of the sheep came over to him and bleated before attempting to eat his hair. The flailing man didn’t try to stop it and only gave a mournful sigh. 

“That’s because she would actually kill me if I ~~~~~~~ up, the only reason why you would kill me is if I did something really bad. I would ~~~~~~~ that.” He finally pushed the sheep away when it pulled a strand harshly. “Also what if she says no and doesn’t want to ever see me again?” 

Ajax rolled his eyes “That’s stupid. Now cheer up comrade, she won’t hate you for loving her. As for her mom…I would say she might view you in a good light if you ask her for permission to court Larissa.” He got a chunk of grass thrown at him. “What? It’s a good idea, it would show that you care for her enough that you are willing to stand up to the scariest person in the village.”

“No you’re the scariest person in the village, Cecile is just more likely to kill me.” Fillicien gave one more groan of annoyance before sitting up and resting his forehead on the others knee. “I am a ~~~~~~. I am too nervous to tell Larissa the truth but it is eating me up inside! If I wait anymore it’ll kill me ut if I tell her I love her, Cecile would kill me. I am dead either way-”

“Then it’s better to live without regrets. Say what you want to say now or you might never have another chance to.” Ajax patted his head as the love sick brunette looked up at him glumly. 

He mumbled to himself a little bit before pushing himself up onto the rock. “If I die, it is all your ~~~~~. If she horribly rejects me then I am going to make sure you are just as miserable as me. We can both be the lonely losers of the village.” 

“I doubt that will happen but if Cecile tries to chase you around with a hammer then you can hide behind me. I’m pretty good at fighting.” Ajax winked at Fillicien and got a laugh in response. 

“Well that is the most I could ask of you, unless you would be willing to hold my hand for it, I might break it though.”

“I would like to see you try!” 

The rest of that afternoon passed in laughter and jokes, one could almost mistake them both as just two young adults having some fun on the job. Shortly after that day, about a week later, Fillicien did confess to Larissa who gleefully accepted him and the two of them announced their plans to court to both Larissa’s parents and FIllicien’s. Cecile had only scowled and muttered something about the young man not hurting her precious daughter but didn’t say anything else nor tried to outright murder him. 

Ajax watched the two of them hold hands and blush all the way through the summer, laughing along with Blanche at the two of them still acting so awkward. The rest of that summer was spent watching people’s sheep and goats and watching Mr.Cyclops grow into a beautiful goat. She still insisted on standing on his shoulders which got a little difficult as she got bigger but they figured it out…mostly. When she got excited sometimes she would shake her head around and scream, knocking her head and horns into Ajax’s. 

The two of them were watching the leaves fall from the trees around them. Currently, Ajax was with Just and a few other people collecting some extra firewood. It was still only early fall and while the collection of firewood was important for all times of the year, they were collecting enough that even Ajax, who grew up in a town with only three months of warm weather, was confused by the amount. He made this observation knownto Just who gave him a nervous look. 

“Those who go to the ocean to fish…sometimes we see other people. Most of them are traders, avoiding the edge of Rumeria in order to not pay their steep taxes. They carry spices from Sumeru along with gems from both Liyue and Natlan. Their ~~~~~~~~~~ is most often Snezhnaya and Andrius. Decarabian also used to have traders and ~~~~~~~~~ visit but it has been several generations since then. The closed borders would do that.” Just lifted his axe high over his head and brought it down in a harsh swing. The wood split cleanly in two. 

“What does all that have to do with preparing for an early winter? Did Helene or Valentine see something?” 

Just laughed “No, they can't see everything. Helene is the strongest seer since Sybilla. While she is very talented, her gaze is very concentrated, she can see multiple futures of the now and close future, Valentine however can only see the most likely future but they can see further into it. None of them can predict the weather since it has many ~~~~~~~~~.” He paused in his wood chopping to sit on the stump and look over at Ajax. “The traders are important because on their way back from Snezhnaya they informed us that two gods are beginning a stand off, much like Andrius and Decarabian. However instead of a constant turrent of wind, one is using a giant snowstorm, a giant one that will soon cover much of northern Teyvat. There hasn’t been one this large since the death of the cryo sovereign.” 

Ajax hummed in response, trying to think back to any mention of such a storm and who the first cryo Archon even was. There had been three cryo archons and there was hardly any mention of Melchiresa, the second cryo Archon, much less the first. 

“The battle is between Leshy, a bear spirit turned god, who is rumored to be harsh and bloodthirsty, with the ~~~~~~~~~~ of his people. He is not the one creating the snow storm, while he is supposedly cryo aligned, his skills are more with fighting up close. The snowstorm is the creation of Abraxas, the bastard of snow.” 

“Bastard of snow?” Ajax snorted at the name which only caused Just to give him a dirty look. 

“I wouldn’t laugh at his nickname if I were you, even as a god.” Ajax fought back the urge to deny, deny, deny. “He is named this not only for the status of his birth, but also because he is a scheming bastard. His sire was the cryo sovereign and his mother was an owl spirit. Despite this ~~~~~~~ he is not very strong in terms of fighting, but he is smart. After his father died, he and his many siblings all began a ~~~~~~~~ for power. According to the traders, there were once more than twenty and now there is only Abraxas. He schemed to kill them, some of his siblings were even full blooded dragons.”

Not to brag, but Ajax probably could have killed them as well. 

“Since he can’t directly fight Leshy, he is aiming to wage such a powerful war his people will all starve. Leshy cares deeply for his people, while he would probably be able to survive it, they won’t. He will most likely lay down his own life to save them all…a ~~~~~~~ that most gods should be willing to do but sadly do not.” Just sadly sighed and looked up into the leaves. “The fact that many would rather kill so many innocent lives for a drop of extra power…it is sickening.” 

Ajax stayed silent. Something like guilt bubbled up in the depths of his corrupted heart. He pushed it and all the faces of those he had been ordered to do away with deep down once again. He wasn’t a bad guy, he was simply doing what his goddess ordered. He didn’t purposefully search for those who couldn’t defend themselves to kill, he didn’t torture them like Dottore or Sandrone, or abuse kids. He was a pretty decent war criminal, if he did say so himself. 

“So that is why we will be having an early winter. The winds will carry the snow down to us.” Just then began to swing his ax once more. Ajax silently watched him, his mind still doing jumps to make what he had done in his life. How much blood truly stained his hands that he gave no second thought to in the moment of staining. How much blood had he felt on is skin and simply wiped it away before covering it once more. 

His mind struggled to push down the questions bubbling up from what remained of his conscience forcing his darkened and abyss drenched soul to weigh it down. He had to focus on something else, nothing good would come from rethinking all his life choices and mistakes. 

“Next time you go fishing, can I come with you? I am a pretty good fisher and I would like to talk to some of these traders.” Yes, that was a good diversion. Fishing was safe, normal, and something far away from his blood soaked steps. 

Just’s swing froze in mid air, the ax coming down weakly missing the log and imbedding itself in the old stump. A few of the other people who had been listening in also froze, now opening looking between the two of them nervously. Ajax slowly looked at all of them and then back at Just who was looking at the ax. 

“Ajax…that isn’t a good idea-”

“Why, I can fish, I can help out more. If you are worried about leaving the village unprotected, I’ve helped train up the other hunters. Blanche is more than capable to fight-”

“It isn’t about that, Ajax!” Just turned around his voice raising in octave. He slowly took a deep breath and sat down next to the ax. “I’m sorry, it isn’t safe for everyone if you go. Now hear me out please.” He quickly raised a finger as the other was about to object. “Like I said earlier, sometimes, traders come by. Traders bring us information but they also bring other people information. If they were to see you, to learn of your ~~~~~~~~…it would be bad.”

“Why would it be so bad if I talked to them?”

“Remus-Rumeria is ever expanding, we sit right on the border with them. They would not react well if they learned of a new god appearing so close to their borders. They will either try to kill you, kill all of us, or find a way to make you join them. So you going to the shore and us talking about you away from the village is ~~~~~~~~~.” Just looked up at the other finally, regret of a sort in his eyes. “You are too important to the village to lose to their senseless wars.”

“Oh.” Is all the heretic can say in response. It made sense but it still shocked him that these people would want to keep him. He knew that most of them didn’t hate him, but going to the point of forbidding people to talk about him, made something in him break a little. “...thank you.” He quietly whispered, nearly unheard. 

Just gave him a sad smile. “If you really want to fish that much there is a small lake to the east a little. The fish are small but it's enough for a small meal.” 

“Sure sounds good. Now lets get this wood chopped up, we have to have enough to keep from having our toes and fingers freeze off!” He shoves all those messy sticky feelings welling up in him once more. He was never good at reading and dealing with all his emotions. When he was younger he would usually just cry, after the abyss he turned to violence. But now he can’t use violence because there wasn’t anything worth killing nearby or anyone to fight and he refused to start crying. So he would just ignore all those feelings. He would be fine. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Soon the wind became cold and sharp, tearing all the leaves that remained from the trees. Snow began falling covering the once rolling green fields into a sterile white wonderland. Ajax soon found himself being drafted by Basile into making sure everyone had enough to eat and enough wood. At first it was easy. Taking the goats and sheep to the fields and helping push snow away for them to eat. Then they would sit in small huts in the field to stay warm. 

Kids would run around in the snow and laugh, having fun while their parents would haul around wood and other materials. It was peaceful and made Ajax think back fondly to his own childhood in Meropesoke. He could almost see him and his older siblings running around building snowmen and forts, their mother and father watching them laughing at their antics. 

At one point Yves had thrown a snowball at him and the former Harbinger soon found himself in the middle of a snowball fight. He didn’t use his full array of snowball skills on the kids, he didn’t want to beat them so horribly. In the end he ended up in a snowbank with five kids piled on top of him while Yves shoved snow down his shirt. Yves' mother had then scolded him for doing so and warned him that the god might get sick because of it. Ajax had laughed and said he had a strong immune system. 

Sadly this didn’t go for the people of the village and a sickness set in. At first it was the elderly, their breathing becoming ragged and strained. Then came the blood and fluid coughed up into hands and handkerchiefs. After the elders came the youth and soon their parents. The entire village came to a standstill, the once healthy 272 dwindled down to a healthy 195. The village doctor, Bob, tried his best to circumvent the illness but soon even he fell to it leaving his young apprentice Allain to find a way to help everyone.

Ajax stood clueless on what to do as Hildegard once more coughed up another bloody clump as she attempted to finish her will. She had no children or close relatives and was insisting that Ajax take her sheep and goats. Her house was being left to him as well but he insisted that it should go to Larissa and FIllicen who soon planned on marrying. Her wrinkle hand was clasped in his clawed hand as her breathing became more and more irregular and she drowned on her own blood. 

All the while the heretic attempted to hold back tears as he felt truly hopeless for yet another point in his life. He mentally abused himself for not being able to do something, for not being able to heal her. So many hydro users would use hydro for not only damage but for healing as well. But here Ajax was, a failure who couldn’t even heal a small scratch. He felt Hildegard give his hand a small squeeze and he looked once more at her wrinkled face. 

“Don’t look so sad, I am old and it is my time to go.” She croaked out, a line of red tinted spittle dripping from the corner of her mouth. 

“What are you saying, you don’t look a day over 57.” He sadly laughed as her gave her hand a kiss. “Just hang in there, I’m sure you’ll feel better soon and once more be prancing through the fields and taking over the kitchen once more.” 

She gave a weak chuckle “Don't butter me up young god. I have not felt well since I hurt my ankle, my time has been coming for a long time. I am glad that I lived for as long as I have and to have met you. Keep an eye on everyone else for me, make sure they don’t ruin any soups.” The two of them laughed together before she began coughing once more. An awful sound that grated Ajax’s more sensitive ears, slightly pinned back and dropping sadly. Hildegard gave another chuckle at the sight then closed her eyes and made herself comfortable in her bed, a hand woven red blanket on top of all the other ones. 

She didn’t make it to the next sunrise. 

Ajax stood in front of the grave that he had just dug out of the frozen ground. His vicious hydro having carved away the earth so that it could be filled with the bodies of the dead. He silently watched as Hildegard, wrapped in a white sheet with a red shroud over her head and woven branches in the shape of a crown, was lower into the cold ground. He continued to watch without a noise or movement as dirt slowly covered her up and the other people around him whispered apologies before moving onto the next grave to fill. 15 people had died so far and there was a likely chance that it would only grow by the next day. 

He was no stranger to death and had become close friends with it. He could look at dead bodies and not feel a thing, no matter the state they were in. He had even seen his friends from the Fatui die  as he only became stronger and stronger as they fell into the arms of death around him. But even then he hadn’t felt this affected by a death. Perhaps it was because this was no noble way to die with a sword in hand and a prayer on your lip. This was a death for the weak and powerless at the hands of a vicious monster that wormed its way inside their lungs and bodies. 

It was a poison that he could have cured had he learned how to heal instead of hurt. To give instead of take- 

But was it truly too late to learn? Ajax slowly held his arm out in front of himself. He pushed up his sleeve, watching the abyss under his skin twinkle and glow before her brought a knife of hydro to it and sliced. Unlike the skin on the upper part of her leg which had been red, this blood was purplish and also had a strange shine to it. He watched as it attempted to close up before he cut again, the pain dulled by his tolerance and apathy towards it. This was worth it if he could learn to heal and help. 

He changed the knife to a bubble and let it sit over the skin. Ajax tried to think of the skin knitting back together and the blood stopping, but it only continued to slowly heal at the normal rate. A curse slipped from him as the bubble once more became sharp, keeping his skin open. 

Over and over again he rendered it apart, trying to heal with his hydro, only to come up short. Blood covered up his arm, turning the purple and blue turn a purplish red. It began dripping onto the ground, soaking into the freshly turned soil and staining the snow around it. It was a macabre scene but Ajax didn’t care, all he cared about was the fact that he was a failure who was powerless to truly help people. All he could do was kill and murder. 

Just as he was about to open his arm up again, a glove covered hand attempted to wrench his arm away from the other. He snarled at whoever dared to touch and nearly raised the knife to take off their head before he collected himself and was met with Basile’s tear stained eyes. 

“What are you doing?” He asked in an absolutely heartbroken tone, tears in his eyes as he stared into Ajax’s red tinted dead ones, no more tears left for him to shed, only the old half frozen tracts and bloodshot eyes remained. 

“I need to learn how to heal myself so I can heal them. If I can’t then what am I if not a monster who is only good at killing.” He tried to pull his arm away from Basile but he ended up grabbing it tighter and pulling the injured one closer to him to examine it. 

“You shouldn’t hurt yourself, Ajax, even if it is to try and help. And you are not a monster who is only good at killing. You protect us, you keep us safe.  You don’t have to ~~~~~~~~ heal everyone, you can’t do everything.” 

“But I have to Basile, I have to…” His voice broke as he fell against the older man’s shoulder. His arm being oh so carefully held between them as Basile wrapped his free one around the god who was trying to hold up the stars, the moon, and the sun all at once. 

The two of them stood there alone except for the bodies of the recently deceased under their feet. Snow had begun to be blown on top of the frostbitten dirt, adding another layer to which the bodies rested, cocooned in earth with a shroud of snow on top. They stood there until Basile began shivering from the wind and the two of them slowly made their way back into the village. 

The next month was chaotic and full of running around as more and more people began to get sick and then ultimately died. The sickness moved across the village from the north to the south. More and more people became ill and bedridden, the village turning Helene and a few other people's houses into large sick centers to save firewood and keep a better eye on all. Ajax found himself digging over 60 graves in less than a month into it. Allain tried his best to help but people kept getting sick and dying. 

He and Ajax were currently standing next to Yves mother listening to her heart wrenching sobs as her son’s body was wrapped up in a white sheet. Ajax found himself disassociating as he watched the boy's pale face was covered up. His mother wrapped her arms around the now covered body as she coughed and heaved up her own blood over her son. The next morning she along with Yves were buried close to where her husband had been buried. An entire family gone by something that Ajax never thought too much about due to growing up with advanced medicine, or at least antibiotics and vaccines. 

But here in the past there was none of that, at least not here in a village who was only known for housing a line of disgraced seers and great wool products. They were not known for technological or medicinal advances. Perhaps if they had a better relationship with one of the civilizations like Rumeria, he had heard that they apparently had something not living that could move around and fight like a living being, it sounded like a robot to him. If they had that then they would certainly know how to help their village. But Helene, who by some miracle was still alive and not sick, stood fast in that they shouldn’t ask for help from Rumeria. 

Instead, Allain had mentioned how his teacher, doctor Bob, had mentioned helping a healer from Chenyu vale who might be able to help them. The future was cloudy to both Helene and Valentine so neither of them felt confident in sending someone to find this mysterious healer who may be dead. Ajax however thought that looking for the doctor might be a smart idea. Chenyu Vale has or had adepti like beings during the archon war as told directly by the god who conquered Chenyu Vale. The adepti were medicinally and technologically advanced so a healer from that area would theoretically be better trained than Allain whose teacher just died and hadn’t finished his training in full. Even Ajax with his limited medical knowledge found the young man asking him questions and asking for help. 

Even now he helped Allain fluff up Fillicien’s pillows as the young man complained about being babied. “I can fluff my own pillows, thank you very much.” He wheezed out before breaking into a horrid coughing fit. Larissa sat next to him holding his hand with tears in her eyes. 

“Don’t say that, Accept all the help you can get and live, Fillicien. I don’t wish to be a widow before we can even wed.” She whispered into his hand, pressing her lips against it as tears fell onto the pale fingers of her love. 

“No..when I die-”

“If, if you die.”

“...If I die, do not let me drag you down from being happy. If you meet someone else I beg of you to follow that happiness, don’t throw it away because of my death.” Fillicien sadly smiled at her, his own eyes reflecting her own. 

The doctor and heretic quietly left the room, leaving the two alone. They stood in silence outside of Ajax’s room which he had given up to house his friend. “He won’t make it another three weeks.” Allain whispered. “He is stronger than the others who have died but…it will still take him.” 

“...how long would it take to take him to the healer in Chenyu vale?” Ajax asked quietly, pulling Allain away from the stairwell and towards Basiles room, where he had been staying now. 

Allain looked at him shocked before looking at his feet ashamed. “It would take nearly three weeks, even if you forced yourself to go without stopping it would be two weeks there and two weeks back. He would die before you returned.” 

“What if I took him with me? Strapped him to my back and ran as fast as I could? He would live, wouldn’t he?” Ajax grabbed the others shoulders, his claws digging into the others skin even through the thick layers. 

Allain flinched back but couldn’t look away from the fire that had erupted in the eyes of his god. Dark, dangerous, and willing to do anything for those he cared about. He felt terrified. “ Y-yes th-that could wor-work. But you d-don’t know the way to the-the path down the falls.” He stammered and shook in the others hands trying to to cry out as he felt his skin part and bleed under the sharp claws.

“But I know the way.” A voice answered from behind them. Ajax quickly let go of Allain’s shoulders as Blanche stood in the doorway, an empty look sat on her face and her eyes were nearly as dead as Ajax’s. “I can show you the path down the falls and make sure we find the correct healer. Bob was my great uncle, he would sometimes talk about his experience apprenticing under him for a summer. I would have no issue finding him.” 

“Blanche…I will be traveling at a grueling pace, it won’t be easy to keep up.” 

“I can keep up, don’t look down on me just because I am a human. Now we should inform Fillicien and Larissa of such events.” She walked right up to both of them, her own determination flaring to life to save her friend as well. She glanced down at Allain’s trembling form and scoffed. “And stop scaring Allain, it won’t do any good if our last doctor died from ~~~~~~.” 

Ajax grumbled something about not meaning to scare him as Allain gave Blanche a thankful look. “I m-must get back to the rest of the s-sick, goodbye and I was never involved in this plan.” He whispered, darting out of the room at impeccable speed. The archer gave the ginger a raised eyebrow of disapproval before the two of them went to inform the young couple of the plans to leave. 

The two agreed to the plan and they planned to leave the morning after the next day. That day before was spent by Blanche and Ajax carefully collecting materials. Blanche had even convinced a cousin of hers who was going fishing that day to leave a small boat unattended for them. That night, Ajax made an excuse of wanting to keep an eye on Fillicien to prepare him for the journey. He began by wrapping him up in so many layers of coats, pants, and finally blankets that he looked more like an overgrown caterpillar with limbs than a person. 

Next he carefully fastened the overgrown caterpillar to his back with rope so that his arms were over his shoulders and his legs were wrapped around his waist. “I feel like a baby strapped to its mom, should I start calling you mama Ajax?” Fillicien giggled before coughing. 

“Hush, we need to sneak out of here without you coughing your lungs out.” He sharply whispered back before the two made their way to the stairs. Ajax would have chosen to go out the window as it would lead to less people possibly seeing them, but he didn’t want to risk it with Fillicien’s now delicate health. Slowly he crept down the stairs watching for any flashes of eyes in the downstairs now turned infirmary. Luckily it seemed that tonight everyone was sleeping peacefully. 

The two of them slowly weaved between cots until they reached the door, slipping through it and into the darkness of the night. Blanche stood on the road to the entrance of the village with a pack of food and other supplies. She nodded to the two and they took off to leave the village. However, the two of them froze as they were met with a sharp gaze and black hair swirling in the wind. Their face twisted into a look of contempt and anger. 

Valentine was waiting for them at the gate. 

Chapter Text

The three of them all stood frozen as Fillicein began grumbling about them standing around as he was dying. Blanche rested her hand on a knife at her hip while Ajax slowly moved his feet to be more stable. If this broke out into a fight, which he hoped it didn’t, he would have some trouble with Filicien on his back but he would manage. A gentle snow fell down around the group as they stood in silence together. 

“You’re taking him to that healer aren’t you.” It was not a question, but a statement. Their eyes swept over Blanche’s stance then the Ajax and finally to Fillicien’s pale face poking of his wrappings. A look of sympathy flashed over them before it hardened once more. 

Blanche took a step towards them, looking down into their eyes. “Are you going to try and stop us Tine. I don’t care if you don’t see a likely future where we succeed, if we have even a sliver of a chance to make it then I will do it.” 

Valentine closed their eyes and sighed sadly before grabbing her cloak and pulling her into a hug. “I’m not going to stop you, I just want to tell you to be careful and come back.” They then opened their eyes again and looked right at Ajax. “All three of you better come back safe. If you don't, I will find a way to make your lives ~~~~.” 

A wet laugh was heard from over their shoulder from Blanche. “Of course we’ll be safe, you also be safe. And take care of everyone for us.” She pulled back and patted Valentine’s shoulder. 

“I’ll miss you to Tine~” Fillicien giggled with an airheadness from his bundle. Valentine turned bright red, pulling their hood up and mumbling under their breath about him being annoying. The three of them standing regarded each other with a few nods before Blanche and Ajax ran past them and down the dark path to the woods. 

Valentine watched them disappear, their fists shaking with how tightly they were clenching them. While the current future was blurry to them they felt something deep in them that screamed danger, a possibility that someone wouldn’t come back to them. And they knew it probably wouldn’t be Blanche or Fillicien. All they could do was hope that Ajax would make the right choice and come back to the village, back to his family. 

They got a hold of themselves and their emotions before turning back to the village looking up the hill to where they lived. Helene stood out in front of the house like a wisp, wrapped in her red and gray shawl with her long white hair let down, silently watching her great-grandchild walk back up to her. 

“You better hope he comes back Valentine. If he doesn’t we will all be wiped out, our name and family lost to time…” 

“...That’s all you care about huh, legacy, the future. Heh, if Ajax finds happiness and peace in Chenyu vale then good for him, I hope he doesn’t come back then. I hope he’s selfish.” They hissed the last word in the matron's face before stomping over to the goat shed, the sun would be rising soon anyway and they needed to be fed now that Ajax was gone. Mr. Cyclops would be so pissed. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ajax, Blanche, and Fillciien reached the shore just before the sun hit the midway point in the sky. It was only partially cloudy but it still snowed despite the hints of sun peeking out from behind the gray snow filled clouds. Blanche led them to the boat hidden in between two large rocks and sitting just next to the ice covered water. 

“It’s iced over pretty badly, hopefully we can break it because if we can’t then I don’t know what we will be able to do.” She held up two oars and then a long metal pole with a sharp metal tip. Ajax hummed and examined the tools. He took one of the oars and spun it around. It was made of a strong wood and had some decent weight to it. It wouldn’t be too hard to bash someone’s skull in with it. 

“I can probably break the ice with my hydro if needed, but if it’s too hard to break after all of that, we can pull the boat on top of the ice and pull it.” He set the oar down in the boat carefully, taking stock of the bags already situated in the boat, probably placed by Blanche’s cousin. “Now help me untie Fillicien and get him set up.”

“Just when I was about to fall asleep to the soft rocking of my new mom’s running pace.” Fillicien chuckled up a glob of blood with the statement, the liquid hitting Ajax’s ear and sliding down his shoulder. The heretic shuddered at the feeling and glared over his shoulder at the sickly man. “Sorry.” He croaked before Blanche helped take him down. 

After the ropes were untied, they set them near the front where Ajax would sit and then placed Fillicien in the middle. A few more blankets were placed under and around him until he was wrapped in a blanket and fur cocoon. He would have looked peaceful and snug if not for the deathly pallor and blood on his chin. Ajax carefully wiped it off as Fillicien grumbled. “Don’t grumble now, I’m just making sure my precious little kiddo is all nice and clean.” He said through a forced smile. 

Fillicien cracked open his eyes and made a few noises of complaint and fright. “Blanche, throw me overboard now, it’s safer there.” 

“How about you shut up and keep your strength up you dumb~~~. We can’t have you coughing your lungs up a week early because you can’t shut your ~~~~~~~ mouth.” Blanche snapped at him. She didn’t even look over at him as she unmoored the boat and got ready to push it into the water. Fillicien gave a sad sigh before nodding and closing his eyes once more. 

As she pushed the boat onwards the water, Ajax summoned a large wave of hydro to clear away the thin layer of ice on the surface. Then the two of them jumped into the boat and used the oars to push it away from the shore and out into the ice covered sea. Luckily for them, the ice didn’t go out too far and thin even more as they paddled away from the shore and eastwards.Their plan was to travel east until they reached the falls and then paddle around until they find the stairs down. 

“And you’ve never actually been to them?” 

Blanche scoffed, leaning her head back and looking up at the sky. “This is the furthest I’ve been from the village. But I have a good memory and I know that the stairs are there and where to find them. Next to a large dead tree with a gnarled trunk and a large boulder.” 

Ajax glanced behind him at the young woman who was taking a break to eat some food and drink some water. They had been in the boat for three days already and had fallen into a bit of a rhythm. Because Ajax had increased strength, power over hydro, and didn’t need as many breaks, they were well ahead of schedule. “Okay so you expect us to just boat up and down the cliffside until we find a very specific tree and boulder that you have never seen before? I’m sorry but that is idiotic!” 

“Yeah well it’s better than the god who just woke up a little over a year ago!” Ajax had to bite his tongue to not snap back about how he had been to nearly every nation in Teyvat and also traveled from the future. “Besides, there are other landmarks along the way. It is not as hopeless as you make it seem.” 

“If you say so.” He grumbled. Fillicien made an unhappy noise and began coughing again. He had been propped up on some blankets and had already painted the top of his blanket red with his blood a few times already. Luckily they were completely surrounded by water so cleaning it up wasn’t too difficult. 

Blanche quietly consoled him and tried to get him to drink water but the coughing just got worse and worse. Ajax tried to focus on rowing faster until Blanche yelled his name. He pulled the oars in and turned around best he could and saw Blanche looking down terrified at Fillicien who was frothing at the mouth unable to breathe. 

“FUCK!” Ajax yelled before dashing into action. He pulled Fillicien up from his lying position so he had his head over the side of the boat and patted his back. It helped a little bit but he was still coughing and drawing in his own blood and spit. “Fuck, Fuck, FUCK!” Ajax chanted as he tried to figure out what to do while Blanche had begun crying and panicking. 

Suddenly moving through pure instinct and a half mad idea formed from one thing he heard long ago, Ajax set a hand on his friend’s sternum and closed his eyes. He focused on trying to sense the hint of hydro in the blood in his lungs and attempted to get it to move out. After a tense minute he felt something give and Fillcien gave one more gag and out came a flood of fluid from his lungs and into the water below. He gave a few more wheezes before collapsing onto the heretics arm around his much too bony chest. 

“W-what..” He tried to ask as he was set down and some water given to him to drink. 

“Human bodies have some of the elements in them. Geo in bones, Electro in the brain, and Hydro in the blood. I just tried to focus on the hydro in your lungs and tried to use how mine felt to figure out what didn’t belong and get it out.” Blanche scooted over and set a hand on both of their shoulders. “I wasn’t sure it would have worked but I couldn’t think of anything else to do.” 

“It f-felt wrong. Don’t d-do that to me again unless…I nearly die again.” FIllcien got out before blacking out. The two warriors immediately checked his breathing and pulse and both were fine, the breathing being the most stable since Fillicien got sick. The two of them looked at each other before they also collapsed on either side of their sick friend. 

“That was messed up Ajax.” Blanche said after a few minutes. Ajax turned his head to look at her. Her eyebags had gotten worse and her hair was a greasy mess, he probably didn’t look any better. Being careful of his horns and rolling over. 

“I know…I don’t ever want to do that again…I am not a good person but even I know that using hydro like that is pure evil.” Blanche looked right at him with her eyes wide and alert despite the exhausted hiding within them. “I swear to you, I swear on all my power that the day I do that again to not help someone, like Fillicien just now, is the day I give up my humanity.” 

She was silent for a bit before giving a half hearted laugh. “Humanity…you’re such a weird god Ajax…” Her eyes then slid shut and her breathing began to slow. “Wake me in a few hours why don’t you, you weird little god.”

“Sure thing you weird little human.” He retorted, watching her snort and pull an extra blanket over herself and Fillicien’s now destroyed bundle. As the two of them napped, snow fell over them, covering them in another blanket. Ajax watched it fall for an unknown amount of time before sitting back up and beginning to row once more to the edge of Blanche and FIllicien’s little world. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“...Where are the stairs Blanche?” Ajax looked over at her with a small forced smile as the two stood in between an old tree and a giant rock. No stairs magically appearing under their feet. 

Blanche stood next to him staring down the cliff with a shocked expression and her mouth open. She snapped her jaw shut and began to pace along the cliff area looking for any sign of the stairs. “They should be here! I followed the signs, they were all there so why isn’t the stairs there!” Tears began falling as she looked back at Fillicien who was silent in the boat. While Ajax removing some of the fluid build up in the lungs had helped, they had started to fill back up and he didn’t sound good. 

“...We should go back.” He quietly stated, the other two looking back at him shocked. During the entire trip he had been cracking jokes and acting like his life wasn’t hanging in the balance of them reaching Chenyu Vale and the healer. But now his eyes were dull and his shoulders were hunched in on himself. “If it’s all for naught then…I would like to die in Larissa’s arms.” 

“Fillicien…” Blanche tried to reach out for him but her hand dropped along with her head. “Maybe we can travel down the cliff, maybe we can find the stairs…” Even though she didn’t sound like she believed that would happen. 

Ajax looked between both of them and their faces, pure defeat and hopelessness. They knew that by failing to take Fillicien to get help, they also failed to bring the healer back to the village. They had failed everyone…or had they. The heretic walked back to the edge and looked down. WHile there were no steps down, it was relatively dry and appeared to have some good footrests. He could probably be able to climb down it as was but it would be harder with Fillicien on his back and when he reached the bottom he would have no boat. He would also have to leave Blanche who supposedly knew where the healer was but after the stair events he was less hopeful about that. 

But there is a way to get them both down the cliff and not have to worry about a boat, after all why float on water when you can float in the air. Foul Legacy purred in the back of his mind. It did make sense which is why Ajax was skeptical, but he could keep it in check and if it meant he could save his friend and everyone else in the village then it was something he was going to do. Even if he body began to scream and beg for him to change back, he would push himself. Afterall, he did that in the Primordial Sea and that worked out…well not well but he did survive. 

“I have a way to get us down the cliff and to Chenyu Vale.” He didn’t turn back to the others but he could feel their eyes and hope growing. “It…will probably be a little unnerving but I need you to trust me.” 

“We don’t have much of a choice anyway, but even if we did, I trust you.” Blanche placed a steady hand on his shoulder. 

“Well it’s better than just laying around waiting to die.” Fillicien responded once more with a hint of his regular playfulness, even if it did sound strained. Ajax then carefully pulled Blanche’s hand away from him and walked back a bit. 

“Please don’t scream.” 

“Why would we sc- ~~~~~~~~~~!” Blanche tried to question before jumping back as colored swirls surrounded the god and he seemed to float in the air as his body glowed and began to elongate. The sounds of crackling and cracking filled the air along with a guttural growl. The energy that engulfed Ajax burst and disappeared into the air around them and in his place was a giant beast. Blanche stumbled back as he looked up at the easily nine foot tall armored creature. A pair of familiar and much taller red horns branched up above a singular shining blue and purple eye. The cloak billowing behind it was the same color as Ajax’s arms, the night sky rippling inside of it, moving separately to the cloak itself, almost like a window to another world’s sky. 

“Whaaaaaaa, that’s kinda scary.” Fillicien helpfully said from his bundle, looking much like a sickly young lord. “Are you st-still here, uh mentally?”

The beast looked at him silently before nodding, a gravely and distorted voice answering the question. “Yes, I am still here. Now we should get moving, I am not sure how long this will last.” The creature-no Ajax floated over to the boat and carefully landed, kneeling in the freezing water to pull the man into one of the giant arms. With how withered Fillicien had become and how large Ajax now was, he looked like a small child. “Blanche?” He held out the other arm. 

“This is…we are going to talk about this later.” She carefully reached out and touched the metal armor on the claws. She had expected them to be freezing but they were much colder than she expected, it felt like the metal was leaching all the warmth from her bones. She flinched back a second, taking a steading breath. “Sorry, you're really cold.” 

Ajax carefully wrapped his arms around her and pulled her up. Startled, she grabbed onto fur around his neck, whispering another sorry. “It’s okay, I would be more concerned if you didn’t act startled.” 

“I didn’t a-act startled- cough I handled it lovely.” Fillicien squirmed one hand out of his bundle and patted the side of the mask, his hand missing a few times. 

“You also admitted to having trouble seeing things a few days ago.” Blanche mumbled into the soft grayish purple fur. She felt Ajax let loose a sittering laugh that rumbled throughout his entire body. It was strange. 

He stood up and began to float once more to the edge of the cliff. His grip tightened on the two people in his arms, trying to figure out the best way to get down. “Hang on as tight as you can, I don’t want to drop you guys.” Blanche tightened her already tight grip into a death grip and Fillicien did his best to also hold on, using the scarf next to his hand. 

With both of them having prepared themselves, Ajax let himself fall off the cliff. Blanche immediately began to scream while Fillicien made confused noises and a few laughs. About halfway down the cliff, Ajax teleported a bit further down and out. He continued until they were nearly on top of the water where he began to focus on staying afloat and moving across the water. 

It felt freeing as he felt his abyssal power surround him as he made short jumps across the water, reality tearing and coming back together as he pleased. If they had been in the boat, it would have taken a few days to reach the shore of Chenyu Vale but with the speed he was going, it would be a few minutes. 

He soon found himself laughing and purposefully swerving and jumping around, much to Blnahce’s chagrin and Fillicien’s enjoyment. He didn’t feel like his skin was on fire and his bones were getting crushed. It was actua;;y enjoyable being in this form. There was a slight pinching feeling throughout his whole body but it was much better than how he usually felt. Perhaps being forced to fight the Narwhal in his Foul Legacy form was a good thing. It raised his tolerance for the form. Foul Legacy was also ecstatic at finally being able to reform after over a year of not being able to. 

Sadly the shore came up much too soon and he had to set both of his friends down. Blanche immediately darted to the side and threw up while Fillciien giggled and coughed in his blankets on the sand. Ajax let Foul Legacy wash over him and transformed back with it being a little peeved about having to go back inside after only a short time and not being able to fight anything. He stumbled a little on unsteady feet before getting his balance back and sitting down next to Fillicien. 

“I see you enjoyed it.” He felt the other's head, the fever still there but not as bad as before. 

“That w-was so cool! We have to do that ag-again. But for now it’s much too hot, did the temperature suddenly rise twenty degrees?” A blanket was awkwardly thrown to the side before Ajax helped him out of the next. It was much warmer, no snow sat upon the beach but a few ugly looking clouds hung above them in the sky. 

“Hmm, that's because the snow gets stuck in the mountains of Mondstadt and Rumeria before hitting Chenyu Vale.” Ajax proposed but he wasn’t quite sure. He wasn’t a weather nerd and could barely remember anything from his sped up science education. Dotore or Sandrone would probably know immediately. Perhaps Pierro as well. 

Blanche stumbled back over to them, her cloak draped over her shoulder and tugging open a few layers underneath. “Well it’s much too warm here even for a normal winter. What the hell is this place? It’s too warm.”

Ajax barked out a laugh as he remembered his first time in Liyue right in the middle of a blazing summer and had nearly melted into a puddle. He spent nearly every free minute in front of a fan or with something cold to eat. 

After Blanche won her battle against the many layers of clothing, she plopped down right next to them. “So…how long have you been able to turn into that…creature.” 

Ajax paused and tried to figure out the best way to answer it. “It was my first time transforming into it, but I have been aware of its presence since I arrived here.” Technically, if one went chronologically by date, it was his first time transforming into Foul Legacy. A simple white lie that was easy to digest and be understood. By explaining that he was aware of it being there, he became more believable in how he knew how to get down the cliff. Or that’s what he hoped would happen. 

Blanche rubbed her forehead as if trying to figure out everything that had happened. “If you knew you could potentially transform into it, why didn’t you do so earlier or against the vishaps?”

“I wasn’t sure how long I would be able to hold it,” a truth “and I didn’t need it to kill the vishaps.” another truth. He didn’t want to lie to them but some lies were required when discussing Foul Legacy. He didn’t want to scare or worry them about the abyssal parasite he picked up after falling into a dark hole two thousand years in the future. 

Fillcien kicked his shoe off and it landed on its side, halfway in the water and halfway out of it. A small wave pushed it further up the shore before pulling it back out again. “Well it was ~~~~ and sc-ary, next time do it when I’m healthy so I can get a good look. You were a blob cough of red and black and purple.” His other shoe was also flung into the air, instead of going towards the other in the surf, it landed near Fillicien’s head. 

“Be careful, we can’t have you dying to your shoe before we even get to the doctor.” Blanche grabbed the shoe and softly hit him over the head with it. The sick man grumbled and complained about the cruel treatment before yawning. “See you’ve had too much excitement for the day.” She stood up and began collecting the discarded clothing articles. “We should find a place to set up a camp for the night.” 

“Hey I thought you were questioning me?” Ajax also stood up but not before pulling Fillicien up as well, causing him to squawk in the outrage of being carried bridal style. Ajax dodged a few clumsy punches and slaps aimed towards his face. Blanche continued silently picking items up before grabbing the shoe in the water. It was turned on its side, crystal blue water falling like the waterfalls in the distance they had been standing on top of only a few minutes beforehand.. 

“It doesn’t matter, like I said earlier, I trust you.” She turned back and smiled at him sadly. She looked like she had questions but was choosing not to ask anymore. “If I have any pressing concerns I will be sure to bring them up but for now…they don’t matter. What matters is getting that one to help.” She pointed the wet shoe at its owner who had now stopped flailing about. 

Ajax shook his head, adjusting Fillicien so he could have a free hand to push some of his hair out of his face. It had gotten a bit overgrown and needed to be trimmed soon. “Well I am an open book comrade, ask me anything and I’ll tell you.” He gave her a wink which earned him a wet shoe to the face. The three of them then set off towards the tree line for basic shelter and wood to start a fire.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a little over a week of paddling around Rumeria and then a few days going inland from the beach they landed on, they were well ahead of schedule. Blanche had obviously become careful in figuring out which way to go. What she knew for certain was that the doctor lived on the east side of the river and in a small village with lots of tea fields. Ajax had a sneaking suspicion that he had been to the same village over two thousand years into the future if they never moved it. He had gone through it on a quick debt collection and had picked up some tea for Zhongli while there. If he could remember correctly the name of the village was Qiaoying. 

It had been a sleepy and peaceful village in the future and he wondered if it was the same here in the past. It made him think of Morepesok and how the village also changed slowly, still practicing some ancient techniques and being slow to adapt to the outside world. He wondered if his new village would also be like that in the future or if it would survive the coming years. 

He suddenly froze and turned to look bewildered at Blanche. “Hey, what’s the village's name?” 

“...I think it’s Qiao…xing?” Blanche stumbled over the pronunciation but it made Ajax feel a burst of excitement over visiting a place he had been to before. 

“No like…home. What is our village called?” 

Fillicien gasped and tried to sit up in Ajax’s arms. “You don’t kn-ow our village's name?! Blanche!” He looked at her with shock and played up hurt. 

“How did you- never mind, it’s Abeille. It’s called that in honor of Sybilla since she often took the form of a bee.” 

“Huh…doesn’t mean Helene can turn into a bee?”

“....no.” Neither her nor Fillicien answered anymore of his questions and the three of them soon fell into a silence as they continued walking up the path they had found. Currently they were trying to get to the large river and then cross it. As they traveled, Ajax noticed more discrepancies in this land and the land in his memories. The giant jade rings were gone now and the river’s flow was faster and not as meandering. The mountains were also taller and a few seemed to be brand new, like someone suddenly stuck them down purposefully to confuse Ajax. 

Despite all the new landforms, he had a standard idea of where Qiaoying village was located. If Blanche got them lost again then he could probably steer them back onto the right path. Hopefully.

One of the major downsides of taking three people who hadn’t seen the bright sun in months meant that it now bore down on all of them giving Fillciien a sunburn on top of his illness and Blanche a peeling nose. Ajax had been sending silent prayers to the Tsaritsa for his now fucked up skin and body due to the narwhal, abyss, primordial sea, whatever that had down away with this weakness of his. He had forgotten sunscreen once during his summer of hell in Liyue and had immediately regretted it after his skin turned the same shade as his hair. 

It had earned him the ire of both of the others as they continued their trek, Fillicien spending every second of the day either coughing as the fluid came back with a vengeance or by being as annoying as he could be without talking. And since Ajax was the one delegated to carrying him, it generally involved him getting poked constantly or having a bit of his overgrown hair braided over and over again. 

It was extremely boring. Despite being in the midst of the Archon War they had seen no signs of human or monstrous life anywhere in the mountains and valleys. Blanche had voiced as such as they once more saw signs of the large cat creatures that lived in the mountains. Scratched trees and a pile of scat had been a common sight . 

“Maybe our resident monster is keeping every other monster away.” Blanche joked also poking Ajax in the side. He only responded to the statement with a grumble as he desperately looked around for a giant killer cat or even a slightly murderous squirrel. But instead all they had was a quickly put together campsite with some dried goat meat and the rest of their hard bread. It was scarily similar to the hardtack that they fed the Fatui grunts while on missions. Tasteless and dry. 

“Haha. It’s more likely that we are making a whole lot of noise and don’t look very tasty so nothing wants to eat us.” He grumbled into his jerky, watching Blanche attempt to feed Fillicien a paste made from the rehydrated bread. He had been eating less and less as they traveled. His coughing had gotten a little better since they arrived in Chenyu Vale, but it wasn’t good. They both worried about him wasting away from starvation rather than the sickness at this point. The two shared a concerned look as the sickly young man turned his head away from the spoon once and rolled over to sleep some more. 

Blnache opened her mouth, about to say something, when a shriek resounded throughout their campsite and valley. Immediately Ajax leapt up with his hydro blades at the ready trying to locate the source of the sound. The noise sounded out again, sounding frightfully close to a scream from a young child. “That’s a kid. Stay here and watch Fillicien.” Ajax shouted at Blanche, not waiting for a response before he tore through the thick underbrush and down the mountainside. 

The slope wasn’t terrible as he dodged tree trunks, bushes, and rocks, the screams getting closer and more panicked. Ajax jumped over a final rock and landed on the outskirts of a large field. In the field was a giant fucking squirrel looking creature. He mentally kicked himself for manifesting such a beast earlier. It was easily eleven feet tall and had a flaming tail. Its fur was a burnt umber color with bright yellow markings and eyes. It was looking right at Ajax as it swallowed a large something. The child. 

Ajax didn’t even think as Foul Legacy tore out from under his skin as it roared at the beast. The Giant Murder Squirrel went into a defensive position and made to hiss but began hacking and coughing, the child visibly squirming inside the creature's throat, protesting to being swallowed. Foul Legacy flew forward and teleported behind the beast, sending a wave of hydro on top of its tail. 

The creature let out a pained hiss in between the coughing as pillars and bursts of flames spouted out around it and its claws became drenched in what seemed to be molten lava. It attempted to swipe at the abyssal creature but it was heavily impeded by not being able to breath. The other took full advantage of that and used its blades to cut off one of the front legs. The beast's eyes bulged as it made its escape, its tail uncurling and sending a rain of pyro down upon Foul Legacy. He dodged between the flaming droplets and grabbed the creature's tail, ignoring the burning feeling slowly growing under his palm as his arm heated up. 

The beast tried to scramble further away but it had become sluggish and weak as its choking sounds and whistling breathes filled the air. To put it out of its misery, the armor-clad creature grabbed the back of its skull and let go of the tail. With the now free claw, a bolt of hydro was summoned sent through where the spinal cord attached to the brain. 

It went limp in his hand and fell to the ground. Its tail slowly died out, the beast's life no longer sustaining its flames. Now the only movement from it was the strange movement in its neck, as if a giant parasite had burrowed under its skin. 

Ajax transformed back and ran up to where the child was. “Okay, I’m going to cut you out. Don’t move.” He doubted that the kid could hear or even understand him as he carefully slid a blue blade into the skin slightly above where the child seemed to be. As he did he felt the same pulling feeling as with the Vishaps he had previously killed but this time it felt less like pins and needles and more like a small fire burning its way through him. He decided to figure out what was happening at a later date and instead focus on cutting the kid out of the squirrel. 

It took a bit to get under the skin, the fur being dense and harder than regular squirrel fur. A voice in the back of his mind told him that its pelt could be used to make not only a warm coat, but it would also some greater protection from weapons. He shoved it aside as the blade finally began to slide through the muscle and around the esophagus where the kid sat. They had seemed to realize someone was cutting them out and stopped moving. Either that or they were trying not to move in hopes that the stronger predator would ignore them and only eat the Murder Squirrel. 

The esophagus was distended and pulled tightly as the ginger pulled it out of the opening, the trachea also popping out with it. Slowly, he cut a line through the organ and it revealed the small curled up body of a child who looked no older than eight. They were covered in mucus and blood from Ajax opening up the neck. Slowly they uncurled their body and began to cry. 

“Shit. Don’t cry little one, it’s okay. Big brother Ajax will get you all cleaned up and to safety.” Carefully he summoned a blob of hydro and did his best to wipe up the fluid on the kid. As he did he made note of the light blue and white robe that had very detailed designs of clouds on it. Next he took in the light blue hair that was still covered in fluids and the two small black horns with red patterns. Alarm bells went off in his head as he paused when it finally hit him. The young child opened her eyes, revealing two violet eyes with a golden pink on the bottom looking up at him. “Ganyu?!” 

The kid's face lit up with recognition as she began nodding. “-------------------” She quietly responded with a confused tone, still sniffling as she attempted to wipe more liquid from her chubby cheeks. Ajax found himself completely frozen at seeing someone he knew, well knew of, and had seen often in the future. While she was a bit of a chunky kid right now, she looked startlingly close to how she would eventually look. Her horns were a bit smaller but that was Ganyu, future secretary of the Qixing, some 2000 years in the past. “---------?” She blinked up at him in confusion. 

He blinked back at her as he got his barings. Luckily she repeated herself and it did sound similar to modern Liyuen, but much like Rumerian and Fontianian, it wasn’t the language he knew. “Ganyu,” he pointed to her, then turned his finger towards himself, “Ajax.” 

“Ajax.” She clumsily repeated the name, the syllables very different to what she was used to. “-----------?” 

“I’m sorry I don’t understand what you are asking me.” He answered. She pouted for a little before holding her arms out and making grabby hands. Now that was a universal signal that Ajax knew very well. It made his heart ache a little as he picked up the future secretary similarly to how he held his younger siblings. But there was no time to dwell in the past. He had to get baby Ganyu to a safe place and get back to Blanche and Fillicien. Hopefully nothing attacked them in his absence. 

Before he could figure out a way to get back up the mountain a sharp whistling sound filled the valley and Ajax ducked down just as a large whirlwind swept up around him, using his body to shield Ganyu from the attack. While the Qixing and Fatui didn’t get along well in the future, he respected Ganyu for her commitment to her work and she was currently a kid. No way was he going to just drop her and run. 

“-----------------------------!” An angry woman's voice filled the air around him. He jumped back just as a giant crane came down. It’s beak having been aimed at his head. In his arms Ganyu began crying. She must have said something that caused the Crazed Crane to stop her barrage of the ginger who had just realized who it was.

While Ajax had never meant to meet Cloud Retainer, he had accidentally met her shortly after he had put his Teucer on a boat back to Snezhnaya. He had needed a good drink and a simple fight so he had gotten mostly drunk and wandered the wilds of Liyue while he tried to ignore his aching body and the growing headache in his head and heart. Luckily he wasn’t fully drunk or else he would have done something embarrassing again. Like drunkenly breaking Zhon-Morax’s house after the whole reveal and stealing a single cup from his favorite tea set so it wouldn’t be a perfect set. He then passed out on the gods roof only to wake a few hours later and scurry away. Luckily he wasn’t home at the time that it happened or else he wouldn’t be able to live with himself. 

So he was half drunk and had somehow stumbled upon the giant bird and in his half drunk brain tried to shoot her so he could make some delicious roasted bird. He had obviously missed and gotten loudly reprimanded by the crane who had smacked him with her wing a few times while complaining that she would have beat him into a pulp for even daring to point his bow at her if not for his relationship to her lord. He had then gotten pissed off that Morax seemingly viewed him as so inconsequential, that he didn’t update his Adepti about how he was no longer pretending to be friend. He had pushed the bird away, unleashed some vile Snezhnayan curses, and then stomped back to his apartment. He then got on a boat the next morning to go back home with a random teacup stored next to a box that housed a pair of chopsticks. He had justified both by convincing himself that if he left the cup in Liyue, Morax would find it and that he had technically bought the chopsticks for himself.  

Somehow meeting Cloud Retainer for the second time was worse as she gave him a look that he didn’t know birds could make. She was looking at him like he had dared to kidnap her kid or something… shit. He looked down at Ganyu who was stumbling through a sentence and throwing her arms around. Probably reenacting the entire situation. 

“Archons, you probably do think I kidnapped your kid.” He grumbled. 

“Well this one certainly sees it as such.” Cloud retainer snapped back in fluent Rumerian. Of course she spoke it, she was a magic bird. Thankfully he hadn’t said anything directly targeted towards her. 

“Well I didn’t kidnap her, I heard a kid screaming and ran to check it out and found her in that creature’s gullet. I killed it and pulled her out.” He swung his free arm towards the giant decaying squirrel carcass. Cloud Retainer's beady eyes didn’t seem to move to look at the corpse before she made a noncommittal hum and said something to Ganyu. The little adeptus nodded and said something back before looking up at Ajax and smiling at him. He gave her a small smile in return before carefully setting her on the ground. “Well since you are now here I better get back to my friends before they come running after me.” 

He attempted to walk back over where he had come down from but was stopped by something pulling at his pant leg. He looked down and saw little Ganyu giving him a teary look and raising one of her hands up to him again. “Ganyu, leave him alone and come back here.” Cloud Retainer huffed, trotting over like she owned the clearing. Ganyu refused to let go, shaking her head with new tears in her eyes. She kept pointing at Ajax’s head and repeating a few words. The fully grown adeptus gave a long-suffering sigh, “She wants to know if you are part Qilin.”

Ajax blinked at the little girl before laughing a little and kneeling down. “I’m sorry miss Ganyu but these horns aren’t like yours.” He gestured to the bright red horns popping out of his hairline and leaned down farther for her to look at them. He could hear Cloud Retainer probably translate what he had said as the young girl softly touched the others horns. She was very gentle and followed the curve of it upwards. He couldn’t feel her touching it except for a slight pressure where she pushed lightly at it and towards the base. She took her hand away and nodded as if she got the answers she needed. Ganyu’s eyes were sparkling with happiness despite almost being consumed. 

“------------------------.” She turned to CLoud Retainer who let out a dramatic gasp and began saying things back to her. The two of them continued the conversation as if forgetting that Ajax was there so he got up to leave but was once more stopped by Ganyu grabbing onto his leg. “-----------------.”

“Ugh, this one is sad to say but she wants you to come back with us and meet Lady Guizhong.” Ajax froze for a second, trying to figure out where he heard that name before, probably some long dead Adepti from Morax’s stories. Something however didn’t seem right about that assumption but he couldn’t exactly place it. 

He was about to accept to hopefully figure out who this Lady was but was interrupted by someone loudly calling his name, Blanche. “Uhm I’m afraid I am going to decline the invitation, I have to get back to my friends, one of them is terribly sick and we need to find a healer from Qiaoxing village-”

“We are currently staying in Qiaoying village on a diplomatic mission. You can travel with this one and my disciple.” Cloud Retainer fluffed up her feathers, her tone having completely changed from sounding annoyed at having to even offer me a meeting. 

He glared at her as he attempted to untangle Ganyu from his leg but she was hanging on for dear life. “What’s with the change in tone?” 

“Well Lady Guizhong would be greatly displeased with this one if I were to not help a sick…uh what are you and your friends.” 

“I’m Ajax, my friends are human.” He curtly stated, finally pulling Ganyu away from himself as she giggled like it was a game. “So you're only helping us because you want your…Lady Guizhong to not be disappointed in you?” 

“Yes. Now let us go collect your pet humans.” Cloud Retainer suddenly used her beak to snatch Ganyu from him and placed her on her back while Ajax sputtered about what she had called his friends. “Hurry up now.” She opened her wings and took off in the direction of Blanche's yells. He cursed under his breath before doing his best to run up the side of the mountainside. 

When he finally reached the ledge that they were staying at he saw Blanche holding a knife at the giant crane who was complaining at her and trying to look at Fillicien. “What the ~~~~ did you do to Ajax!” She all but growled as she tried to swipe at the adeptus. 

“Well aren’t you a rude little human? This one has never seen such rude behav-”

“I’m alive.” Ajax raised his hand in salute as he came closer to the campsite. Blanche’s face immediately came over with a look of relief while Fillicien began coughing. “They are going to take us to Qiaoxing village and help us find the doctor.” 

Blanche's shoulders immediately relaxed and her knife found its way back into its sheath. “Sorry for waving the knife at you ma’am, just better safe than sorry.” She then went to check on Fillicien who was coughing up a lung. 

“Hmmm, that does not sound good. One of Herblords followers should be able to fix you up.” Cloud Retainer walked around to Fillciien, turning her head sideways as she dipped down and looked at him. 

“There’s a giant talking bird…Am I dying for real?” He attempted to touch the adeptus but she quickly moved away from him. Ganyu meanwhile hid her face in the bird's feathers, peeking out at the two humans. 

“This one will show you the way but with your…simple legs, it will take a few days.” 

Ajax walked over to Blanche and Fillicein looking at both of them and nodding to Blanche. He looked back over to Cloud Retainer and sighed. While he didn’t particularly want any adepti to see his abyssal form and possibly call it what it is, it seemed like it wasn’t in the cards. “I can carry Blanche and Fillicien, I should be able to keep up with you but you might need to fly a little slower.” 

The illuminated crane gave him an up and down look before looking at him as if saying, really? You, keeping up with me? Luckily she didn’t say anything of the sort and simply fluffed her feathers again. 

Ajax then walked a little bit away before completely his second transformation of the day. He half expected his bones and muscles to protest the transformation but the only uncomfortable feeling that he felt was the same tightness as earlier, like his armor was getting a little too tight for him.

When the cloud of energy once more dissipated, he found CLoud Retainer much farther away with wings out flapping and hissing like a goose. “That is not normal.” Her words were drenched in vitriol. 

“And a talking crane isn’t normal either.” His words coming out distorted and deeper than normal. He saw Ganyu peeking out from over Cloud Retainers wing, her eyes wide. He felt a bit of disappointment in himself that he transformed into Foul Legacy in front of a child but both his friend and his village's lives hung in the balance. He carefully picked up Fillicine with Blanche's help before she let him pick her up once more, not flinching away from the cold metal. 

He looked over to Cloud Retainer who seemed to have recollected herself. “...Well then, follow me.” She then took off and began to fly through the valleys. Ajax quickly began to teleport after her. Popping back up on the edges of the mountains, his feet barely hung onto some of the edges as he followed the adepti. He could tell that she was flying slower than normal which was a good sign that she wasn’t too off put by his new form. 

He eventually lost track of time as they zipped through the lush green mountains, they could have been traveling for ten minutes or thirty. He couldn’t tell but he had begun to feel a burning under his skin that got stronger with each jump. He was reaching his new limit it seemed and was about to slow down and find a way to alert Cloud Retainer when the large river suddenly appeared with a multitude of small lights on the other side. Qiaoying village. 

Cloud Retainer began to circle as she landed on the side of the river closest to them and Ajax quickly joined them. He all but threw Blanche down before putting a little bit more care into Fillicien before he let go of Foul Legacy. He stumbled a bit and panted as his muscles began their familiar ache at the transformation back. Blnache helped steady him as the two adepti landed in front of him. 

Little Ganyu jumped off her apparent master's back and ran up to Ajax. She nearly knocked him to the ground with how unsteady he felt and how much strength she had in her little body. “Did I scare you Ganyu.” He ruffled her hair as she said something to him and he simply nodded agreeing with her. 

A strong gust of wind blew into all their faces and soon Cloud Retainer the crane was gone and in her place was a tall woman with red glasses and a stern look. She looked like how Ajax would imagine she would look in human form. Meanwhile Blnache’s breath hitched and her ears turned pink. Strange. 

“This one is impressive, you kept up. Now follow this one, there is a boat.” She sharply turned around and stalked over to a simple bamboo raft. Ganyu looked between her master and Ajax before demanding to be picked up by Ajax. His body had begun to hurt but he couldn’t deny those large puppy…Qilin eyes that begged for him to hold her. He knelt down and picked her up with a sharp noise emanating from his back. 

“You sound like an old man.” Blnache joked as she walked up next to him. She held FIlicien in her arms similarly to how Ajax had been for most of their trip through Chenyu Vale but set him down on the raft as soon as they reached it. 

Once they were all on it, Cloud Retainer waved her hand and a wind swept up right behind the raft and pushed it forward towards the other shore. They all stood in silence as they drifted across the river, this spot being much calmer than some of the other sections they had seen on their trek. 

After it landed, the adeptus gently took Ganyu from Ajax’s arms, much to the little Qilin’s disappointment and walked confidently through the village. The sun had begun to set, hiding behind a mountain in the distance and creating an artificial sunset in a way. Ajax had gone to pick Fillicien up again but Blanche beat him to it and mouthed something to him as they walked through the village. A few people were outside and were looking at them and whispering as they passed through. They walked towards the edge of the village and towards a large house that was surrounded by several garden beds that emitted a strong herbal smell. 

Cloud Retainer didn’t even knock as she entered and began to talk to someone. Before Blanche could even get in, an old man came out with a shock of bright white hair that was twisted into a small bun on the top of his head. “Are you Bob’s relative? You have the same eyes.” He spoke in accented Rumerian. 

“Yes, I am Blanche, this is Ajax and Fillciien. The cold weather has led to a sickness in our village and Fillciien wouldn’t have survived long if we didn’t get you do you thin-” The doctor quickly hushed her and placed a hand on Fillcien’s forehead and mumbled some things. 

“Late, first let’s save your friend. Call me Zhijian now, come in, quickly.” He pushed Blanche inside with Fillicien still in her arms, only giving Ajax a quick second look. The heretic shortly followed them inside and watched them both duck into a room further away and watched the door shut. Obviously he wasn’t needed anymore. 

But before he relaxed he smelt a bitter scent that smelled oh so familiar. He turned around and saw a small woman with short gray hair and long sleeves that completely enveloped her hands. She smiled up at him and took a sip from a tea cup. “Would you like to sit and enjoy a cup of tea with me?” 

Ajax froze as it suddenly hit him on who Guizhong was and why he recognized the name. This was Guizhong, as in Guizhong from the Guili Assembly and creator of the ballista that had helped fell Osial. Zhonglis old friend, that Guizhong. Her gray-blue eyes twinkled with mischief as if she could read his mind and panic perfectly. “Now don’t be shy Ajax, take a seat. I would love to hear all about your adventures.”

Shit.

Chapter Text

Ajax sat down across from Guizhong, the goddess hadn’t said anything else as she poured another cup of tea for the former harbinger. He silently watched her, trying to put together why she said what she said and how she knew his name. While she looked like a pretty young lady, something ancient sat in her eyes along with a spark of curiosity. Curiosity was dangerous, for both the holder of it and those around them. It was a lesson he learned by watching some of the other harbingers, watching as their curiosities got the best of them and they went mad with it. Although he was one to point it out, always being curious to see who would win in a fight, to see if he could win and what it would take. 

But Guizhong had a different sort in her eyes, it was all knowing and set him on edge. It reminded him too much of the Tsaritsa and Zhongli, eyes that had seen hundreds of years pass by. Guizhong, whether she had any idea of what was going on in his mind, acted as if she was simply preparing some tea for an old friend or new acquaintance, pure courtesy. 

“How did you know my name?” 

Guizhong looked up and smiled, sliding the cup towards the ginger. His starry hands reached out and collected the cup, sniffing before sipping it, clearly enjoying its flavor. “Well I heard the young lady, Blanche, introduce you to Zhijian Yisheng outside. She was rather loud and panicked.” Ajax looked down at the cup and swirled the tea around, the golden liquid glimmering in the candlelight. It was a reasonable answer. 

“And why do you want to know about my adventures?” He looked back up and found the goddess looking right at him. She smiled at him and he had a strange feeling that he was no longer the predator. While there was nothing about Guizhong that screamed dangerous, everything about her also screamed dangerous. It was like Columbina, sweet looking and sounding but something else underneath that facade. 

Guizhang suddenly pushed her covered hands on the table and sighed dramatically. “Why are you being so on edge? All I wanted to know is what led you here. It’s been a while since a new being  has emerged from around Rumeria. Usually they either get snapped up by Rumeria or get crushed.” 

“Oh…I’ve been keeping a low profile. Don’t want any trouble with anyone at the moment.” He rubbed the cups smooth sides, admiring the soft eggshell color. “Me and Blanche rowed across the sea until we got to the falls. Then I helped them get down the falls and across to Chenyu Vale. Finally, we walked until we ran into Ganyu and Cloud Retainer.” He took a sip of the tea. The tea was bitter and reminded him of one of the newer blends he had tried. Zhongli had said that it reminded him of a blend he had a long time ago. Something about the change in the environment of the tea changing its underlying flavor. Ajax wondered if he was talking about this blend.

“How did you meet Ganyu and Cloud Retainer?” She asked and as if on cue Cloud Retainer came sweeping into the room dramatically from down the hall, no Ganyu. 

“How indeed did this one chance upon our guests is a good question.” Cloud Retainer sat down in the third seat as Guizhong poured her another cup. “Ganyu had wandered off to collect some Qingxin flowers and while this one was not looking and wandered into a Huo Songshu.” Guizhong gasped, her hand covering her mouth dramatically. “Do not worry, she is fine. Ajax saved her from the beast's throat. If he hadn’t been there, she might have gotten swallowed.” Cloud Retainer muttered the last bit as if embarrassed that she had lost track of and almost had the child in her care killed. 

Guizhong tsked a few times and rubbed her forehead. “...you really must be more careful with kids, they like to wander, just like your mind.” She giggled the last part and poked at Cloud Retainer with a covered finger. She turned back towards Ajax. “Thank you for saving Ganyu, I hate to imagine what would have happened if you hadn’t helped out.” 

She dipped her head in a small bow to the heretic, her eyes glimmering with a new light as she appraised the one before her. He was strange, he looked like a god but held himself like a warrior, a cautious one at that. The way he answered her questions with ones in return spoke of a hard life where no one was a friend. Always on edge and every question a threat to him and those he might hold dear. 

His eyes were devoid of light, but not life. She didn’t quite know what he was supposed to be, possibly some creature from the dark areas of the sea if the dense hydro around him was a sign of anything. She was almost convinced to call him a vishap for his horns and hydro affinity, but the coloration of both said horns and hands were all wrong. Maybe he was something like her, a manifestation of something. Her being made from dust, him possibly being those dark waters. But even that wasn’t right. 

He took another sip, seeming to appreciate the tea, setting it down and using proper technique to pour himself a cup. Someone had taught him well, but if her belief of him as a young god was correct, then who in that short time could have taught him Guili tea manners. Ajax was a mystery in an enigma. It was a good thing she liked solving puzzles almost as much as she liked making them. 

Ajax carefully refilled his cup, just as Zhongli had taught him. He was not going to make a fool out of himself in front of said former archon's dead friend. He noticed that Guizhongs tea had also emptied so he refilled it as well. He could almost hear the funeral consultant admonishing him for not noticing sooner and filling hers before his own. 

“If there is one thing you take from this lesson, let it be to never serve yourself before others. If you grab the pot to fill up your cup, fill the others around you first.” The archon dressed in a human's elegant skin carefully held the ginger's hands, guiding them to fill the cup up. His hands, strong and steady, longer than Childe’s own callused fingers. Hidden away from sight by a pair of black gloves. Wrinkles formed around his eyes as he smiled down at the younger man.

“But what if I’m the guest?” The teapot set down once more. “What if I want more tea but the host isn’t serving it?” 

Zhongli shook his head and chuckled fondly, a deep rich timber. “A good host will keep your cup full but if they are much too slow for you then refill everyone else’s then your own. If they get angry at you for this, simply blame the fact you are from Snezhnaya.” 

Childe gasped dramatically and clutched his scarf much like someone would clutch their pearls. “Zhongli Xiansheng, are you encouraging me to lie about my knowledge of tea etiquette in Liyue? Surely that is a crime worthy of Rex Lapis sending down the wrath of the rock. ” 

“If it is for a good cup of tea then I suppose it could be forgiven.” He picked up the cup and slowly sipped from it. “I’m sure Rex Lapis would understand.” And then he gave Childe that stupid smile knowing full well that he was Rex Lapis. That he was Morax. That he was a Liar- 

“Ah forgive I didn’t realize your cup was empty.” Ajax rubbed the back of his head and offered a sheepish smile. He trampled over that memory til it was gone from his mind. He was grateful for the teaching but not for the memories learning it left. He looked back up at Guizhong and her almost all knowing smile. 

“Excuse me,” a voice behind Ajax caused him to turn around and find the healer, now known as Zhijian, standing outside of an open door. “Your friend is stable now. He is now on some medicine made from mold, don’t worry it is safe. My master, Herlord, was the one to show me it.” Antibiotics, or an ancient version of it. 

Ajax let out a sigh of relief he didn’t even know he had been holding. Fillicien was safe and healing. He slumped back in his chair, eyes closed. “Thank the Archons. Thank you, for healing him.” 

“I have only done my job.” He paused for a moment, seemling trying to figure out how to word his next sentence. “I..wish to help your village as well, however, I can not leave without the permission of Herblord. I will ask for permission tomorrow morning. If she says yes then me and one of my apprentices will likely travel with you or Blanche.” 

“Only one of us?” 

“Yes, Fillicien is too fragile to move in his state. His lungs have been permanently damaged, much more than what you would normally expect for someone with this illness. It is almost as if the fluid in his lungs were all coughed up at once despite the pain it would have caused.” Ajax felt a drop in his stomach. “He will likely have difficulty doing strenuous activity in the future, his lungs won't be able to take it.” 

Ajax nodded, guilt building up with the knowledge that he was likely responsible for the increase in damage. “If he will live then that is acceptable. If there is anything I can do to help you or help convince Herblord to let you leave with us then please, let me know.” 

Zhijian carefully grabbed his hand, examining the claws and coloration. “I can think of nothing you could do to help me at this moment. Let me talk to Herblord first, I am certain she will find you soon after to discuss more.” He paused again, he was a person who thought carefully for each of his words, dragging a finger over one of his claws and drawing a bead of blood. “She will certainly want to meet with you.” 

He wiped his finger over his outer robe and smiled up at Ajax, or at least his mustache moving upwards. “Because I look weird?” 

“Eh, to put it bluntly. Now you should go in with your friends.” he gestured towards the door. Ajax immediately made a beeline towards the door before remembering his manners and giving the god and adepti a bow before darting inside. He could hear a quiet giggle as he shut the door closed. 

Fillicien lay on a bed with a blanket draped over him. His eyes were closed and his face was still pallid, but his breathing seemed a little bit easier. Blanche looked up at him from a chair next to his bed and gestured towards another empty chair. Ajax sat down and carefully reached over and grabbed the sick man's hand. It was so much boner than it was before. The color seemingly leached out with every little bone showing through the paling skin. Gone was its rosy tan and the strength that once sat within it. 

He looked up at his face, his cheekbones and jaw standing out much more than usual with the sickness. He hadn’t really sat down and really looked at Fillicien since he fell sick and noticed all the signs. Ajax had been so focused on keeping him alive, the only thing he really noticed before was how the color had seeped from his skin. But now…now he could see the toll on his body. 

“...He looks like shit.” 

“Pfft, are you really only just now realizing that?” Blanche punched his shoulder. She sighed and leaned against the part she had just punched. “ He’s finally no longer coughing.” 

“The doctor said he gave him some medicine. I am surprised it’s working so quickly.”

Blanche pulled her chair closer to his and got more comfortable on his shoulder. “He gave him medicine but also used some sort of magic to help. He said it won’t entirely cure it, but it would make it easier to breathe. Seems like it’s working, he hasn’t coughed since he used it” He voice was ragged and quiet, nearly vanishing without being heard into the room. 

“Yeah…it is weird that he is so quiet though. I would believe him gone if not for the chest rising and falling.” He let his head fall against hers as they began their silent vigil, willing to stay up all night to make sure his chest kept going up and down. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A quick tap to his shoulder startled Ajax awake. His hands ready to form his hydro daggers to protect himself. He quickly let himself relax as the form of Zhijian came into view, standing a good few feet back, someone who was used to rousing violent wakers. Ajax rubbed the remaining sleep from his eyes as he stretched. Fillicien was still asleep with Blanche resting her head on the bed. 

He carefully shook her shoulder to wake her up. She quickly sat up and looked around as if confused about where she was. “My apologies for waking the two of you so early but I have met with Herblord and she wishes to speak with the two of you.” 

Blanche and Ajax looked at eachother, the brunette giving the ginger a small nod. The two of them got up and quickly followed Zhijian out of the room. Blnache froze in the doorway for a moment, looking back at Fillicien’s sleeping body. The three of them passed the table that Ajax had sat at last night with Guizhong and Cloud Retainer. It sat empty and unassuming. 

“What did she say?” Blanche asked Zhijian as they left the building. The bright light from the rising sun over the mountains momentarily blinded Ajax as they stepped out of the house’s shadow. The entire valley was a rich green with people milling about doing daily tasks. Some people were on boats in the river with fishing tools or walking through the tea fields. It was what Abielle looked like before the cold came. Maybe not in exact details but the image of people living their lives and working were the same. The life in this village was the same. It was the same as Morepesok. 

“She has agreed to letting me and one of my apprentices leave to go to your village, but she does have some stipulations.” He led the three of them through the village towards the tree in the center. A floating teapot and cups sat around it, water flowing from the spout and the scent of fresh tea leaves hung in the air. 

Sitting at a table in front of the tree and giant tea set, was Guizhong who sat talking to a tall androgynous woman. She had white hair that was in a braid, it was looped around many times in a bun on top of her head before falling down over her shoulder and into her lap. If she were to stand, it would probably brush the ground. As the three approached the two beings’ eyes turned towards them. One a steady gray blue and the other a piercing yellow with thin black slits.  

“So this is the new god from the outskirts of Rumeria, I thought he’ld be taller with how monstrous Cloud Retainer made him sound.'' The being who had to be Herblord smirked a little as she assessed the two newcomers. Her eyes flashing with curiosity when they landed on Ajax. A look that seemed to match Dottore with intensity and insanity. A shiver ran up Ajax’s back, he didn’t like this adepti, god, whatever the hell she was.

“Ah, she must have been talking about my other form.” The ginger confidently smiled at her, trying to not piss her off since their village’s life hung in her hands. Herblord’s silver monocle flashed in the light and she grinned like she just got a new toy. Definitely a Dottore expression. 

“Oh please don’t feel the need to suck up to me, I would rather hear your true thoughts. Now, please sit.” She waved towards an empty spot at the table as Zhijian took a seat in between her and Guizhong. Blanche and Ajax looked at each other in confusion at the lack of seats before Guizhong gave a long-suffering sigh and a cloud of dust appeared under the table. 

When it faded, two seats sat under the table, made out of what looked like a soft gray stone. “Don’t worry, it won’t disintegrate when you sit.” Guizhing winked at the two as they sat down, Blanche more skeptical than Ajax. The dust made stone chairs did not vanish beneath them. 

“So, Zhijian said you would allow him to go to Abielle to heal our people but you had some requirements for him to leave. What are they?” Ajax got straight to the point, not wanting to waste valuable time. They were working on a timer that if there were delays could lead to someone’s death. How many had even died in the nearly two weeks they had left? He didn’t want to even think about it. 

Herblorad leaned back a bit and closed her eyes. She hummed a little to herself before opening them again, looking straight into the new god’s lightless eyes. Interesting. “Yes I do have…requirements I suppose. You see, the healers that I have personally trained are few in number, I only take the best of the best under my tutelage of course. As there are few I treasure them greatly and protect them. When one wishes to leave Chenyu Vale they must first ask me. If they desire to travel beyond to different lands then I make sure they have protection. If one is say, called to a small village to cure a sickness by a strange new god, I make sure I have insurance that they are returned unharmed.” 

“What kind of insurance madam?” Blanche asked. Her voice was low as if she feared asking such a being a direct question. 

Herblord took a long sip of their tea before placing it down, her eyes falling over to Blanche. “Well I would be letting you borrow one of my top healers and one of his apprentices, such prized specimens warrant a priced collateral.” her eyes went back to Ajax and he felt the relization of what she was talking about sink in. 

“You want me to stay here with Fillicien, don’t you?”

She grinned at him, much too long canines sparkling in the early morning sun. “Yes, that is exactly what I am asking. I value my healers and I am certain your village values you. They will have to return the two of them to get you back.” 

Blanche looked over at Ajax shocked. “What about me, why can’t I stay? Lady Helene will be furious if-”

“I don’t care how your Lady Helene will feel, you are just a simple replaceable mortal. Oh don’t get huffy with me. In a hundred years the  only ones who will care about you will be old and withered with your descendantsss barely giving you a sssingle thought. Him on the other hand will likely ssstill be around, ssstill having an active impact. Ssso little warrior, you will show my healersss to your village and you will essscort them back once your village is no longer a diseassse-ridden, back-water, ssslum!” Herblord hissed, her eyes blazing with anger at the audacity of this human talking back to her. 

Blanche immediately cowered and slumped in her seat, eyes downcast. Ajax turned from her to Herblord, pissed. “Don’t you dare talk to her that way. You said you wanted to hear our opinions, well there’s our opinions you pompous, scaly bitch!” A low pitched clicking growl filled the space, emanating from Ajax’s chest as Foul Legacy begged to be let out. 

Herblord settled back down and tossed her braid over her shoulder. “You misunderstood me, I said I wanted to hear your thoughts, not hers. If I wanted a mortal’s opinion I would ask one actually worthy of my time and conversation. However, I will ignore her lack of decorum on the fact that as a new god you haven’t trained your mortals yet.” Ajax opened his mouth to say something much ruder in response but Guizhong kicked his leg under the table. 

She slightly shook her head, obviously trying to get to him to not make a grave mistake. He grit his teeth and tried to get himself under control. “Thank you, Herblord. I agree to your terms.” He bowed to her a little, Blanche following his example but going lower, not wanting to insult the god again. 

Herblord made a pleased hum and turned to Zhijian who had remained silent this entire time. “----------------------” She said something to him in Guili. The doctor bowed to her and then walked off towards a building close to where Fillicien was. Ajax turned back to Herblord who was once more looking at him like he was a bug in a jar. “He is going to collect Luocha, one of his apprentices. I have no doubt he will be of extreme usefulness.” 

“When do you want them to leave?” 

“Early tomorrow morning, that way your mortal can rest up some more. It would do my healers no good if she's exhausted.” Ajax bit his tongue. “It will also allow them to collect all their materials. While it would be better if they had a few days to prepare, there are lives on the line afterall.” She lazily flung a hand around as if the fact that people might be dying was only a minor inconvenience. 

“Just because I find humans to be below me doesn't mean I don't care if they die or not.” Ajax almost startled when Herblord said that, thinking that she had read his mind. He quickly glanced over at Blanche and Guizhong who were both looking at him like he was stupid. And that was when he realized that he had said that aloud. “In fact I find them to be useful, after all Adepti and gods rarely ever do get sick, and when they do it’s a serious disease.” 

Her eyes sparkled as she continued to speak, alight with the joy of being able to explain why she does what she does. “But humans are weaker when it comes to illness, they provide an ideal testing zone for medicine and revolutionary treatments without needing to purposefully get someone sick. By understanding how to cure the common cold, one can piece together who to cure an epidemic. So without humans there is little purpose for me to continue being a healer and following my passion. But since they are here, I get to further understand the world and help the pitiful humans. The worship is just a bonus.” She tossed both hands in the air in a shrug as if being a god was a simple thing that anyone could do. 

Her lackadaisical attitude towards humans and their lives sat wrong with Ajax. Was this truely how most gods viewed their followers? As a means to an end. He thought back to his time as a Harbinger and the Tsaritsa. While she was usually cold, she would sometimes have a spark of warmth to her. It was almost motherly in the way she would pull her harbingers aside and chat with them over a samovar. Was that all just an act, or was it influenced by her position as the god of love? 

And Morax, he used to be, or now is, a warrior god who mercilessly slew and sealed his fellow gods and adepti when they rose against him. While he walked down the street as a human and interacted with them like a human, albeit one with their head in the clouds and with little obvious understanding of how money worked, was this all just a carefully curated disguise mastered over thousands of years? 

And even him, the child who fell into the abyss and came out a monster. Did Pulcinella not teach him how to hide his bloodthirst and interact with others like a spoiled rich young lord? Was he any different from these gods in human masks? Probably not, but even then he knew what it was like to be human. His mask was more of a memory than a lie. Perhaps the Tsaritsa was the same, for she had become the crypto archon suddenly with little news of who she was beforehand.  Perhaps she was once a human like him, thrusted into godhood by Celestia while he had been dragged into it by the Abyss. Completely confused and lost, with no other option but to harden themselves from the outside world…

Ajax mentally shook himself by the shoulders. It was a stupid thought, the Tsaritsa held herself like someone who was used to power, had grown up in it. Both her and Zhongli wore power and divinity like they were born for it. Come to think of it, the Iudex did as well sitting above everyone else and decreeing them guilty or innocent. Compared to him, Lady Furina had been weak and awkward with her power. Like it wasn’t right. When Ajax had first seen her the first thought he had was why she was acting like she was on a stage. Outrageous remarks, overblown reactions, and an oscillating mood that swung between confident and nervous.  

But perhaps he was reading too far into it. Maybe she was just stressed out over that prophecy. Ajax left his distracted thoughts behind and tuned back into the present. Herblord appeared to be waiting for a reaction from him. “I see…”

“…that’s it? And here I was thinking I would finally have a good argument. Fujin just goes along with whatever I say and Lingyuan only shuts them down.” Herblord appeared to pout a little. “The only one I truly have a good argument with is Cloud Retainer but more often than not I find us agreeing with one another. Life truly is a challenge.” 

Guizhong coughed into her giant sleeve, stifling a laugh. “Well I’m sure we can find something to argue about.” 

Herblord scoffed “As if I have any hope of winning an argument against you. You have too much experience convincing that old rock to bend to your whims that I’m only a pebble compared to him.” Ajax began to pay a little more attention to their conversation. There were only so many rock associated gods in ancient Liyue that were associated with Guizhong. 

“Ugh don’t remind me, when I get back it’s going to be a giant mess.” She suddenly turned to Ajax who tried to appear uninterested “that stupid lizard is going to undue all my hard work while I’m away, but it’s not like I can send him on a diplomatic trip. If I did that he would return covered in blood and who knows what else, only say ‘they didn’t want to compromise so I killed them’. Uhm yes because you didn’t ~~~~~~~ compromise!” She flung her arms in the air and waved them angrily. 

Blanche, Ajax, and Herblord all watched on quietly as she continued her rant. “And don’t even get me started on the mess that will be waiting for me when I get back. He’s probably going to flood the market with too much mora again because his dumb~~~ doesn’t understand that in order for it to be worth anything it has to be somewhat uncommon. But noooo the only way to fix people’s problem with not having food is to just produce more mora, or kill something.” She drank her cup of tea down like a shot, Herblord quietly refilling it. 

“I have been struggling, and I mean struggling to get Morax to understand the economy. I once asked him how much he thought a small bag of rice cost and do you know what he said?” Blanche shook her head no. “He said, and I ~~~~~ ‘It’s like what, five hundred mora?’. No idiot, it’s like twenty. And he just shrugs like it doesn’t matter!” 

Guizhong took a deep breath ready to begin once more but was interrupted by Ajax doubling over and wheezing. His head rested on the table while he hit it with his hand. His horns made thumping noises as they hit the table and he gasped for air. “Oh archons, that-tha-that is too-hahaha- hilarious” Blanche awkwardly patted his back. 

He eventually got a hold of himself and coughed a little. “Sorry it’s just-hehe that’s funny. Is Morax really like that?” 

Guizhong blinked at him before answering slowly “Yeah, I guess it is sorta funny from an outside perspective…heh yeah it is, just really annoying when you have to actually deal with him.” 

“Yeah I suppose…but it could be a little endearing you know, the idea that the god who has created mora doesn’t understand shit about it.” The ginger smiled down at his tea cup before taking a sip. 

“It is a little bit…you sound like you know someone like that, bad with money. Are they from your village?” 

“…No.” Guizhong watched as he immediately tensed up, his hand squeezing his cup a little too firmly. This person was either dead or they were no longer on good terms, and she couldn’t tell which would be worse. She looked over at Herblord who appeared to be noticing the same thing in the young god. 

He knew Guili tea etiquette, apparently knew someone with poor money skills and obviously had some sort of feelings about them, spoke in some unknown language, had a different form that sat wrong with Cloud Retainer, and was young enough to evade Rumeria’s attention. Ajax was a god of mysteries. Hopefully with Herblord’s help they could untangle a few of them. 

“Ah, my apologies…oh look at the time, you should rest up, you have a long journey ahead of you.” Guizhong patted Blanche on the shoulder who jumped from her position of looking at Ajax with confusion. Obviously, she also wasn’t privy to his secrets or background fully. “Don’t worry about food or water, I’m sure Zhijian and Luocha will take care of it.” 

Herblord nodded in agreement. “They will prepare a bag for you. Since you will be the one directly them to your…quaint village, you will need all the strength you can get. I will brew a tea for you tonight, to make sure you have a restful evening.” 

“Thank you Lady Herblord, Lady Guizhong.” She gave a bow to both of them, her hair nearly brushing the ground as she bent over before standing back up. 

Herblord’s eyebrow twitched a little at the title but didn’t say anything. “Hmmm yes. Now run on back to your sickly friend, I’m sure he’s awake by now and wondering what’s going on.” She made a shooing motion towards Blanche who began to walk away from the table and back up the road they had come down. 

Ajax made a motion to follow her but was stopped by something wrapping around his foot. He looked down and saw a white scaled tail coiled around his leg. It reminded him a bit of that snake that sat on Baizhu’s shoulders. 

“Not you little god, I have some more questions for you, along with some rules for your stay here in Chenyu Vale.” 

The abyssal heretic looked over to Blanche and gave her a lopsided smile. “I’ll be okay, go tell Fillicien what’s going on. I’ll meet up with you in a bit.” 

She hesitated for a second, opening her mouth to protest before closing it and walking away. As she did she flung up a rude hand sign that he had become well acquainted with on their journey. He couldn’t help the chuckle that came out. 

“How you can laugh at such uncivilized behavior is astonishing is beyond me.” The tail uncoiled from his leg as Herblord sighed, watching Blanche slowly get smaller and smaller. “But I suppose you will manage your followers how you like.” 

“What did you want?” Ajax snapped at her, just about done with her rude comments towards his friend. 

Guizhong and Herblord side-eyed each other before looking right at him. It reminded him of one time when his mother and teacher had met to discuss how he didn’t have any friends and seemed to not be paying attention in class very much. Pity and sympathy had drenched their faces, making him feel all sticky and wrong. Confused on what he had done to deserve such looks. It wasn’t his fault all the other kids thought he was a crybaby and a loser. It wasn’t his fault they thought he was a freak. It was his fault that they were terrified of him. At least the two gods didn’t have that in their curious gazes. 

“As I am sure you are now aware, Guizhong and Cloud Retainer are here as diplomats for Guili. They are here to promote peace and trade between our two nations. Now, I help rule Chenyu Vale with my two…friends, Fujin and Lingyuan. While Fujin has no problems with godly guest, Lingyuan is more…protective over our land and of us. Due to this, if she finds out that a random god is just…sitting around Qiaoying village, she’ll get angry.” Herblord worded everything like he was five and stupid. 

“She’ll try and kill me.” He bluntly said. 

“Exactly,” Guizhong piped up “so in order to stop that from happening, we talked last night and decided to pretend that you are an adeptus from Guili.” 

Ajax stared at her with a blank look “…Lady Guizhong with all due respect, I don’t look like I am from Guili at all.” He then gestured to his entire face and then shook his purple starry hands. 

Herblord rolled her eyes. “Just because she claims you as one of her adepti doesn’t mean you have to be from Guili. Plenty of minor gods leave their lands in search of a stronger one to follow that aligns with their beliefs. Take for example Abraxas, or his mother. She was an owl nymph from Sumeru. Celestia knows why she decided to move to a giant ice ~~~~ and ~~~~ a dragon but she agreed with what he said about Celestia, and now she’s dead.” 

“Okay that’s a little extreme but you get the point. Lingyuan won’t be suspicious about your presence and when you eventually leave, she’ll assume you were called back by Morax.” Guizhong happily chimed in like Ajax didn’t just learn what fuck was in Rumerian. “And if she ever figured out that you weren’t one of mine then it’ll be too late.” 

It sounded like a solid plan but there was one thing that didn’t sit well with the story. “What about Fillicien, and the absence of the two healers? Wouldn’t she notice that?” 

Herblord made a dismissive sound and began picking at her nails, sharp and bright red. “She can barely tell the difference between Guizhong and Cloud Retainer when they are both sitting down. She’ll only notice you based on your smell. So long as Fillicien doesn’t walk around smelling like ozone saltwater or fish then he’ll be fine.” 

“…do I smell like ozone and fish?” Ajax tried to sniff his shirt but he didn’t notice anything. 

“No you just smell like ozone and saltwater but…wrong. The fish is just because she loves the stuff.” The goddess of dust tried to placate him. “Anyway, I was also thinking about teaching you Guili, that way you will be able to communicate with the villagers and sell the whole ‘you’re an adeptus’ thing.” 

“I smell wrong?!” 

“It’s not gross, just a little weird like an oversteeped tea, kinda bitter and funky but you can still chug it down. Now that that’s all settled you can go say goodbye to your little mortal pet.” Herblord waved him off and made a shooing noise. Ajax stared at her confused and insulted before getting up and slowly walking away from the two gods. Archons, gods were weird. 

As soon as he got out of earshot the two pulled their chairs closer to one another and began to gossip. “You can’t just call his friends pets, it’s rude.” Guizhong hissed much like Herblord at said god. 

“Humans see dogs and cats as lesser and keep them as pets. I see humans as lesser so why can’t they be pets?” The snake god nonchalantly sighed and poured herself some more tea. It had oversteeped during their conversation and now reminded her of the new god. Perhaps she should have been more careful with her likening. 

The dust goddess shook her head and silently drank. “You really need to work on reading the room.”

“I can read the room, I simply decide to speak my mind. Why would I lie to make people feel better about themselves?” Herblord crossed her arms and sniffed. “Now tell me more about how stupid that giant worm is.” 

“…aren’t you closer to a giant worm-“

“Shut up.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“And don’t forget to tell Larissa that I love her.” Fillicien rasped out from the hospital bed. Blanche sat next to him nodding and giving into his million random requests. 

“Yes I will tell your family and fiance that you are alive and you love them and to not take your favorite blanket.” She ran her fingers through his hair like a mother would their sickly child. 

He wrinkled his nose at first but soon relaxed into it. “And be safe. I don’t want to learn that you drowned or something.” he mumbled into his blanket, leaning further into the hand. 

“Don’t worry about me, focus all that worry on getting better. The sooner you do that, the sooner both you and Ajax can come home.” The archer of Abeille looked over at the god of Abeille with a sad smile. “I’m sorry that you have to stay.” 

Ajax shrugged and took a seat on the other side of Fillicien. “There are worse places to stay. But like Fillicien said, be safe. If not for us then for a certain black haired seer.” He bugged her in the side as her face lit up red. 

“Sh-shut up! I’m leaving now! I hope I never see you two again.” Blanche jogged up to the door and threw it open. She then ran face first into Zhijian’s apprentice, Luocha. “Agh, apologies.” 

Luocha steadied Blanche and just calmly stared at her. The gems dangling from his small wooden horns twinkled in the light from the large windows. He was some sort of plant adepti, what kinda was unknown to Ajax but he could summon different types of medicinal plants. A skill that would prove extremely useful in a snow covered land. 

“It is fine. You didn’t harm me.” He moved over to check Fillicien. The entire room fell into silence as he did so. As soon as he finished he stood up and walked to the door. “We are leaving now, get ready to leave.” 

“What a fun guy.” Fillicien grumbled. Blanche chuckled at him, walking back over to him. 

“And I have to travel all the way home with him.” Blanche patted his shoulder lightly “but if it means saving everyone then so be it. Be smart okay?” 

“When am I ever smart?” Fillicien joked back, tears filling his eyes. Ajax felt like he was intruding on a moment he shouldn’t be witnessing. On their journey, he had realized that the two of them were practically siblings. They grew up together and did everything when they were young together. 

The moment was broken by a coughing fit from Fillicien, much weaker than earlier but still nasty. “Okay, that’s enough out of you, remember what Zhijian said about talking.” Ajax pushed him to lay back down and he went without much fuss. 

“Yeah yeah, small sentences.” 

“You better listen to Ajax and your doctors. When I come back to get you I expect to hear good things.” 

“Yes mom, I’ll take my medicine. Now get out of here.” His hand shakily rose and pushed Blanche. She obeyed the weak push and got up walking to the door. 

She looked back, tears in her eyes. Her mouth opened but then closed, unable to put everything she wanted to say into words. It closed silently and she slipped out the door. 

Then the two men, one crippled by an illness and one strengthened by a curse, were left alone in silence. They sat, both watching the door as if expecting Blanche to come back at any minute. But she didn’t come back. It was all quiet except for the sounds of the village outside the windows. 

“Hey…do you have any alcohol?” 

Ajax slowly turned his head to look at Fillicien. His face was stained with quiet tears as he continued to stare at the door. “Blanche just left and you already want to go against what your doctor said?” 

The brunette looked over at the ginger and gave him a shaky grin. “Well I don’t know who this doctor thinks they are but I’ve heard that alcohol can cure all woes.” He then began to cough violently.

“Stop talking.” 

“You sh-cough-ut up!” 

Chapter Text

The star-filled sky faded to a soft pink and orange as the sun rose, peeking out from behind the mountains and filling the valleys with soft light. With the waking light of the sun, the villagers began to stir and awaken, starting their days in the sleepy mountain village. Unlike them, Ajax was just returning to the house that he and Fillicien had been staying in with Guizhong, Cloud Retainer, and Ganyu. It was to help sell the illusion of him and Fillicien working for Guizhong, but he also had a sneaking suspicion that it was to keep an eye on him. After about a week of feeling like everyone was constantly watching him, he began to sneak out before the sun rose in order to get some time to himself. And so for the past two weeks he had been waking up on an ungodly hour to have a few seconds to think.

The door swung open smoothly as he slipped inside. The main room was quiet and still dark as the sun wasn’t fully up. Continuing in the new pattern of his life, he went into the kitchen and lit the stove. It was a large thing with an area for multiple pots and pans both on top of the flames and next to them. He had fallen into the role after he offered to make dinner one time and Cloud Retainer decided that he would cook every meal. She had insisted that since they were doing so much to help him and did little in return, he could contribute more by cooking their meals. Not that they needed any, both her and Guizhong being able to last long periods of time without ‘mortal food’. Ganyu and Fillicien however needed food, Fillicien being a mortal human and Ganyu being only half adeptus. Ajax didn’t know if he still needed food, his body so far was more fucked up than before so it wouldn’t be too far of a jump to assume he would take longer to starve. But it wasn’t something he wished to test out any time soon.

He went back outside to collect some water from the well to boil for congee and tea. The other villagers were well on their way to starting their days, chimneys with smoke drifting into the sky and people already heading either to the fields or back to the village from fishing much earlier that morning. While the ginger had been walking around earlier that morning, he bought some fish from a few of the fishermen who had just gotten back from the river. He had managed to stumble through a few sentences with them due to the lessons from Guizhong that both him and Fillicien had been taking. Fillicien was taking longer to get a grasp on the language but he knew some basics.

Grabbing some rice, Ajax tossed it into a pot and then washed it a few times with some of the collected water. After the water ran mostly clear, he added enough water to turn the rice into congee and set it over the fire while he filled another but didn’t set it next to the other just yet. He would start boiling it once he heard his new roommates moving about. It wouldn’t do to start boiling the water for tea only for it all to evaporate off. As the rice softened, he tied back the sleeves of his Hanfu in a way that he had learned from someone from the Fatui who was originally from Inazuma. He couldn’t remember who exactly, his memory got fuzzy whenever he tried to think a little too hard about it. All he could remember was a ridiculous hat and the person being short. Other than that nothing.

But that was in the past and the fish in front of him needed to be descaled and gutted now. Grabbing one of their silverish tails he summoned a small hydro gutting knife with the tiny hook at the end and processed to clean out the fish. When he was younger, descaling the fish would be meddlesome and a task that no one wanted, but with a hydro vision and a bit of skill he could push a little bit under their scales and pull them off in one fell swoop. Signora saw him do it once and called it a lousy party trick but Pulcinella had commended him on his skill to be able to remove the scales without damaging the skin or flesh. The former harbinger had felt a sparkle of pride in his chest when he got that comment.

The heads of the fish were kept on as he planned to roast the whole thing and then let everyone pick off the amount they wanted in their congee. Said food was well on its way to being done, the rice softened and began to turn into a porridge in the pot. Ajax stirred it around a little and added a few dashes of spices from the containers on the shelf nearby. The sound of movement further in the house prompted him to set the other pot of water on to boil as he moved the pot of congee further away to keep it from burning. He then continued to set up breakfast by pulling out some pickled green beans and tea leaves. After all, a balanced meal was important. The two fish were rubbed in some more seasoning and salt before being wrapped up in some large leaves and set them on one of shelves of the stove, like an open faced oven. Herb Lord had been the one to introduce him to the leaves after she had kidnapped him for a day to show him a variety of different plants before poking, prodding, and taking samples of his blood and hair. Fun.

“Mmm, what’s for breakfast today —---?” Guizhong entered the kitchen in a swirl of white and blue as she stuck her head right over the stove and in Ajax’s way. He immediately tried to smack her with a wooden spoon but she had already moved away from it as quickly as she had arrived.

“It’s food, and you’ll eat it.” Ajax grumbled in Guili. Him and Guizhong had begun to speak in the language during regular conversations outside of their lessons. It was to get him used to regular conversations in real situations. The god ignored his rude comment and began to set up a tea pot and cups, gently pulling some tea out of a bin and placing it inside. Despite having been praised, or the closest thing to it, by Cloud Retainer he was somewhat banned from making tea. Both her and Guizhong insisted that he underbrewed it too often to be allowed to use the nice blends. Instead he was given ‘bad’ tea leaves to use with Herb Lord looking over his shoulder and making snide comments when he did it wrong. Like chopsticks, making tea correctly was outside of his…talents. While he could pour it nicely and follow most of the unsaid rules around tea and the drinking of it, he just couldn’t make it. It did irk the time travel a bit since Fillicien seemed to have a better grasp at both then him. The once dying man now able to easily use chopsticks and not over boil the water or under steep the leaves.

Ajax pulled the boiling water from the stove and carefully handed it over to Guizhong, her covered hands easily holding it. Despite being in the village for around three weeks, he had yet to see the goddess of dust’s hands. Always covered by her dramatically oversized sleeves. He was curious as to what was underneath, whether they were just regular hands, similar to his with claws, or something else entirely. One thing that was certain was that the length of her sleeves didn’t hold her back at all. She had easily taken apart some sort of mechanism and put it back together with some frightening accuracy.

“What —- of food?” She rested her head on one of her hands, her sharp grey eyes lazily watching the leaves unfurl in the hot water. Ajax spent a second trying to figure out how to correctly word his response.

“I made…fish, congee, and….pickled green beans and tea leaves.” He said what he didn’t know in Rumerian and watched as Guizhong smiled up at him, now watching him as he puttered around getting plates and bowls ready.

“------ green —----”

“Pickled green beans.”

She nodded in acceptance at his pronunciation and began to pour the tea. As she did, as if summoned by the sound and smell, Cloud Retainer came in with a sleepy Ganyu holding onto the edge of her cape thing. Her sleepy face lit up as she saw the fellow horned person and she ran over to him. “Gege, good morning!” She smiled up at him and he couldn’t help but ruffle her hair which earned him another giggle. Cloud Retainer sniffed in disdain at the overly familiar nickname but it was better than what she had called him before. Despite being told multiple times that he was not a Qilin in any way shape or form, she was absolutely convinced he was. And as per her confusion decided to start calling him Baba, Cloud Retainer had been swift to cut that down.

“Good morning Ganyu,” He responded to her which made her giggle again at him speaking Guili “How do you sleep?”

Another laugh “It’s did, not do.” She corrected him softly and blushed before digging her face in the side of his leg, embarrassed by correcting him.

“Thank you.” He smiled down at her and patted her head again before softly pushing her towards the table. She smiled and walked over to her master and curled up on her lap and talked to her so quickly he had some trouble keeping up with what he could understand. He turned back to the stove and pulled the fish out, both of them cooked. He set them on a plate before setting it on the table and repeating the process with multiple bowls on congee. As he set up the table with food, Guizhong set down utensils for everyone. Ajax looked over at the hallway and frowned. Usually Fillicien was up already, unable to sleep in after his fever had receded. “I’m going to wake up Fillicien, you can start breakfast now.” he switched back to Rumerian and left the room.

The door to the room that both Ajax and Fillicien shared was at the end of the hallway. It was small and could barely fit two small beds and a table but they made it work, somehow. Due to them showing up out of nowhere, there wasn’t anything prepared for them but through the kindness of strangers both him and Fillicien had gotten two sets of clothes. An inner robe, outer one, some pants, and a pair of shoes. The clothes they had arrived in were dirty from not cleaning them and Filliciens were so sweat soaked that Ajax had deemed them unsavable and turned them into rags for cleaning. He had been able to save some patches of embroidery since he had learned that his grandmother had embroidered it. She had died close to the beginning of the sickness. His own belt was still useful but not with his current outfit so it sat in the drawer of their room with the other things they brought with them. Ajax’s earring was also still defying the odds and surviving. Part of him wished it didn’t since he had been dragged over the coals by Guizhong asking where he had gotten such a well crafted earring. He had clammed up and pretended like he didn’t understand her which made her smack him over the head.

Falling more into the role of a househusband, he had also taken over landry for both him and Fillicien, the other three using adeptus bullshit magic to keep themselves clean. It didn’t bother him, it gave him stability and also reminded him of simpler times. When his mother would let him help take care of his newborn little siblings and help her with all the chores around their house. She had always joked with his father about him growing up and staying at home instead of becoming a hunter or fisherman like most of the men in their family. He would always giggle and insist that he would do both and his parents would ruffle his hair and hug him calling him their most filial son. They had probably been hoping that he would take care of them as they got older but after the abyss they didn’t even trust him to take care of one of their chickens much less themselves or their other children.

Ajax quietly knocked on the door before entering the room. Fillicien sat on top of the bed already dressed. He was staring at the wall opposite of him, bags under his bloodshot eyes. Carefully, Ajax sat next to him and looked over at the wall he was staring at. His own bed tucked up against it and made in a sharp military fashion, a habit he found solace in. “Go and eat breakfast without me, I’ll be there in a bit.” the brunette mumbled, voice hoarse. He had been crying.

“Not that hungry, I don’t like eating alone.”Truthfully he often forgot to eat when alone, doing paperwork or running through drills instead.

Fillicien shuffled a little bit, a sign of him not being frozen in place. “You wouldn’t be alone, the others are here. I just don’t feel hungry right now.” He looked down at his hands folded on his lap, his overgrown hair covering his expression. Ajax sighed and tried to think of the best way to deal with Fillicien's newest bout of depression. Despite normally being energetic and a bit of a jockster, the young man would have times where he would get too quiet and not talk to anyone. Usually these only lasted about an hour but recently it had been occurring more and more frequently.

Not that Ajax could blame him though, between watching people he grew up with dying to getting dragged away from his family to an entirely new place it made sense for him to feel sullen. “Okay, if you really aren’t hungry then I’ll wrap some up for later. But if you want to talk I’m here to listen.”

Fillicien let out a shaky chuckle as he shook his head almost in disbelief. “How can you be like this? How can you act like everything is fine, because it isn’t!” His head popped up, fresh tears in his eyes. “Everyone is dying back home and you are acting like nothing is wrong and we are just on some sort of ~~~~~~~! It isn’t fair that I get to be warm and fed in a god's house while my family and Larissa are possibly dying in their beds, choking on their own blood.” His hands trembled as he grabbed onto the front of Ajax’s robes. “Why do they have to die while I’m still living, me and my miserable self. Someone who will never do anything worthwhile ever again because everytime I take a breath my lungs cry out in pain! Why Ajax, why?”

The heretic blankly stared at him, unsure of how to respond but unable to look away from the hurt and desperation in his friend’s eyes. Carefully, he took his hands in his own and gently squeezed them. “This is going to sound stupid but life isn’t fair, many people who are too good for this world suffer and die while the evil and corrupt flourish in their pain. It’s not your fault that they got ill, and it isn’t your fault for being here. If you want to blame anyone, blame me for not being able to help you. But even though I can’t help, Blanche and the two healers should be back at the village by now, healing them.” Fillcien trembled like a leaf in the autumn wind as he tried to keep his sobs quiet enough to not disturb the other inhabitants.

“And on that note, you are not a burden to us, Fillicien. You are a dearly loved person of Abeille and even if you can’t run around all day you are not going to sneer at and be hated. You also won’t be alone. Lots of people got sick, you won’t be the only one unable to do what you used to do. We will all just have to get used to a new normal.” He glanced down at his own hands, his own new normal. “But if anyone dares to insinuate anything like that, I’ll treat them like a fish and gut them.”

Fillciien chuckled at that and pulled his hands away to rub his eyes. They were now even more puffier and red than before. He looked like shit but Ajax wasn’t going to say it. “Thanks, I think. You’re not the greatest at cheering people up are you?”

“Whaaaat? I think I did pretty good, got you to stop crying didn’t I.” The mood in the room lightened and he bumped shoulders with the brunette who was still sniffling.

“Gods no, you made me feel worse for throwing all my issues on you.”

“....I don’t mind if you do. I kinda know how you feel, a little bit. If I can help you in any way, even by just being a shoulder for you to cry on or an ear to hear your woes then I’ll gladly do it. You’re my friend, and I care about you.” Ajax smiled over at the other man and he smiled back.

“Yeah you are a good listener….must be those big ass ears.” Fillicien reached out and flicked one of the dark purple ears which twitched at being hit. Ajax lightly smacked him and muttered under his breath about insubordination and respect. “....Thank you…Now go and eat, I’ll be out in a bit. I would die of embarrassment if CLoud Retainer saw the state I’m in. She would berate and yell at me for being a stupid emotional human.”

Ajax laughed, imagining the curl of disgust at her face if she had to see human tears. “Okay, okay. But if you don’t come out soon I will drag you out of here.” Fillicien flipped him off as he got up and left. The door swung shut behind him and Ajax proceeded to immediately smack his forehead a few times. He would smack it against the wall if he wasn’t scared to either break his horns or annoy someone. He wasn’t upset at Fillician or annoyed by him, he was just at the end of his own rope. He was more worried about the inhabitants of Abeille village than expected. He didn’t expect to feel stress and grief over people he only knew for two years. Ajax felt more grief over them then he did about his parents and older siblings. But not his younger siblings, the day he found himself uncaring about losing them is the day he dies.

After getting himself back under control, he went back to the kitchen. Ganyu and CLoud Retainer were well on their way to finishing their bowls but Guizhong hadn’t touched hers. She patted a spot next to her and he smiled at her as he began to try and pile food on top of his congee, the chopsticks wobbling and dropping fish on the table. He tried to ignore the judgemental sartre to his left, focusing on the food and its taste. It was good but next time he would possibly cook the congee a little more, it was a bit watery. “So will Fillicien be joining us?” SHe asked politely.

Ajax took a sip of his tea, perfectly brewed and still warm due to adeptus magic. “He will be joining us soon, he slept in a little.”

“Humph, This one is once more reminded of the laziness of mortals.” Cloud Retainer sniffed before plopping another piece of fish in her mouth. “Thou hast cooked yet another fantastic dish, this one was correct in her assumption that thou should reside in a kitchen.” Ajax felt his eye twitch at the comment. It reminded him too much of some of the rude comments people would throw towards his older sister when she had decided to leave the village for higher education. She had wanted to become a lawyer and last he heard she had, going to some law school in Liyue before returning to the capital to practice.

“Thanks.” He mumbled back. He continued to eat his meal, Fillicien coming in a few minutes later, his eyes still a little red but looking much better. Cloud Retainer left, Ganyu being dumped in Ajax’s lap for him to watch her. Despite the Adeptis disdain for him, she sure had nothing against using him as a babysitter. Ganyu quietly played with the ends of her hair waiting for her Gege to finish his meal so they could play. After he finished eating he set the dish aside to clean later. “Alright, me and Ganyu are gonna go play outside if you need us.” He addressed both Guizhong and Fillicien who both nodded and waved for him to leave.

“Can we play by the river —--, Gege?” the little girl gave him her best puppy? Goat? Eyes and he couldn’t but nod.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Gege, Gege, look at this!” Ganyu pulled on Ajax’s arm as set down his tools. He had begun carving a bow and was now onto the decorations. He had begun carving it a month ago with a few bad attempts that had to be scrapped. It had been a while since he made one and the wood was one he wasn’t used to.

“What? I’m looking, I’m looking.” He fondly said as he watched the little girl run a few feet away before doing a cartwheel into a backflip, landing on her feet with her hands in the air and a triumphant smile on her face. He began to clap and cheer for her. “That was very nice Ganyu, did Cloud Retainer teach you?”

She nodded and ran back to him, jumping with excitement. “She said that —------- is —------ on the —---field and it will keep me healthy and fit.” The Qilin set her hands on her hips and beamed with pride. “I’m gonna become the bestest and strongest!” She then mimed a few punches and kicks in the air.

Ajax couldn’t help but laugh at her antics, finding it very endearing. “I’m sure you will Kozlenochek. Now get over here I want to see how it feels in your hand.” He handed the bow over to her and her little hands carefully grabbed onto it. There wasn’t a string strung yet and he wanted to dye the wood a darker color in some areas. It would make the carved details more prominent. Ganyu carefully held it in her hand correctly and moved it like she was about to pull back the string. Cloud Retainer had begun teaching the basics of a few weapons already but Ganyu hadn’t chosen one she preferred yet. Ajax could remember that the future secretary of the Qixing was a bow wielder so he decided that gifting her a handmade bow would be a useful gift.

“It’s pretty.” She whispered as her hand brushed against the small geometric designs and flowers. “It feels nice too.” She handed it back to him but didn’t look away from the weapon. “Is it —--- for me?”

Ajax carefully set it down next to him and patted the other side of the log. Ganyu clambered on top of it and hugged his side. “Yes it is for you, I promise.”

“Usually giving a child a weapon is —--- upon, but these are danger— times.” Guizhong came up from behind them, her hands calmly folded in front of her. Ganyu jumped up and ran over to hug her. “Hello Ganyu, are you having fun?” Ganyu nodded enthusiastically, doing grabby hands until Guizhong picked her up with a sigh. “Oh, you’re getting so big, soon you’ll be taller than me and I’ll —----to hold you.”

“Noooooo, I’ll stay little.” Ganyu shrieked, shaking her head so much he got concerned that it would fall off. “I’ll stay little so you and Gege will hold me —-----.”

“Well I can’t stay forever Ganyu.” Ajax sadly reminded her, watching the little Qilins face fall. Her nose scrunched up a few times as she tried to not cry. “I’m sorry Kozlenochek, but both me and Fillicien will have to leave for our home when our friend comes back.” Ganyu began to cry in earnest.

“You can’t leave, you’re my Gege.” She wiggled her way out of Guizhong hold and took off running down the hill. It was a nasty habit of hers, running off and into the wilderness whenever she got upset. That or she would get distracted and wander off.

“That was a little —-------.” Guizhong helpfully supplied, sitting down where Ganyu had earlier.

“Yeah thanks…. Should we go after her?”

Guizhong shook her head before speaking in Rumerian. “Cloud Retainer is currently on patrol around the outskirts. There isn’t anything dangerous nearby. Besides, it will be good for us to talk, just us.” The wind blew through the valley and over the small hill they were perched on. Ajax felt himself tense, worried about what sort of conversation they would have. Despite Herb Lord examining and looking him all over, she was unable to find anything wrong with him. He was just a strange being that had stumbled its way to her doorstep. She had admitted to thinking that he was once human and that he had accidently contracted something. He hadn’t told her that he was originally human but he didn’t think she would believe him or that he would be forced to stay forever for her to take apart to find out what makes him tick.

“What do you want to talk about?” He cautiously asked. Something wasn’t right with the way she was acting, her eyes sad and shoulders slightly slumped. Guizhong sighed and leaned back before holding her hands out and sliding up one of her sleeves. Whatever Ajax had been expecting it wasn’t nothing. Her entire arm was gone or invisible. Carefully he touched the blank space, expecting to feel something but his hand just fell through empty air. “What-”

“I am a being of dust. My true form is nothing more but the dust that resides everywhere.” suddenly where her arm was a cloud of gray specks formed what looked like the form of an arm. They moved around slowly and it never fully came together. “For most adepti or nonhuman beings, when they are in a human form, or any form really, something of their form stays. For me it is my arms. They remain nothing more than the dust in the air unless I force it to change shape.” The hand became a claw, then a bowl shape, and then long and flowy like an octopus’s tentacle. “Morax has something similar, his arms and legs are black with golden designs on them while his hands and feet are golden.” Ajax fucking knew there was something up with how the man was always wearing gloves and socks. Fucker had glowstick fingers. “Cloud Retainer’s hands look like the claws of her true form and I assume the same goes for you.” She gestured towards his own starry skin and claws.
Ajax looked at her in the eyes, the bright grey blue eyes meeting dead deep blue ones.”Why are you telling me this? This seems like something you like to keep to yourself.”

“She smiled at him, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “You are correct, I am a little embarrassed by my inability to look….fully human. But I tell you this as a sign of trust. I trust you Ajax.”

“Uhm…thank you.”

“No, thank you.” she turned away from him and looked up at the cloud filled sky. The fluffy things drifting lazily through the sky and under Celestia. “I tell you this because I want you to stay with us.” Ajax froze. “Now I don’t mean in this village, I mean for you to come with me, Cloud Retainer, and Ganyu when we return to Guili. I’ve seen you run through drills and practice with your weapons, you’re very talented.” Ajax is barely able to mutter a thanks as he can hear Valentine whisper in his head about them all coming back and how serious they seemed about it. They knew, they knew that he would be asked to stay. “-and we really could use you in Guili and for the Archon War. I know that you want to protect your little village but the truth is you put them in more danger by being there.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Well Remus and his ilk haven’t been known to be kind to those outside their expanding empire or to other minor gods. They see them as an affront to their ‘glorious symphony’” She said in a mocking voice, scuffing at the idea. “Absolutely stupid if you ask me. But that doesn’t matter, what does matter is that you would be wasting yourself by going back there. Besides, Ganyu loves you like an older brother, and as you have seen she doesn’t want to lose you.” Ajax looked down at the bow he had been carving for her. When he looked back up Guizhong was watching him. “And I have also become fond of you, you’re very funny and I consider you a friend of mine. I don’t want to see you live in a place that will stifle you only for you to watch it be torn away from you before Remus tears you apart. But if you stay with us, you’ll be protected by us.”

Ajax stammered a few times unsure of what to say or do. It wasn’t like he had a great track record for saying no to goddesses who offered him war. “Cloud Retainer hates me.”

“She just thinks you're stupid for attaching yourself to humans, but I don’t think you’re stupid, I think it’s admirable. I like humans as well and I’m sure my humans will like you just as much. You don’t have to answer me right away but If you do agree to come with me, I’m sure I can convince Morax to spar with you.” She winked at him, clearly remembering a few of his comments about not having anyone to spar and wanting to fight someone strong. What she didn;t know was that he was currently having an aneurysm because he knows the future version of Morax and he would very much like to punch his stupid handsome face. Guizhong was a very good salesperson.

“....I will think about it, and I won’t give you an answer until Blanche comes back.” He looked away from her, missing the flash of triumph in her eyes.

Later that night he lay in bed staring at the ceiling as Fillicien snored on the bed next to him. Would it really be terrible for him to go with Guizhong? He truly did love Liyue when he lived there, the landscape and people making him fall in love with the nation. Guili was just the precursor to Liyue and he did stay then maybe he could save Guizhong. She died in future somehow during the Archon War and if he protected her maybe he could keep her alive, keep his….friend alive.

Fillicien shuffled in the bed next to him. Ajax froze as he considered never going back to Adielle. Valentine would want to strangle him or possibly celebrate his leaving, Helene would be disappointed, and Basile would do that slow head shake of disappointment. His guts squirmed as he tried to weigh the pros and cons of both choices. Despite the overall peace he had found in Adielle, he was bored. He wouldn’t be able to lead a happy life as a goat herder for the rest of his life. And if his presence also threatened them then maybe it would be ebay if he left. He rolled over and stared at the wooden wall, unable to look at Fillicien as he debated whether to abandon him or not. But if he didn’t abandon him then wouldn’t he be abandoning Ganyu, a little girl who had lost her entire family and had latched herself onto him. Was he not the same as her once upon a time?

He covered his eyes with his hands and lightly pressed down on them in an attempt to stop the incoming headache. Ajax decided that he would think more on it tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after that until either Blanche returned to take them home or he found an answer to his dilemma.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had been over three months since Ajax, Blanche, and Fillicien had arrived in Qiaoying village. It took about three weeks to get to Adielle so hopefully Blanche would be returning soon. Spring had begun late from what Herb Lord had told him, despite there being little change in the village. Not much else happened in the time from when Guizhong had asked him to actually become one of her followers except for him meeting Fujin, one of Herb Lord’s….close friends. She had been very sweet and had asked some polite questions but tended to keep to herself on her visit. Or at least Ajax thought that she was keeping to herself, she seemed a little nervous and on edge around him. Maybe it was the apparent ozone sea water smell, whatever the hell that had meant.

The ginger was currently sitting at the same stone table where he had tea with Herblord and Guizhong on his first morning there. He was watching Cloud Retainer fix Ganyu’s stance with her bow as him and Fillicien watched while enjoying some tea. He had finished the bow and gifted it to her as promised and had gotten a large hug that made him heart hurt by how much it reminded him of Tonia, Anthon, and Tuecer. He hoped that they were okay wherever and whenever they were.

Guizhong wasn’t there that day, going somewhere with Fujin and Herb Lord to talk about who knows what. Probably taxes for trade between Chenyu Vale and Guili or something equally boring. Ganyu was about to let loose an arrow when a loud shriek of delight suddenly rushed through the air and her arrow went off into the river. Ajax and Fillicien turned towards the noise just in time to see a blur of yellow crash into Fillicien.

Ajax jumped up ready to take care of the intruder only to realize that it was Larissa! Fillicien also noticed and began to sob and cry as the two fiances clutched onto one another as they blubbered out apologies. “Oh my love, my love, my sweet darling Larissa.” Fillicien cried as he kissed her cheeks and face and she gently shook his shoulders.

“I was so scared when you left I-I thought for sure it would be the last I would have seen of you.” Larissa answered in response before they two of them finally kissed each other. Ajax looked away to give the couple some privacy, his face breaking out in a grin as he quickly walked (ran) over the two other familiar faces.

“Blanche you’re back and it looks like you brought a friend as well.” Ajax hugged and she hugged back with her shoulders relaxing his arms. “Hi Valentine, how is everyone?” He asked the moody looking seer. They looked exhausted with the shadows under their eyes standing out.

Valentine shrugged “They were okay when we left or as well as they could be.” They were silent for a bit as Blanche stepped back from Ajax. “ 114 people are dead.” They said it as if it was nothing more than a statistic but Ajax knew otherwise, he could see their fist clenched at their side and the gut wrenching grief in their eyes. The guilt hit Ajax like an Aquabus.

Ajax was about to say something else when the strange bundle tied to Valentine’s body squirmed and moved. “Uhhh is there something living in that cloth?” He asked, pointing towards it. Valentine’s eyes brightened and the corner of their lip raised a little.

“I don’t know why don't you ask those two.” They pointed at Larissa and Fillicien who had now calmed down. Larissa suddenly gasped and jumped up, her face flushing with a pretty blush.

“Well….you see….the reason why I came along on this adventure was because I was….pregnant.” Valentine handed her the apparently squirming baby over to her and she uncovered its face. A chubby baby with light brown hair scrunched up it’s little face babbling and swinging its hands around. “Her name is Aimee.”

Fillicien pushed himself up and walked, or stumbled, over to his fiance holding their baby. “You were pregnant? Why didn;t you tell me?” She gently held his daughter's face in one hand and Larissa’s in the other.

“I didn’t know if she would survive the sickness or if I would. I was scared that if you knew you wouldn’t leave.” She whispered, a tear falling down her cheek. As they had their sweet moment, Ajax was mentally counting back about nine months.

“Well I must say I am disappointed in the two of you.” He dramatically wagged his finger back and forth at the two “Having relations before you are married? I am absolutely disappointed in the two of you.” Larissa gave Fillicien a nervous glance. “Now show me my niece you unholy people.” Ajax smiled at Larissa who had by now realized he had been joking. He didn’t give two shits about whether they had been a little too excited after getting engaged, there was a cute little baby there and that was his niece as far as he was concerned.

“How old is she?” Fillicien managed to get out as he took the little girl into his arms. She looked up at him with her large brown eyes and gave a happy gurgle at her father. She appeared to have all ten fingers, two eyes, and two ears, a healthy looking baby as far as Ajax could tell from where he was peering over Fillicien’s shoulder. He could distantly hear Blanche and Valentine talking to Cloud Retainer.

“Well she’s two weeks old, I had her on the way over.” Larissa turned bright red as Fillcine sputtered about proper safety. “We were with Monsieur Zhijian and Monsieur Luocha, skilled healers. Everything went fine- oh hello, who are you.” Larissa was snapped out of her explanation by Ganyu accidentally bumping into her leg while trying to sneak a peek at the baby.

“I’m Ganyu, can I see the —-?” She politely asked, but Larissa’s face scrunched up in confusion, unable to understand her.

“She wasn’t to see Aimee and her name is Ganyu. She’s an absolute sweetheart, she won’t hurt her.” Ajax answered and after Larissa nodded, he picked her up so she would be able to see the literal newborn.

Ganyu gasped and looked at Ajax. “She’s tiny!” She squealed and carefully put her hand out towards Aimee. Very gently, she poked the babes cheek which made her wrinkle her nose and gurgle. Ganyu immediately pulled her hand away and looked at Fillicien as if she had done something wrong.

“It is okay. She is okay.” Fillicien managed to get out in broken Guili but Ganyu got the point. She watched Aimee a little bit longer before hugging Ajax’s neck. Her little horns bumping into his jaw, not enough to hurt but enough that he could definitely tell that they were there.

Larissa patted her back which caused Ganyu to clutch onto Ajax some more. “She is very cute, are you sure you haven’t been up to anything Ajax?” Her eyes sparkled with mischief. “She does have a pair of horns that have some red on them.”

“Oh fuck off.” Ajax responded with his new knowledge of curse words, courtesy of Herb Lord and Guizhong.

He got a kick to the side of his leg by Fillicien who looked upset. “Don’t curse in front of the kids. I don’t want to be blamed for them swearing.” Ajax gave him a look at that. Considering that Ganyu didn’t understand Rumerian and that Aimee was an actual newborn who could barely see much less comprehend language, they weren’t gonna understand curse words for a bit.

Before he could object to being scolded, Blanche motioned for the three- no four of them to come over to where she was talking to Cloud Retainer. Valentine was staring at the water of the river, not looking at anyone as they blinked slowly. Something was wrong with them but Ajax didn’t know what exactly. The group of them began to talk about how the illness was handled and what had been done to save the villagers of Adielle. Ajax found out that once they arrived only one more person died due to them being at death's door. If Zhijian and Luocha hadn’t arrived then more people would have died. Blanche had cheerfully told Ajax that both Helene and Basile were alive and that Helen had gotten the illness only a few days before they came back so she was able to bounce back quickly.

At the mention of Helen and Basile, Valentine once more made an odd movement, almost flinching back at their names. Ajax was about to pull them aside when Cloud Retainer announced that she would have them all for dinner and that Ajax would be making it. Before being forced into the kitchen he gave the seer a look that screamed ‘we will be talking later’. Valentine shuddered at the suspicion lying in the depth of the still dead water that was the Adielle god’s eyes.

After a quickly put together dinner of noodles, more fish, and a random collection of vegetables and fruit, Guizhong came in. She hadn’t been surprised by the new additions to their table, explaining that Zhijian and Luocha had found her and Herb Lord and had explained everything to her. She then began to create little animals out of dust to entertain both Ganyu and Aimee. She then gave Ajax a look similarly to the one he had given Valentine. He gave a nod to her that he understood and the two of them silently went outside. Blanche glanced at the two of them before going back to recounting the terror of Larissa giving birth in a small boat. Whatever they had to discuss wasn’t for her to stick her nose into.

Ajax followed Guizhong outside and the two of them sat on a wooden bench that faced the mountains across the river from them. A winding trail getting smaller and smaller as it slithered up the mountainside. He looked over at the goddess you was instead gazing up into the star filled sky and his eyes followed the path that hers were taking. Due to the small amount of light pollution from the village around them, the stars weren’t as vibrant as they could have been. Ajax opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. He awkwardly folded his hands in his lap and looked back over to her. She was now looking at him with a soft smile and a knowing gaze.

“I’m sorry-”

“Don’t apologize, I already know what you are going to say. You care for them and you can’t abandon them, can you?” She interrupted him, her covered dust hands resting on his upper arm. “It’s noble of you to do so. I doubt I would be able to convince you to change your mind if I offered to let all of you join me huh?”

Ajax had to look away from her. He didn’t like how seen he felt. “I would dare force them to abandon their family and friends in Adielle to follow me to Guili. But thank you, for everything.” He turned back to her and bowed his head as low as he could.

Guizhong laughed softly and forced him to sit up again. “I just told you to not apologize.” Her hand carefully pushed some of his hair that had fallen in front of his eyes behind his horns. His starry diamond on the center of his forehead reflected the stars above them. “But if you ever change your mind, both you and your humans are welcome.” She then looked away from him and sighed, looking down at the water curving its way through the dirt and stone of Chenyu Vale. She also found it interesting that water, so fluid and smooth, was able to wash away the hardest stone if given enough time. Ajax would have made the perfect addition to their team but it seemed he already had built strong ties to the humans of Adielle.

The two of them sat in silence as the warm spring night air blew over them as they enjoyed the companionable silence. After what could have been a few minutes or a few hours, Guizhong quietly got up and nodded to Ajax before heading inside. Ajax sadly watched her go inside warring with himself on whether he should change his mind or not. “Guizhong.” He called out and she froze right in front of the door, her sleeve already reaching out to open the door. She turned back to the abyss touched man and his dead eyes.

“Yes?”

“....Be safe. Don’t let your guard fall.” He seriously looked at her, secrets and stories hidden and swirling in the depth of his eyes, hidden under a thin layer of ocean water. Guizhong couldn’t place it but it felt almost as if it was a warning for her. She wanted to ask more by what he meant with his words and why the dust surrounding him felt strange and wrong, like it wasn’t in the right place or the right time. But it was not the time to ask. It was not her place as she felt the pulse of the world change and shift around the young god in front of her.

She didn’t respond, just smiling at Ajax. Guizhong then turned around and walked away from the door of the house they had been sharing before. She walked into the village until she disappeared from sight. Little did Ajax know, it would be the last time he would ever see the goddess of dust. Her small human form disappearing forever in between the houses of Qiaoying village.

After sitting alone for a while longer, the air turned colder as he left behind once again. Ajax slowly stood up and walked back into the house. Everyone had left, Fillician, Larissa, and their child taking over the room that the two men had been sharing while both Blanche and Valentine were supposed to share the common room with Ajax. However, when Ajax entered the room only Valentine sat on a cushion looking at their lap with a look of guilt upon their face. “Valentine what's wrong?”

He sat down across from them and they still refused to look at him in the face. He tried to reach out and hold their hands but they flinched back, clutching them to their chest. “Nothing is right.” They muttered half to themself, finally looking at Ajax. “I can’t see the future. All I see is darkness.”

“What?”

Valentine took a deep breath, steading themself. “It’s not that I can’t see anything, I just can’t see the close future. It’s dark and chaotic with no clear path. Great-grandmother sent me away because she was able to see something and insisted that it was safer if I went with Blanche and Larissa.” Their hands shook. “I can’t see anything and I’m terrified.” Tears began to well up in their eyes, Ajax jolting forward to hug them. They collapsed against them quietly shedding tears.

“Tine, what’s wrong?” Blanche came into the room in a loose Hanfu, it looked a little bit too much like Ajax’s extra one, and immediately ran over to push Ajax away from valentine to hold them instead. Ajax had to keep from making a comment about all these couples around him making him sick from all their lovey dovey bullshit.

“I’m just nervous that something bad is going to or has happened, maybe I shouldn’t have left home.” Valentine shakily got out, burying their face into Blanche’s shoulders. Their totally not girlfriend shushed them and patted their shoulders in a familiar pattern. Clearly this was a common occurrence or now a common occurrence.

“Nothing bad is going to happen Valentine, I wouldn’t let it happen.” Ajax declared, carefully putting his hand on top of theirs and giving it a gentle squeeze. Valentine tearfully looked over at him and shook their head.

“You can’t stop what's already happened or what is fated to happen.” Their eyes almost glowing as they made that statement. Ajax couldn’t help the tremor that ran through his body, Foul Legacy growling in the back of his mind. The rest of the night was spent in silence as the two mortals eventually fell asleep, their limbs tangling together into a giant octopus. Ajax sat leaned against the wall watching over them as he fought back the growing sense of dread in his heart.

As the sun was rising, Ajax got up and made a hearty breakfast for all of them for their trip back to Adielle. Larissa and Aimee were the first to wake up, the baby having woken up hungry. Larissa helped Ajax get breakfast ready as everyone else stirred awake and the house became a flurry of motion as Fillicien packed away their items and Cloud Retainer complained about losing her cook. She also informed them that Guizhong had to leave last night due to being called back by Morax and an adeptus named Streetward Rambler.

Ganyu spent the entire morning at Ajax’s side crying and begging him to stay with them. His heart broke a little as he had to pry her off of him. Valentine watched silently as he kneeled down to talk to the young girl. “I have to go back home Ganyu, I will miss you.”

She flung her arms around his neck sobbing harder. “You can’t leave Gege! You’re family!” He untangled her arms from him again and wiped away her crocodile tears.

“I know, I know….I will see you again one day. Take care of your bow for me, okay?”

“I’ll miss you. Please don’t leave me, everyone leaves me….” Her little face suddenly morphed into Teucer’s, tearfilled as he had to say goodbye to his favorite brother once more. Ajax wished he could tear himself in two to keep Ganyu happy. But he couldn’t do that.

“I will see you again, I promise.” He held his pinky finger up in front of Ganyu who sniffled and whipped her face before raising her own cautiously. “This is a strong promise, I can’t break it okay?” Ganyu nodded and he threaded their pinky fingers together. His dark purple clawed one dwarfed her little pink one. “You make a pinkie promise, you keep it all your life. I break a pinkie promise, I get thrown on the ice. The cold will kill the pinkie that once betrayed your friend, the frost will freeze your tongue off so you never lie again.” He completed the entire nursery rhyme in Guili, having asked Guizhing to teach the translation to him much to her confusion and amusement.

Fillicen mutter a quiet “What the fuck?” while Cloud Retainer gave him a disgusted look. Ganyu however was staring at their joined fingers as if it was the sun and stars. She then looked at Ajax with a very serious expression that just looked adorable on her chubby little face.

“Is this stronger than a contract?”

Ajax nodded and patted her head. “It’s stronger than a contract. I will come back one day.” He then patted her head and stood up, unlatching their fingers. Her little face scrunched up in sadness as she tried to fight back more tears. She then decided that hiding behind her master would be the best decision. Ajax smiled at her before nodding to Cloud Retainer who simply sighed and shook her head. Then he turned to his odd group of an archer, a seer, a formerly sick man, a blacksmith's daughter, and a newborn infant. What a platoon.

Herb Lord had sent her goodbye with Zhijian, too busy working on a new medicine to see her favorite monster off. After a round of goodbyes to other people in Qiaoying along with the Zhijian and Luocha, Ajax’s new platoon set off on the donated boat, traveling upstream before traverse the smaller waterfall in Chenyu and then up the fall into what would become Fontaine.

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“Ugh I can’t wait to go home and sleep in my own bed.” Fillicien flung his arms behind his head as they walked along the well worn path towards Adielle. It was the same path that Ajax had taken a few years ago that had the foot on it. Every now and then he thought back to whose foot that was and if he had met one of their relatives in Adielle.

“We all want to get home and sleep.” Blanche muttered, Valentine draped over their back. They had sprained their ankle exiting the boat. Ajax had made a snarking comment about them not seeing that coming and had gotten pushed into the water by Blanche.

Larissa swatted at a bug that had flown into her face. “When we get back I’m throwing Aimee to my mother and passing out. My poor back is about to give out from carrying her.” Aimee helpfully gurgled in agreement with her mother.

Ajax was about to offer to hold her when he paused. Everyone else stopped around him as he sniffed the air. The faint scent of smoke and blood in the air was suspicious. “Something is wrong.” He quickly took off down the road, Fillicien and Blanche yelling after him to slow down. But he couldn’t stop as he began to see signs that he was approaching the village, the smell getting thicker in the air as he ran.

As he tore through the trees he felt his heart drop. Adielle, the village where he had felt acceptance and love from, was nothing more than a bunch of shattered ruins and burnt out houses. He vaguely registered the other coming up beside him, but he couldn’t hear anything as his ears rang. He staggered forward looking at the bodies on the ground, torn apart and mauled. He saw Larissa run forward and fall in front of a headless body holding a blacksmithing hammer still raised in a self defense position.

He walked into the once tall white stone pavilion in the center, its columns smashed and covered in viscera and gore. He stopped at the body of Basile. His eyes as dull as his own and his beard covered in his blood. His lower half and left arm were nowhere to be found. Valentine’s scream broke through the ringing, turning back and watching them clutch their head as Blanche tried to balance between comforting them and processing everything around her.

Ajax spun around taking in the area. So much death and destruction in front of him and not from a sickness, but from monsters. This was something he could have stopped. This was something he could have ended. This was something that he could have helped with. But where was he? Traveling back from Chenyu Vale and laughing as if nothing was wrong. He should never have left Adielle, he should have been here, he should have-

“Ajax, you couldn’t have done anything.” Valentine’s broken voice reached him and he looked back at them, his dead eyes duller than usual. “Helene knew this was going to happen. It was fated to happen-”

“I don’t care for fate.” The heretic simply stated, voice dead of all emotion. “I could have saved them.” He looked up at where Helene’s house had been, the large building pushed down like a children’s building blocks. A Vishap lay in the rumble on its side, blood long since dried on its side and on the once clean floors. He walked closer to it until he saw Helene lying peacefully not far away from it. Her long white hair around her head like a halo tinged with blood both red and blueish black. To her right was a goat’s head with a naturally singular eye. Carefully he picked up Mr.Cyclops head and cradled it to his chest. Tears fell onto the head of the goat that represented the memories of his past life and hope that he would return to his family, his younger siblings since they were the only family he had. But now he understood plainly. His siblings had been torn away from him by that damnable Narwhal. He would never see them again or be able to protect them from harm.

He set his hopes in Helene’s arms, wrapping them around it in one last attempt to keep them safe. He then turned to the five people watching him from a few feet away. All their faces covered in a thick shroud of grief and despair. Aimee was crying, unable to understand why everyone had been screaming and crying. He walked towards Fillicien, now holding the baby and carefully took the infant's tiny hand in between his forefinger and thumb. He rubbed it and shushed her till she calmed down. He looked up at Felicien and smiled. It was a cold and dead thing. It made his friend want to yank his daughter away from the monster in those dead eyes and run as far away as he could. But he couldn’t move. “What do we do now?” He asked in a tiny broken voice.

The beast in front of him let its smile grow, too sharp teeth on display. “Why, I’m going to kill Scylla.”

Chapter Text

The tall mountains of what would become the Erinnyes Region stood tall and imposing over the forests around it. Over time the mountains would be eroded away into softer sloping hills with magical hills just over the hill. But for now those lakes lay hidden in hard to reach valleys. But for now they lay hidden from the world except for a select few who knew of their existence. Now high up in the mountains, where falcons and eagles soured, something else sat hidden in those mountains. Red horns and orange hair hidden by a dark cowl as it climbed and jumped from rock to rock, ledge to ledge. Slowly making its way to a now familiar outcrop that looked down onto a large open valley below. 

Down below, in said valley, was an ocean of light blue and white tents with the swirling sea of soldiers moving between them like fish. They moved through repetitive stances and forms, practicing with each other as they prepared to fight and die. A sight that was familiar to the thing that laid down on his belly as he slithered forward to peek down on them all below. 

The creature silently watched, scanning the crowd for the now familiar figure. He saw it exit a tent after an hour or so, its long white hair flowing free in the air with a tail of blue that shifted reminded the creature of the primordial sea. The dragon in its human suit strode calmly through the crowds, people passing by it as schools of fifth do a shark. The creature upon the rock licked its teeth as its jaw ached to tear and rip, the voice in the back of its head happily urging the creature to slink down there and fight. 

But Ajax couldn’t do that at this moment. It was too dangerous and he wanted to make sure he had the highest possible chance to take down the dragon. So he stayed put on the edge of the rock watching. He tried to push himself down against it further as he watched someone else with horns similar to Scylla run out to the dragon. They appeared to be a young teenager and their run was shaky and weak, almost like they had trouble walking. Scylla turned and hugged them, lighting something ugly inside Ajax. How dare such a monster have people who cared and loved for him when those who care for Ajax were torn from him. Why was this monster allowed to be happy when he had to suffer? 

Ajax watched for until the sun began to sink behind the other mountains, Scylla and his entourage going from tent to tent like every other day. Carefully, he slid away from the edge and back to the side of the mountain. He began to climb downwards, still being mindful to not let anyone become suspicious over the figure moving along the mountain. The area around him had begun to turn pitch black as he made his way over the sharp rocks and dark menacing crags that shot down who knows how far. Ajax found himself sending a silent prayer to the Tsaritsa for his improved eyesight, thank the gods for being fucked up by the abyss and primordial sea. 

After an hour of navigating the cliffs, he reached a large boulder with some bushes growing over and around it. An inconspicuous spot that if you didn’t pull up one of the branches of the bush, you wouldn’t notice the cave behind it. The perfect spot to hide in while he stalked an ancient hydro dragon. After navigating through the dark tunnels, taking what seemed like a few random rights and lefts, he reached a large cavern with a small crack in the wall that let in sunlight and let out smoke. Even if someone saw the smoke, the entrance of the cave was far away from where it exited, making escape east for the two who stayed there. 

Valentine looked up from the flames of the fire with a tired look on their face. They carefully pulled the pan they were cooking off of the fire and set it to the side before looking back at Ajax. “Still intent on killing Scylla?” 

He snorted and sat down across from them before giving them a look that screamed of course. “Why would I change my mind? He’s responsible for everyone's death.” He poked his finger directly into the flame to stir the coals a little. He only felt a faint tingling from it while Valentine looked at his little display with a look of disgust. 

“...I told you I have a bad feeling about you attacking him, not sitting down and talking to him-”

“I refuse to sit down with the bastard who killed children and the elderly for no reason.” He snarled, the shadows of the cave growing and flickering with his outburst. He knew he had no reason to stand on such moral high ground, after all he once worked with Dottore. But he had decided to turn over a new leaf and try to be a moderately okay person. Sitting down with a monster like Scylla was not in his cards. 

Valentine scoffed at him and stood up. “I only stayed with you to keep you from doing something stupid, and yet here I am telling you to not do something stupid and you go on ahead and do it.” They walked right up to him snarling down at him in a sort of righteous anger. They seemed to glow almost gold in the flickering firelight. “I can’t see exactly what happens if you try, and I mean try, to kill Scylla but it isn’t the right choice. You could die, and you don’t need to be a seer to figure that one out.”

Ajax didn’t stand up but he glared back just the same. Instead of glowing golden in the light he appeared to be absorbing all of it, a blackhole in the middle of a cave. “I don’t care if I die, what I do care about is taking that monster down a peg or two. And if the men who follow him learn about what he really is and revolt against him, then who am I to judge.” 

“If you want to kill yourself just jump off the side of the cliff. Don’t drag other people into your suicidal revenge plots.”

“I wouldn’t be dragging anyone into this if you had just gone with the others back to Chenyu Vale-”

“SHUT UP!” Valentine got right into Ajax’s face leaning over to stare right into his eyes. They knew he wouldn’t harm them, not with how sad,pathetic, and lonely as he was now. “You are going to shut your mouth for once and listen to what I say. Do you understand me?”

Ajax nodded.

“Good, now I know that you think that killing Scylla will make everything okay but it won’t. It won’t bring any of them back, I wish it did but it won’t. A-and I don’t think killing Scylla would do anything, the future is still somewhat blurry to me but what do know is this feels like the wrong choice.”  Valentine rubbed their eyes, either from stress or in an attempt to stop themselves from crying. “What I think we should do is go catch up with Blanche and the others and start anew. There is nothing forcing you to get revenge except yourself, and you might not even kill Scylla, You could die.” 

Ajax didn’t care.

“I know you don’t care.” Damn mind reader. “ But I care. When you first showed up I only viewed you as a danger because that was all I was willing to see in my visions. But after getting to know you, I began to see some of the good you could do, that you would do anything to protect all of us. And you can’t protect us if you are dead chasing after a dragon who might not have even killed everyone.” 

“But the Vishap-”

“Could have been planted by someone else, don’t be stupid.” Ajax shut his mouth again and started over at a random rock to the side. He had considered that but there was no other sign that it was someone else and the bodies were torn to bits and pieces. Some parts were even missing as if eaten. While someone could have made the attack seem like the work of a mad animal, it would have taken a lot of work and who would do such a thing? 

“...It makes the most sense that it is Scylla. I can’t just let him get away.” Valentine sighed and plopped down right next to their god. The two of them sat quietly for a moment, letting everything settle. Two heartbroken individuals mourning the same people in different ways. 

“And you also promised that you would reunite with all of them again, you blessed Aimee and said you would always protect her. How can you do that if you are dead?” Ajax glanced at them and then the flames as he thought back to when him and Valentine parted ways with the other four.

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They were all standing in a quiet line overlooking the new mass gravesite they had dug. The dead of their village all buried among those who were taken earlier by the sickness. Smoke filled the sky from a field further away, smelling of burning flesh from all the slaughtered animals. It wouldn’t do to leave a bunch of rotting flesh in the open for scavengers or disease. 

“I wish you two wouldn’t leave us.” Blanche whispered, breaking the silence. “We should all just go and move on, not dragging this tragedy out longer.” 

Ajax looked at her and shook his head. “They need to be revenged and I don’t want to drag any of you into this.” He looked pointedly at Valentine who refused to look at him, intently staring at two graves in particular. The graves of Helene and Basile. They clutched the golden bee pendant that had been tucked in Helene’s shawl, a symbol of the line of Sybilla. 

“I won’t leave you alone to make stupid mistakes that I might easily see…even if I can barely see much as of now, the water is so muddied…” They half muttered to themself as they pinned the bee to their tunic. Fillicien placed a hand on their shoulder while Blanche took their free hand. Valentine looked over at Blanche and smiled sadly at her. “You need too protect Fillicien and Larissa.”

Blanche closed her eyes, tears still beading in her eyelashes. “I know…but I don’t want to leave you behind.” She leaned her head against their shoulder, tears flowing freely now. Valentine kissed her forehead and whispered something to her. Ajax had to look away from such a private moment in such a horrific setting. 

He looked down at the graves in front of them, the ones of Helene and Basile, and he quietly swore to himself that he would make sure that the rest of Adielle would live on. Maybe not here but they would live long and happy lives. 

“You should leave soon, it can’t be good for Aimee to be inhaling the toxins from the burning bodies.” He turned to Larissa who stood between him and Fillicien, Aimee quietly sleeping against her mothers chest. Completely unaware of the horrors that had been inflicted on her family. 

Larissa walked closer to Ajax before pulling him into a loose hug, mindful of the infant. “Thank you, Ajax.” She whispered, pulling with red eyes and a sad smile. The heathen smiled back at her before looking at Aimee who had stirred at the slight jostling. Her tiny little eyes blinked open before giving a large yawn. 

“You don’t have to thank me, just keep Fillicien out of trouble, I know he’s a handful.” He winked at her and Fillicien gave a yell of disagreement. Ajax then carefully picked up Aimee’s tiny little hand and let her grip his pinky in a surprising show of strength for a newborn. She would become a strong one that’s for sure. “Now I’m gonna make you a big promise miss Aimee, and I always keep my promises.” He nodded in seriousness as the baby just smacked her lips and looked up at her mom as if asking for her breakfast. She could care less about a promise. 

“Oh for- don’t tell me you’re gonna do that creepy little rhyme with my daughter-“ Fillicien was cut off by Ajax reciting the creepy little rhyme. 

“-so you never lie again. And my pinky promise to you is that I will come back for your family little one and I will always, always, protect you.” He then carefully kissed her little hand and went to step back when a small light began to emit from the baby’s hand. 

“What the-'' Larissa nearly cursed as she checked her daughters hand while Ajax began to immediately feel sick. Did he hurt her? Did he already break his promise? His mind began going at a million miles a minute until Larissa and Fillicien, who had joined his wife in looking at their daughter's hand, looked up at Ajax. “…did you…bless her?” 

“What?” Ever so eloquent, Ajax stumbled forward and looked at the hand which had stopped glowing. On the back of her hand was a diamond shape that sparkled in the same way the diamond on Ajax’s head did. What. The. Hell. 

Valentine swooped in and looked at the baby with squinted eyes before nodding and standing up. Their hair and eyes seemed to sparkle for a second. “Aimee is fine, it’s just a standard blessing.” They shrugged as if this explained everything while Fillicien looked up at Ajax with tears in his eyes. 

“You-you blessed my daughter…thank you. I-I don’t know why you would do this for her with all the trouble I’ve caused you-“

Ajax barely had enough time to process what he was saying before the man threw himself into his arms and hugged him. He awkwardly patted his back while looking at Valentine and Blanche for answers. 

Blanche rolled her eyes and decided to take mercy on him, explaining that gods can give blessings to individuals or their entire family line. It usually just meant the person marked would be luckier or have a great chance of success in life but sometimes the user would be able to pull on the gods power in some situations. 

Foul Legacy chirped in happiness at the last bit of information, happy that it might have a chance to have another host. Ajax pushed it down and prayed that the only thing the baby would get would be luck. He also hoped that the blessing would only apply to Aimee but the wording of his promise to her was to her family so there was a possibility that if she had any kids they too would be cursed to bear that stupid mark of the Abyss. Primordial Sea. Whatever. 

It took a few more minutes before they were able to pry Fillicien off of Ajax and even then the man simply held his daughter's hand and stared at it in wonder. Ajax meanwhile couldn’t figure out how he did it. It couldn’t have been the promise cause he did it with Ganyu and a few of the other villagers a few times. Maybe it was because she was young? He had no clue.  He was only just now beginning to come to terms with the fact that he was no longer human, that he was a god. Or something similar to one.

The group of mourners sat around a small fire lit in what remained of one of the more intact houses' fireplace, a somber quiet quickly descending once more upon them. Whether it was because of the massacre that had happened or because the ragtag group would soon be split up was anyone's guess. If Ajax had to guess it would be a mixture of both. He had already had a bit of a fight over it with Valentine and Fillicien earlier in the day and it only ended with Valentine threatening to either travel with Ajax or follow behind him like a vengeful ghost of Adielle. 

He knew that Fillicien thought they should all stick together and move on, really all of them did, but Fillicien was the most outspoken about it. After kinda saving his life and spending months in the same space it led to the two of them becoming closer than the others, Ajax felt that Fillicien understood him the most, other than Valentine but Valentine understood everyone, mostly. He would be sad to leave him behind, but it was something he had done before. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ajax looked over at Valentine, not saying anything for a moment. He opened his mouth a few times, unable to get the words he wanted to say out. “...I will only break my promise to her if I’m dead.” He couldn’t look at Valentine anymore, turning his eyes away from them. Valentine scoffed and pushed themselves up, walking back to the other side of the fire. 

“Fine, go and die then, see if I care once your corpse is left to rot out in the sun.” Valentine curried their head in their arms, head aching with flashes of images, thoughts, colors, and paths. Ajax’s hand twitched, wanting to reach out and comfort them, tell that he wouldn’t die, that it would all work out….but he couldn’t. He balled his hands into fists, his claws digging into his palm as he stared into the flames, trying and failing to find a different path he could take. 

He waited until Valentine’s breathing evened out from sleep, fully slumped into their arms. The fire had become nothing but flickering coals as the heretic slowly got up and began to walk out of the cave. Ajax knew that if stayed even one more day that Valentine would cause his revenge plan to crumble and he would go with them to reunite with all the others. He wanted to see them again, to  listen to Fillicien laugh, watch Blanche roll her eyes at something stupid, see Larissa try to make everyone get along, and get to hold the tiny little Aimee again. But he couldn’t return to them without good news, that he had taken down the monster responsible for their pain. And so he walked.

 The tunnels seemed more cold and uninviting as he began his walk towards death. The stalactite and stalagmites standing at attention like the vengeful ghost of all those he had killed in his past, watching in anticipation to see him die. He did not balk or run from them and their accusatory stance, he would accept his end no matter what it was. And if he, a former harbinger who brought nothing but death and destruction, would be given the right to keep on living then he would. He did not actively wish to die, to kill himself as Valentine so aptly put it, but he wouldn’t care if he did. If he died in battle then that was an honorable death he would accept. 

He made it out of the cave and into the crisp air of night, the stars innocently smiling down on him. Ajax carefully maneuvered himself along the edge of the mountain, not climbing as high as before, he didn’t need a high uo vantage point for what he was going to do. If he was going to kill Scylla then he would do it with his bare hands. Bare hands and the hydro humming under his skin, begging to be unleashed. 

The ginger took his time as he made his way into the valley the dragon had set up camp in. He could already see the torch light from the guards torches as the patrolled the edge of the camp. Enough people went back time and time again that most people would find it difficult to sneak into the heavily patrolled camp, but Ajax was not most people. He had been trained by Skirk to avoid the monsters of Abyss, and those were a lot scarier and better at seeing those hiding in the dark than these random humans were. 

He quietly snuck over to the wall and squeezed himself against it, using the small dip in the ground to make it seem like he wasn’t there at all. He had scouted along this wall a week earlier when planning how he would attack. A soldier’s footfalls echoed along the stone wall as they walked above Ajax. He stopped breathing as he counted the number of steps they took, using the light from their torch to figure out which direction they were going. After a tense few seconds that felt like an entire lifetime, they moved on. Just as they got a few feet away from where he was hunched down he jumped up, using his claws to propel himself over the wall. His cloak nearly touched guard as he landed on the other side of the wall and ran into a nearby tent. 

The soldier on the wall felt something quickly blow past him as he made his early morning rounds, a shiver going down his spine. He froze before turning around and seeing nothing. He glanced on either side of the fortifications but found nothing abnormal. He rubbed the back of his neck and shivered before continuing on his walk. He would have to rethink his stance on if ghosts were real or not since he could have sworn he felt something wrap its cold wispy hand around his neck and squeeze. It felt like death itself had brushed right over him and chosen to spare him. He whispered a quiet prayer to Scylla. 

Meanwhile Ajax carefully surveyed the inside of the tent he had ran into. He had only seen people going in and out of it with boxes and bags occasionally so he figured it was a storage area where there wouldn’t, hopefully, be anyone inside. His gamble paid off as he was faced with an assortment of bags and boxes. He carefully pulled open on of the bags. It’s burlap opening revealing some type of grain. 

Ajax closed it back up before getting comfortable at the back of the tent, hidden behind a few boxes. He planned to wait until daybreak before finding Scylla. While he knew which tent the foul dragon stayed in, he would prefer to fight him in the daylight. He would not use cowardly tactics to kill the beast that ended Adielle and Ajax’s precious perfect world. Despite being torn away from his time and family, that little village gave him a new family. While they weren’t the same and one didn’t replace the other, he was happy. And that happiness had been torn to shreds and burnt to the ground. 

Still stewing in his anger, he cut a small tear in the fabric to peek out of and see what was going on and what time of day it was. The sky had just begun to lighten, the heat of the day already rising, it would be a hot one. He sat silently, listening to the sound of people beginning to rise and begin their day, working hard to maintain the military encampment. They went about their days completely unaware of the enemy hiding in their midst, hiding in the shadows of their camp. Waiting to strike against their leader with no care about who he had to take out in the process. While he wouldn’t go out of his way to harm the soldiers of Scylla, if they tried to stand in his way then he would have no issue in removing them. 

Pushing himself up, Ajax maneuvered over the boxes and bags and stuck his head out of the tent. Before he exited he made sure his hair fell over his ears, hiding their color and pointed nature. Then he wrapped a spare piece of cloth around the top of his head to hide his horns. He looked around for people but didn’t see anyone looking towards the tent he was in or walking nearby. He slid out with one of the bags of grain, letting a clam and content expression cover his face. 

He would do his best to blend in, to seem like one of the random people who worked in the camp, completely invisible to the eyes of others. A few people passed him by, nodding to him or only let his eyes roll over the ginger haired male easily. He was nobody to them, a faceless person in the crowd. Ajax avoided eye contact, looking down at their chests and refusing to let them notice his dead eyes and become alarmed. 

“Hey you, orange hair!” Someone yelled towards his left. Foul Legacy screeched about being caught but Ajax pushed it down and turned slowly towards the voice with a confused look on his face. A tall and skinny woman with an apron around her waist came over to him, her face stuck in what looked like a permanent scowl. “You looking for the kitchens, boy?” 

Ajax felt a little dumbfounded that his disguise was working this well, he quickly got ahold of himself and nodded. The woman snorted and grabbed his arm with her thin boney hands. “I thought so, walking around with a lost look and bag of grain, you must be one of the new refugees huh, from up north?” 

“Uhm yeah, how did you guess?” He answered, letting his Schenznayan accent he had trampled down come back. Up north probably meant what would become Schenznayan and he could somewhat remember Juste telling him about the war going on over there. 

The woman nodded and continued dragging him further into the camp, close to where Scylla’s tent was. Ajax had to stop the cruel smile threatening to explode across his face, he couldn’t have planned that better himself. They soon came upon an open kitchen with people milling about like ants with fires burning steadily under giant pots of food. The woman pulled him further into the mess, skillfully dodging boiling pots and people with sharp knives. They ended up at a long table with a man standing at the head of it, watching people chop up vegetables and herbs. He looked over at the incoming spindly woman and the shy looking ginger. His mustache twitched as the two came up beside him. 

“Andre, this is one of the new ones, he was wandering around like a lost little lamb. Give him something to do.” The woman snapped, letting go of his hand and almost tossing Ajax onto the table. The heretic let himself stumble to sell the nervous refugee look, shyly glancing up and the imposing mustachioed man in front of him. 

Andre let out a thoughtful hum twirling the end of his facial hair in between two heavily scarred fingers. “Justine has caught a bad flu Madeline, the boy can take over his role.” He glanced down at the boy before him. Timid, but with strength in the way he held himself. Possibly a former soldier who saw a little too much, too young. He could do with some cheering up. 

“Do you really think that is wise-”

“What harm could he do to Elynas? Now give him the tray and show him where to go, it’s nearly nine and you know how he likes his schedule.” Andre turned away from Madeline’s near sneering face and back to the rows of people chopping and dicing the endless rows of root vegetables. 

Madeline gave Ajax a sneer before walking over to someone else and grabbing a covered wooden tray. She shoved it into his hands and began to drag him back out through the crowd of people. Ajax was happy to let her take over directions as he tried to figure out who Elynas was. Probably someone important if he had an entire region named after himself. 

Luckily the path to this Elynas led to the tent right next to Scylla’s. Ajax felt a bit of disappointment when he realized that the tent flaps were open, meaning that Scylla wasn’t in. He would simply go along with Madeline and wait for the dragon to return. The two of them reached the large light blue tent next to Scylla’s, two soldiers standing by the entrance smiling at Madeline but looking at Ajax with confusion. 

“Where is Justine? And who is this?” The one of the left asked, pointing the hilt of his sword towards Ajax. 

Madeline scoffed and once again threw Ajax towards them. Once he was done with Scylla he was going to give Madeline a visit as well. “Justine is sick, throwing up everything he eats. Andre has decreed that this…boy will take over his job. I think it is quite stupid but what Andre says goes.” She shrugged at the two guards, the one on the right nodding as if this made perfect sense while the one on the left made a disgusted face. 

“Ugh I hope Justine recovers quickly.” He then looked at Ajax. “What is your name kid?” 

Ajax glanced up at him briefly before looking back at the tray in his hands. He could lie…but he didn’t care if they knew his real name. “Ajax, my name is Ajax Yakovlevich Sokolov.” He quietly told the guards. It had been forever ago that he had introduced himself as such, not since he joined the Fatui. Truthfully he didn’t want to use his father’s name but he needed to seem legit.

The guards seemed to accept his name and the one on the right waves his hand for Ajax to come closer. Ajax glances back at Madeline only to find her gone. Without anyone to fall back on, he got closer to the guard and gave him a confused look. “So, I assume that Madeline hasn’t told you anything huh?” 

“Yeah, I just had the tray shoved into my hand told to follow.” He chuckled and held up the tray for emphasis. 

The guard on the left chuckled, muttering something about that seeming like Madeline. “Okay, listen, What you’re going to do is place the tray on the dark brown, not light brown, dark brown table towards the right of the door. Then you’re to pull the ropes behind the light brown, not dark brown table, light brown table to open the window flaps at the top of the tent. It lets the light in.” Ajax nodded slowly, already confused and concerned about what he had gotten himself into. He just wanted to kill a dragon, not…whatever this was. 

“After that,” the other guard spoke up, “ Just stand and wait to be told what to do. Elynas is a sweet boy, he’ll help through what else to do. Now good luck, get in there.” He clapped Ajax on the back and pushed him into the tent. Ajax froze as he quickly realized that this was sounding a lot like being a nanny. Was he a nanny now? Shit, how old was this kid?

The inside of the tent was lavious, a large bed in the back with dark blue curtains pulled around it. A few tables and chairs were placed around on soft carpets that covered a packed earth floor. It was quite a few steps up from the basic tents of Ajax’s Fatui training. After locating the dark brown table to the right of the door, he looked around for the correct ropes. He ended up finding two ropes that seemed to connect towards the top of the tent and pulled them. 

Bright light suddenly spilled into the space, lighting up the tent with soft morning light. With the area now lit up Ajax took note of the area in more detail. In particular the embroidery of the fabric of the tents and the very comfy looking chairs. Swirling silver, blue, and green creating hypnotic designs on them. It was…beautiful. 

“Are you here to replace Justine?” A young voice asked from behind Ajax. He spun around about to answer but quickly found that he couldn’t. A young boy who looked about 13, the same age that Anton had been when he left, with long light blue horns sweeping over the back of his dark blue hair. Small scales dotted his face and sides of his neck, his small hands clasp in his lap with dark blue clawed fingers. His face was thin and pale in the light and he looked almost…sickly. 

This…was no simple child…this was Elynas, the dead dragon for which the region Elynas was named after. Ajax wanted to bash his skull in for how stupid he was. “Uhm, yes I am Ajax Yakovlevich Sokolov. I assume you must be Elynas?” He smiled at the dragon child while trying to keep the screaming in his mind to not show on his face. The boy smiled at Ajax and swung his legs over the edge of the bed and grabbed something next to the bed. 

It was a light blue cane with intricate silver detailing on the sides. Elynas leaned his weight into it as he slowly stood up. His legs shook as he took a few cautious steps towards the table with the tray Ajax had set down. His tail dragged against the floor, light blue and seemingly shifting in the soft morning light now coming in. 

Ajax quickly shook off his shock and got closer to Elynas, offering his arms as a stabilizer for the young dragon. Elynas smiled but waved him off, slowly becoming more confident in his steps as he sat down on one of the plush chairs. “I’m okay, thank you for the offer though.” 

Elynas carefully set his hands in his lap and smiled innocently up at the abyssal heretic in front of him. This was a child who had not yet been scarred by the horrors of this world and the evil that walked on it. And yet, there was something in his rigid, perfect posture, a sense of responsibility and sadness on his small, thin shoulders. 

Ajax wanted nothing more than to shake him and tell him that he was a child and shouldn’t look that stressed. Well, shake him gently, Elynas looked like he would fall over if hit with a strong gust of wind. It was such a startling contrast to the heretic’s idea of dragons. They were strong, good fighters, liked hoarding old pottery and rocks, pretty, super old, and could probably squish him like an ant. They weren’t supposed to look young, fragile, and like a stressed kid. 

His brain was on overtime while Foul Legacy shrieked about…something, he could barely process his own emotions much less his abyssal demon’s emotions. The main thing that kept going over and over in the skull was that he was here to kill Scylla, but was now sitting here watching an obviously not okay dragon child slowly eat his breakfast of….half rare steak? 

Elynas was happily digging into the lightly charred, still bleeding, meat with his bare hands. His sharp teeth and claws made quick work of it. Anyone else would potentially view it as disgusting and strange but Ajax found it quite familiar. While Elynas was most likely eating meat like that because it was his preferred meal, Ajax himself had to eat meat like that as well. In the Abyss he often had to eat meat raw or half raw because it was too dangerous to cook it. And while it seemed like the meat in the young dragon's hands was from a wild animal, some of what Ajax had to eat was…or once was sentient. 

“Are you okay Monsieur Sokolov?” Elynas, with blood stained around his mouth, dripping on the pure white shirt staining it bright red, looked right at Ajax. They stared at each other as Ajax struggled to figure out what to say. Dead blue meeting lavender with slitted pupils that slowly got sharper as the silence grew.  

“….how old are you?” 

“One hundred and seventy six.” 

“….and what’s that in human years?” 

Elynas chuckled, daintily covering his mouth as he did so. “About fourteen.” 

Archons, that’s how old he was when he fell into the abyss. Elynas didn’t even look fourteen, he was much too small. While Ajax himself had been small as well, he was not that small. He was only a little bit younger than Tonia. He was a baby. And yet…he was 176. 

Sighing to himself, and trying to let his mind clear even a little bit, he went up to Elynas and sat down across from him. Carefully, he removed his gloves and the fabric wrapped around his head. He heard the child gasp at the sight of his blood red horns, shifting hands, and the diamond on his temple. He gave Elynas a sad look and deflated in the chair. 

“I don’t know what to do.” He rubbed his eyes and looked up at the roof of the tent. Its rough burlap swayed as the wind blew across it. The sounds of the camp outside slowly filtering in, the sounds of clanging metal, loud speaking, and the faint chirping of birds. It was peaceful even when everything else wasn’t. “I’m not going to lie to you, I’m sure you know more about the world than you look.” 

Elynas nodded, using a napkin to wipe his face off. “Most people do expect me to be unaware of the world around me. I don’t know why you are here but I assume you will are going to tell me.” 

“Yeah…I am here to find out what happened to my village, Adielle.” Elynas’s eyes widened. “It was completely burnt out and everyone was dead. I am on…a quest to avenge them. The only clue I have as to what happened to them is that they were torn apart and a dead vishap was laying next to their bodies.” 

“…you’re here to kill my big brother?” Elynas spoke in a quiet and heart wrenching voice. It made Ajax want to apologize and swear to never do that, but he had to. “H-he didn’t kill them. Scylla would never willingly kill anyone.” The air in the tent began to become more humid, beads of dew appearing on furniture like spiderwebs. The young dragon began to cry, his shoulder shaking as he tried to keep it in. “I-I know he didn’t kill them. Sybilla was-was an old friend of his. He wouldn’t kill their descendants.” 

Ajax quickly got out of his chair and went over to Elynas. Carefully, he pulled the drake into a hug, he quickly latched on and clung to Ajax’s rough woolen tunic. Even though Ajax had just admitted to planning to kill his older brother, Elynas still let him comfort him. The former harbinger couldn’t help but wonder if he ever got hugs or any sign of physical affection from anyone if he was this ready to accept his hug. 

“Hey, it’s okay. I believe you that you think your older brother wouldn’t hurt my family. I trust that you know Scylla better than I do.”  A loud sniff came from the boy currently burying his head in his chest.  Ajax could tell he would soon have tear stains on his tunic. “I wasn’t there so I don’t know for sure who killed them. That’s why I am here to ask questions.” Liar. “If possible I would like to question your brother and ask some questions about if he did do it or not.” Liar. 

“But he didn’t, I know him. He’s the only family I have left.” Was the muffled response he got. 

“Even if he did do it, and I’m not saying he did,” Liar. “I don’t think he would have shown that side of him to you. If he is a good big brother then he will not let you see the bloodstains on his hands.” He carefully let his own bloodstained hands carefully card through Elynas’s soft dark blue hair. He was careful to avoid the horns? Glowing hair? Glowing fins? That swooped back over his skull. He also avoided the small fins on the side of his head where ears would be, perhaps they were his ears. Either way, the young dragon was warily similar to the judge that knocked him out after letting a machine falsely convict him of crimes that happened when he was still in diapers. Very similar. 

Elynas finally pulled back with large damp eyes staring up at the strange creature in front of him. He could not tell what region of the sea he came from, only that there seemed to be a faint hydro energy about him. Except the hydro around him was wrong. It didn’t belong here. He had thought he was a little strange when he came in. Polite and shy seeming, but there was a sharpness in his eyes and demeanor that spoke of greater skill. But somehow, despite all of that, the youngest ancient dragon couldn’t help but trust him and feel at ease. He wouldn’t harm him. 

“You speak like you-you're experienced in lying to younger siblings, do you have one?” An innocent enough question, but laced with something akin to tiny shards of glass that imbedded themselves into Ajax’s soul. 

“I used to,” simply saying those words hurt more than anything he had gone through. He had been trying this entire time to lie to himself that he would get back to them, to Tonia, Anthon, and Tuecer. But the truth was they were far from him. He would likely never see them again. He did used to have siblings, and he lost them to a cold broken woman’s war against the corrupt power above them. Or perhaps he truly lost them the second he fell into that hole in the ground. “I lost them long before Adielle burnt down, but yes. I was a big brother once.” 

He gave his best  attempt at a smile to Elynas but he couldn’t muster even a twitch in the corners of his mouth. Everything had been slowly crumbling around him and all he did was help tear it all down. His family, friends, Adielle, Fillicien and Larissa, Blanche, even Valentine. They were probably already on their way to meet up with the others after seeing a vision of him getting torn to shreds by Scylla for even daring to talk to his little brother. After all, that’s what he would do. 

Elynas opened his mouth to say something but quickly closed it. He glanced down at the dark brown table thinking about what to do or say. Eventually, he settled on “I’m sorry that you lost them, I am sorry that Adielle is gone, but my brother is not responsible for either.” Perhaps, perhaps not. “I will take you to go talk to him. Once you meet him you’ll understand!” 

The ginger could do nothing but stare at the young drake as he jumped up and, to the best of his abilities, scrambled over behind a screen of some sort. While he could slip out, going along with whatever Elynas had in mind would get him right to Scylla, even if the dragon did see him coming. The 176 year old kid came back out in a different, not bloodstained, outfit. His cane matched the blue cape he wore. 

“Now let’s go, my brother will explain everything and then you’ll see that he’s innocent!” One clawed hand grabbed the other and Ajax let himself be pulled out of the condensation filled tent, startling the two guards at the entrance. Their mouthed hung open as they watched the sickly young brother of Scylla seem more spirited and active than he had the entire time they had been stationed there. 

While it was slower than normal due to Elynas having trouble walking, it was faster than his usual pace thanks to the walking abyss monster that was currently holding his hand and keeping him upright. The two weaved between the different tents with surprising ease, Elynas being the navigator and Ajax being the stabilizer. 

Minutes flew past as they sped walked towards one of the edges of the camp, near one of the training grounds. It was located on the northern side of the camp, which Ajax knew due to the large purple open sided tent that seemed to be a base for the high ranking officers of this army to meet. It had been one of Scylla’s most frequented spots and where he had been planning to attack him. A wide open space with multiple exit routes, perfect. 

Under the canopy was a large table with multiple maps on it with little figures and flags impaled on it. And all round it were a tough looking crowd of what could only be Scylla’s inner circle. And in the center of the circle was the man, or rather dragon, himself. 

The drake lifted his head and met Ajax’s gaze head on. If Elynas looked like a relative of Neuvillette then Scylla was his twin. He had long white hair that was loosely braided with two pairs of horns, one pair that was like the judge’s and Elynas’s and the other that were much larger and that rose upwards instead of over the head. His face was a little different and his nose was sharper but that dragon had to be related to that cheater. Figures that another guy Ajax really wanted to fight was a dragon. What’s next, Capitano was a quarter dragon on his moms side or maybe the duke secretly had horns under his crazy hair tufts. 

A few things Scylla shared in common with Elynas and not the Iudex was the clawed and blue hands as well as the glowing tail. While Elynas’s was thin and bony looking, Scylla’s was thick and healthy. It hovered over the ground twitching from side to side like a cat as he sized up the stranger his brother was all but dragging towards him. 

“Elynas, why are you running around? What if you fall?” The drake broke eye contact with Ajax and began to walk around the table. Elynas let go of the heretics hand which immediately balled up into a fist. Foul Legacy screamed to be let out, to strike the drake while he was fussing over his brother. To use the advantage he had to get revenge. Elynas said something to Scylla but all Ajax could hear was the blood pumping in his skull and the hydro begging for blood under his skin. 

The Fell Dragon Prince looked once more over at the now twitching and shaking former harbinger, who looked increasingly unwell. His eyes darted up to the bright orange hair before a thin smile became etched on his face. “So you’re the little fox that’s been pretending to be a bird on a mountain huh?” Scylla had seen him on the mountain. Scylla had seen him. He had seen him. He had seen him, he had seen him he had seen him he had seen him he had seen him he had seen him he had seen him-

 It couldn’t see anything else but Scylla. It couldn’t hear anything else but the cry for his blood. It couldn’t do anything but attack. 

Chapter Text

Foul Legacy thrummed in Ajax’s skull as Scylla dodged the blades.m that had been aimed for his neck. It wasn’t a graceful dodge either, lighting a spark of something in the Abyssal creature's chest where a heart should be. There was a chance it could win. Someone was screaming and yelling but it didn’t matter. All that mattered was watching his head roll and roll and roll. 

It had been so long since he had a proper battle, a few years since the battle with the Narwhal that had cast him into this purgatory of the past. Sure he had fought a few things, a giant centipede, a few vishaps, and a giant squirrel, but none of them had given him this rush. 

The rush of being on the edge of death and life as you dodge and attack your opponent with all you have. Trying to push them closer to the edge while remaining on the other side yourself. But this fight was different. Ajax no longer cared about whether he made it out alive or not. All that mattered was taking Scylla down with him. 

A blade of water nearly cut his head off as he whirled around, once more aiming for the dragon. He found his own blades of water blocked by the dragon’s own but, and Ajax found himself preening over, his was by far the more sophisticated. Scylla’s was like a glob of water formed roughly into the shape of a sword but without any fine details. It made the heretic excited over the fact that he had a possibility.

Scylla moved his tail to sweep Ajax over but the ginger jumped over it while trying to hit his back. He missed but he had gotten within a hair's breadth to the vile drake. Suddenly Ajax heard the snap of a bowstring, dodging aside as an arrow tore through the air of where he was once fighting. He turned to the crowd with a snarl on his lips, prepared to take them out as well. The crowd had become a circle of soldiers with spears, shields, and bows. Their eyes full of fear and uncertainty. 

Then Scylla yelled at them and waved his arm, the soldier looking at each other unsure before standing down. Their spears still in hand but pointing towards the ground instead of the monster that had been dragged to Scylla by Elynas. Ajax looked to Scylla in their pause, the dragon had a hair or two out of place. “If you are intent on fighting me, then don’t involve them.” 

Ajax grinned and let loose a blood curdling laugh. “I will only spill their blood if I find out they stained their hands in the blood of my family.” Scylla looked confused and faltered a little at that. Ajax took advantage of it to speed forward and make it look like he was aiming for the dragon's head when he actually planned to attack where Scylla dodged. His plan was interrupted by the other summoning a shield of water around himself, the sharp blades glancing off. 

Curling hydro dispersed as Scylla shot through the top of it aiming to strike his head. Ajax lifted his swords, letting them form into a spear as he took on the attack. His arms wavered a little at the brute strength the dragon had. WHile he might not have been as skilled as Ajax in creating weapons from hydro, he certainly had a lot more strength, even with the improved reflexes Ajax had gotten from the whale. He attempted to push back but couldn’t. 

As he attempted to do so, Scylla’s tail smacked into his side, sending him into the ground and dispersing his water. A rock smacked into the side of his head, making his vision cut out and slowly ade back in as he stood up. Pain from his side zipped up his body as he began laughing again at the almost disgusted faces before him. Let them look at him in disgust, it wasn’t anything new. Ajax couldn’t help but wish for his electro vision as he charged forward in the bolt of water as he sent a few others from the side as well. Scylla dodge him but got struck by one of the bolts, a pained whine coming from his throat. 

From what Ajax could tell, Scylla wasn’t the best fighter in terms of technique. He knew some things but it was clear he either used his brute strength most of the time or only preyed upon the innocents. It was good that Scylla wasn’t as well trained as he, if he had been then Ajax probably wouldn’t have made it past the first few hits. At least not without Foul Legacy. Said being was begging to be let out as the two hydro users crossed blades, sending up flats of hydro that turned the once dry ground wet. Thunder rolled close by as a storm rolled in, lightning taking the place of the sun as they fought. From somewhere in the crowd the wails of a whale sounding creature filled the air.

Feeling emboldened, Ajax sent forth a tidal wave of water as rain began to fall from the sky. Instead of dodging to the side, Scylla suddenly leapt into the air, using raindrops as steps and summoning hydro under his feet. A swear ripped itself from Ajax’s throat as he summoned the hydro version of his bow, sending arrows of water towards the figure dancing the air as he dodged. Scylla didn’t stop his attacks either, nails of hydro raining down around the abyssal creature as he tried to dodge them all. 

Some of them slid past his skin, tearing them open and letting his blood sink down into the mud under his feet. His advanced healing taking over and beginning to heal some of the wounds already. In a last ditch effort to get Scylla down without changing into Foul Legacy, Ajax summoned the giant narwhal. However it had since changed shape, becoming larger and more similar looking to the one from the primordial sea. It leapt over the head of Scyllas, briefly stopping the rain as it came crashing down. Scylla attempted to dive out of the way as the crowd around them ran and screamed. THeir attempts to run from the water reminded him of how the people of Liyue attempted to run from the possible flood Osial was going to bring. 

Their screams of terror broke his heart as he watched the people he had become close with, become friends with, ran away from the beast he had unleashed. As he waited for Morax to appear as he stumbled his blood covered way to a certain funeral consultant's home to warn him to escape only to find the house empty and betrayal right behind himself. 

Foul Legacy gleefully latched onto the emotions he felt towards that particular memory whispering for him to let all his rage and anger toward the Geo archon and half dragon out on this dragon. It would be therapeutic if he cut his throat and belly open letting him slowly bleed to death as he watched the life drain from those bright golden eyes and stain his long silky brown and little orange hair- 

Ajax barely avoided his own tidal wave from his narwhal. Quickly pushing a wave forward to combat the one coming towards himself. He had to take a step back as the hydro around him cleared just enough to see Scylla getting up out of the mud, a bruise on his high cheekbone that strangely echoed the cut the former harbinger had given the Iudex. This only fueled Ajax as he ran forward with a yell, blindly slashing in anger and with the pain from his chest at the drake. 

“THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! YOU KILLED THEM ALL! YOU TOOK AWAY MY FAMILY! THE ONLY FAMILY THAT EVER ACCEPTED ME!” He felt more wounds prick his skin as he got sloppy in his dodges. Scylla looked haggard as well, his long hair fallen from his braid and one side of his beard missing a sizable chunk. 

“I DIDN’T KILL ANYONE YOU DELUSIONAL FOX!” Scylla yelling as well to be heard over the roar of the storm around them. Scylla suddenly kicked Ajax, sending him into the mud. He attempted to stomp down on his chest but Ajax grabbed his leg and pulled him down into the mud as well. The two of them completely discarded their weapons and instead trained punches, kicks, and scratches. The two of them rolling in the mud, looking less like distinguished fighters and more like a pair of fighting siblings squabbling over who gets the last slice of cake. 

Ajax bit down on Scylla’s arm, letting go almost immediately afterwards, his teeth feeling as if he had attempted to bite metal. Scylla gave him a shocked and disgusted look before kicking him off of himself and getting up. The two fighters glared at each other breathing deeply as they slowly circled each other through the mud. A mixture of reddish purple and blue staining the area around them. Scylla dove forward again and Ajax met him head on, once more grappling and blindly trying to punch the other. 

A small blade of hydro formed in the ginger's hand, aiming for the drakes stomach. His blade made contact, cutting open Scylla’s chiton and leaving a thin cut that sluggishly bled as the drake jumped back with a hiss. Dark blue claws coming up to lightly cup the wound, rage and disbelief in his lavender eyes. They narrowed and his lips pulled back into a snarl. 

Ajax felt euphoric as he summoned his hydro claymore barely in time to block Scylla’s attack. The drake had covered his claws with hydro, completely throwing away his attempt of making weapons, something animalistic and wild in his eyes. Mirroring the look in the dead blue of the heretics. His horns glowed a bright blue as he slashed at Ajax, glowing in the same hue as his hydro. 

Lightning flashed through the sky and the mud and became a puddle around them, splashing as Ajax dodged Scylla’s attacks as he went on the offensive. A small burst of fear went through Ajax as he found himself being slowly beat down, the brute strength of Scylla slowly overpowering him. He was going to lose if he kept fighting this way. 

A burst of hydro pushed Scylla back giving Ajax enough room to dash farther away. The abyss thrummed under his fingers as he felt its power swirl around him. Scylla stepped back looking at Ajax with both fear and…concern? No not concern, pity. Foul Legacy roared in anger as it fully formed and ran towards the dragon that dared to pity it. 

The once clear blue blades of hydro took on a purplish hue as the heretic sprang forward, disappearing into the starry realm between for a second. He reappeared suddenly behind Scylla, managing to nearly take Scylla by surprise. This time when their blades met, a loud hissing noise was released as natural hydro met unnatural hydro. The same element rejecting violently to the other, despite at its core being both hydro. 

Lightning flew across the sky as the abyssal creature and regal dragon crossed blades. While Ajax had already unveiled his monstrous form, Scylla had only just begun. Scales erupted on his face and body, fins popping out of his back while his horns glowed ominously in the pouring rain. Ajax and Scylla glided over the worsening mud as they fought, getting closer and closer to landing blows on the other. Yet despite the viciousness of their attacks, Foul Legacy still wanted more. 

It didn’t want to just fight Scylla in his humanoid form, it wanted to fight him as a dragon. It wanted the thrill of ripping his scales off to tear out his organs. It wanted to feel the full force of his power before he ended his life. Or until Scylla ended him with a sharp snap of his jaw. A magnificent end to a magnificent fight. Sadly, Scylla didn’t seem willing to change into his true form. Perhaps for fear of crushing the encampment around them that was already being torn apart by wild slashes of hydro and the torrential downfall of rain. 

The two beings clashed in the sky, The two getting soaked in rain and blood. Despite having built up more of a resistance to Foul legacy and the pain it inflicted on his body, Ajax was starting to feel the strain as the fight raged on. His reformed arms struggled under the strength of Scylla’s blows, his legs and sides almost shaking from being smacked with his tail. He kept fighting though, unwilling to give up the fight. He had to get revenge, he had to kill Scylla.

He summoned a large spear of abyssal hydro and sent it sailing toward the drake. Scylla dodged easily and instead of attacking Ajax’s side like the heretic thought, the dragon grabbed his mask and pulled with all his might. Foul Legacy began to screech and claw at the dragon on it’s face. He could feel the mask being tore from where it was connect to his face, his skin tearing as it was wretched off. 

Scylla threw the one eyes mask to the side, and grabbed the neck of the abyssal god before him. Ajax’s face had branching purple, blue lines branching out from his purple ears. The star on his forehead glowing brighter along with his once dead eyes reflecting the dead starry sky of the abyss in them. Ajax snarled, trying to tear the claws around his neck off when his breath was pushed from his body after being slammed into the mud. 

He couldn’t breathe. SLAM! He couldn’t get the hand off his throat. SLAM! He could feel it starting to constrict his airways. SLAM! He could hear Foul Legacy screaming in his mind. SLAM! He could feel the mud slowly consuming him in its freezing embrace. SLAM! His vision was blurring. SLAM! He could hear his armor cracking under the strength of each-SLAM! He couldn’t think. SLAM! He was about to die. SLAM! He-

“STOP! PLEASE STOP!” The claw removed itself from his neck, air coming into his lungs as the power of Foul Legacy sank into the mud around him. His body pulsating with pain as the mud covered ginger tried to gain awareness. He could almost swear he recognized the voices yelling. One was that of a child…Elynas? And the other was more mature…and panicked? Wait-Valentine? 

Ajax tried to push himself up to look but soon found himself laying back in the mud, a sharp blade of hydro coming down next to his head. He looked up through blurry eyes and the panting dragon above him. A bloody smile grew across his face when he saw the damage on Scylla, how he looked exhausted and like he had also seen death. Or at the very least glimpsed it. He felt somewhat…proud that he had made it that far. A drop of blood fell from his cheek as he leaned into the blade next to his head. 

“You gonna kill me now?” He had a manic smile on his face, his voice hoarse from getting nearly choked to death. Scylla just gave him a highly confused and concerned looked. He looked over at the two people running towards them through the mud. He said something, most likely a swear, in some language Ajax didn’t know before pulling the nearly broken man up. 

“Unlike you I don’t find joy in randomly killing people.” 

“Aaaw you already know one of my favorite hobbies.” He giggled as his vision began to black out again, making it seem like Valentine was running through blobs of ink. Valentine who looked stressed, scared, and pissed all in one. Ajax tried to wave at them but nearly fell back into the mud on his face. 

Scylla possibly swore again, pulling him up more and setting one of his arms over his shoulder. Ajax at that point realized that Scylla was at least half a foot taller than him, how he missed that earlier he didn’t know. 

“Maybe you are just short.” The dragon man said, walking closer to the panicked young dragon struggling through the mud as Valentine tried their best to help him. Oh Ajax was talking outside of his head again, nice. 

“Brother! Are you alright?” Elynas asked, his face paler than before with bloodshot eyes from crying. Scylla sighed before nodding. 

“I am fine, but this…confused little god is not. I assume you have an explanation for why he attacked me, child of Sybilla.” The Neuvillette look alike then carefully handed the damaged Ajax over to the seer. Valentine caught Ajax just barely, the ginger leaning awkwardly over their shoulder. 

“He’s a psycho.” Valentine said deadpanned. “I told him not to go and to wait until I either had a clearer vision or to just move on. But of course he doesn’t fucking believe the seer!” They all but yelled into the ringing ears of the slowly fading ginger clinging to their shoulders.

“I think Immm going toooo pass out…” Ajax helpfully stated. The rain had become a gentle drizzle, the cold drops on his face were the only things that kept him somewhat aware. He could have sworn someone said something else but he couldn’t understand. He lifted his head, looking at Scylla confused. “...not going back…prison…kill ya.” He then passed out, his full weight falling onto Valentine who nearly dropped him into the mud. 

Scylla lurched forward and took him back from the struggling Valentine. “It seems like you are going to be the only one answering questions. Hopefully you are…more revealing in them than the little fox.” He waved his free hand and a pair of hydro cuffs connected Ajax’s hands together. He then swung him over his shoulder, wincing as one of his feet hit a wound that hadn’t healed yet. “He was not revealing in the slightest. Just started slashing,” 

Scylla offered his other arm to Elynas who sniffled and hung onto it immediately. “I’m sorry brother, I-I really thought he just wanted to talk to you?” Scylla raised a brow. “He said that he thought you had killed the people of Adielle, he just thought he was avenging them.” 

Scylla looked over at Valentine, shocked. “Adielle is gone?” Valentine had a haunted look come over their face as they nodded solemnly. Scylla cursed and began to trudge over to one of the tents still standing. A few of his top generals stood around it looking at the passed out heretic. 

“My lord, are you alright?” Elise took a step forward, her eyes not leaving Ajax. 

“Yes, I am still alive.” He used his tail to push one of the fallen chairs back up before setting the man down in it. Gabriel began to walk towards him until Scylla waved him off. “He is no longer a threat. His keeper is here now.” Valentine snorted, but still went over to Ajax. 

“As much as I regret that title, I suppose it is true…Adielle is gone. Ajax, a few others, and I weren’t in the village at that time. We had gone to Chenyu Vale to return a healer that had come last winter to help heal a sickness that was running rampant. Neither me or Helene, my great grand-mere, saw anything about the village falling…all we could see was darkness and uncertainty.” They gripped the back on the chair, their knuckles turning white. 

“It wasn’t your fault.” Scylla placed a gentle hand on their shoulder, albeit one covered in mud, blood, and who knows what else. “Fate is a tricky thing, ever changing and fickle. Even Sibella couldn’t predict everything. Sometimes the future must close itself off to let free will exist. Afterall, if everything could be predicted then life wouldn’t be as fun.” 

Valentine gave Scylla an exasperated look. “You think that all of this,” they gestured towards the destruction and mud all around them. “Was fun?” 

Scylla tapped his breaded chin for a moment, his face screwing up in thought. “Well…I wouldn’t say fun, I don’t like fighting, never did, but I think that this one will be quite fun.” He pointed at Ajax. “Besides, I wonder what he’ll do once we point him towards Rumeria and Boethius.” 

“You think it was Boethius who destroyed Adielle?” Elynas asked with a quiet voice, still hoarse from crying and trying to scream above the storm him and Scylla had accidentally caused. 

Scylla looked at Valentine and nodded. The seer covered their mouth, muffling a quiet sob.. “I should have known…I should have known it was them. Even if some rouge vishaps have attacked, who else but Rumeria would be so through in wiping us out.”  They wiped tears from the corner of their eyes. 

Scylla awkwardly patted their shoulder. “I am sorry that this happened to your people. Boethius can not stand the idea of someone being able to see a weakness of his and exploiting it.”

“You think he had them all killed because of my family?” Scylla sighed but nodded anyway. Instead of sobbing more like he assumed they would, Valentine straightened up and looked right at the pure blooded dragon. “Then let the two of us help you. I know that Ajax didn’t…introduce himself well but once he hears the truth he will stop at nothing to tear Boethius down.” 

“...He was really nice when he was talking to me.” Elynas cautiously looked up at his brother. “I felt like he knew exactly how I was feeling and what to say to help me. Can we keep him, Scylla? I want him to be my friend.” His face took on a sad expression that made Scylla unable to deny his  request. 

“Fine we can keep the little fox, but if he keeps trying to attack me then we’ll have to find a way to stop him from doing so.” Scylla’s generals and Valentine all shared a look at the strange wording of the two dragons. Elynas seemed over the moon for acquiring a…friend who was still very much unconscious. But who were they to understand the ancient dragons? 

Elynas walked over to where Ajax was sitting slumped over. His once regal and sparkling cane, now mud covered and dull, thudded softly against the wooden floor of the tent. “I’m sorry that you felt the need to fight my brother, but now you two can work together. I know that your heart probably hurts a lot, but you really shouldn’t randomly attack people.” He patted Ajax muddy ginger locks, careful to avoid the little red horns. He smiled at Valentine who gave an awkward one back, they didn’t know how to feel about their god being treated like a misbehaving child. It was…really strange.

“I’m sure once he comes to, Ajax would be happy to help you in the fight against Rumeria and Boethius.” Valentine bowed their head to Elynas. Elynas sadly sighed, another human who treated him like he was up on a pedestal, how dull. At least his new friend would liven everything up, he was sure of it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ajax couldn’t move. His body felt worse than when he had woken up after fighting the Narwhal. His eyes cracked open slowly, before immediately shutting at the bright light. He groaned and moved his head to the side, trying to bury his face in the pillow. Someone moved around him saying something that he couldn’t understand. They touched his shoulder but he couldn’t respond. Slowly he found himself drifting back into the starry realm of nightmares and sleep. 

“Ajax, can you hand me that pencil please?” Ajax looked around, he was sitting on the floor of his parents house with Tonia. She was holding a hand out expectantly. Looking around he found a pack of colored pencils, the colors shiny and bright compared to the dull browns of the carpet. He handed the box to her and she turned back to the picture in front of her. 

She looked…much younger than how older she was when he last saw her. She looked to be around six, the same age she had been when he had fallen. He looked at his hands, completely normal looking, no scars or starry skin….Had he…gone forward in time? “Tonia, how old am I?” 

She giggled, her bright ginger curls bouncing as she looked back at him. “You’re 14 silly. Did you forget again?” Again? 

“What did you mean by that? What do you mean again?” Something wasn’t right. There was no heat coming from the fireplace next to them and the photo Tonia was coloring was nothing more than a violent collage of color. “Tonia?”

Tonia blinked up at him, sad looking. “If I tell you, then you’ll leave again. You always leave.” Ajax wanted to hold her, to tell her he wouldn’t leave but he couldn’t. Ajax couldn’t move. He couldn’t say anything. Suddenly a large figure came thudding down the hall. 

“Tonia. Tonia, we have to get out of here.” He managed to say. But Tonia was refusing to look at him. 

“You’re going to leave again. I don’t want you to leave!” She sobbed into her hands, her hair falling down and hiding her face. The steps got closer and closer, a thick dark smoke creeping around the corner of the hallway. Ajax couldn’t move. A dark clawed hand curled around the wall, sharp and dangerous. Familiar. 

“Tonia, please we have to leave!” He found himself starting to cry. Tonia began to scream louder and louder about how he was going to leave as Foul Legacy came from around the corner of their house. However, something was off about the abyssal monster. Its face was half gone and rotting away, black starry sludge falling from the empty side of its face. It’s jaw hanging from only one side, it’s tongue lolling out with more dark blood dripping from it. The large purple-blue eye cracked and faded. 

It blindly looked around the room clicking until its destroyed and crumbling face turned towards Tonia. Ajax couldn’t move. He couldn’t move to grab his sister. He couldn’t move to drag her away from the large lumbering monster that got closer and closer to the little girl. It’s hand reached down to her little ginger curls. But just before the monster was about to grab her, Ajax watched as his sister disappeared and in her place…was him. Eyes dead, hands covered in blood, fourteen and already having seen death up close. His doppelganger sadly smiled, bring a hand up to the right side of his face and covering it up. 

“Boom.” The fourteen year old whispered. Foul legacy lurched forward with a roar, its claws tearing into the form of Ajax laughing wildly as he was torn into tiny pieces. Ajax couldn’t move. He could only sob and watch himself get killed by the monster in his soul. He didn’t like this, he didn’t want this to happen, this wasn’t supposed to happen! A puddle of blood slowly made its way to where Ajax sat, sinking into the fabric of his pants. Foul Legacy looked up from the carnage staining its claws. Its own blood dripped down to join the mess. 

Ajax couldn’t move. It slowly made it’s way over to him, its hot breath stinking of rotting flesh, iron, and the sea. His dead blue eyes widened as it came right up to his face, leaning its ghastly destroyed visage right in front of him. 

“Is this not what you wanted? Is this not what you planned for?” Its rumbling distorted voice pierced through Ajax’s ringing ears. He couldn’t help the sobs coming from his throat as Foul Legacy opened what remained of its jaw to swallow him whole. Blackness enveloped him and he drowned in the blood around him. Ajax couldn’t move.

Ajax sprang up from the sweat soaked bed, uncaring of the pain and agony radiating from his wounds. Tight white bandages were wrapped around his chest, keeping his broken ribs in place so they would heal correctly. He didn’t care as he tore them off with his own tainted claws. Even when they fell away, he couldn’t stop scratching at his skin, trying to release the pressure on his lungs. He needed to breathe, he was drowning in black bile and blood. He forced himself to cough, trying to hack it up but nothing came out. He barely registered as Valentine grabbed his hands trying and failing to pull them from his chest. 

“I need it out, I need it out! I need to get it out!” He chanted over and over again, the sentences morphing into one long unintelligible stream of words. The chanting had switched from Rumerian to Schneznyana as Scylla forced him to lay back down on the bed and restrained his hands. Ajax howled and struggled, tossing his body around as doctors and soldiers tried to keep him still. Tears ran down his face as the image of his own body being torn apart was replaced again and again by his little siblings. 

Little starry abyssal portals began to appear and disappear in the area around the panicking heretic. Scylla tried to banish them with his hydro but they stayed hanging in the middle of air until they snuffed themselves out of existence. Finally the doctor came round with a cup of medicine, one that would hopefully put the god back to sleep. Valentine and Elynas helped pry his mouth open, the former massaging his throat to force him to swallow. 

Ajax felt liquid in his throat, finally thinking that he had been able to dislodge the blood stuck in it. He tried to cough but found his mouth clamped shut. He uselessly screamed and thrashed against the blue hands holding him in place until he had no choice but to swallow the disgusting liquid. He would have choked if he didn’t. 

After a few more minutes of freaking out, he began to slow, his words slurring together and his thrashing becoming nothing more than little twitches. A few more and he was once more asleep, this time to a blissfully blank and dark realm. Scylla collapsed on a hospital bed nearby, screaming into a pillow. Valentine sat next to Ajax and helped the doctor reapply the bandages and clean his brand new wounds. 

Elynas sat in a chair next to his bed looking at his newly taken in friend with a haunted look. “Is…he okay?” 

“Nope.” Valentine walked over to a small tub of clean water and washed their hands of the sparkly blood their god had. “He’s messed up.” 

“Can we return him?” Scylla lifted his head up from the pillow, his eyes had dark circles under them and he was covered in his own array of bandages and salves. Elynas shot his older brother a dirty look. “Fine, sorry for saying that. I’m sure when he isn’t trying to either kill us or himself he’s a lovely little fox.” 

Valentine smacked them upside the head with the rag they had dried their hands with. “Stopping being a pest. He was just having a nightmare.” 

“Does he usually have nightmares this bad?”

“...No. Usually he just cries silently or says someone's name in a language I don’t recognize. But then again, he hasn’t really been sleeping lately.” Their hands found their way to Ajax’s holding the clawed fingers carefully as they wiped away the blood on them. “I doubt this will be a recurring thing. He wouldn’t let it be.” 

Elynas went over to their side, twirling his tail around their leg and holding the container of water. Valentine smiled sadly at him, wringing the cloth out and beginning again. Scylla didn’t say anything as he watched the two work. He knew that there was something Abyssal with the young god before him. Hell, he wasn’t even sure if he was a god originally. While it would be safer for him and his brother to simply do away with such a dangerous factor, a natural enemy of the ‘glory’ of Celestia could prove useful. So for now he would allow the little fox to stay here. Perhaps he would soon prove his worth. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Guizhong happily smiled down at the soldiers training in the courtyard below her. One of Ajax’s humans, Blanche she believed, was already starting to fit in nicely with the others as they went through drills. She still clearly showed signs of a different style, one that shared some similarities to the drills the young ginger haired god would run before the sun would rise. It would do her good to not forget it, mixing up styles in a battle could very well help her win it.

The soldier in charge of drills soon called for a break, everyone putting down their weapons and drinking water, all except Blanche. She glanced at the others confused as they talked amongst themselves, not yet familiar enough with the language to catch fast paced conversations. While Felicien and Larissa had gotten a faster grasp on speaking Guili, the soldier had fallen behind a bit. 

Blanche looked right up at the goddess watching her and waved a little, the people around her gasping at how casual she was acting to Lady Guizhong. Guizhong couldn’t help but hide her smirk behind one of her large sleeves and give a little wave back before turning and going back to her laboratory. 

She quietly hummed a tune to herself, quite happy that she had acquired these new humans. While she would have preferred for Ajax to be among them and not on some suicide run towards Scylla, she had no doubt that he would eventually come back for them. Hopefully to stay. They could always use another warrior in their ranks.

It also helped that he was a mystery to Guizhong.and she loved mysteries. Loved solving them. The dust that clung to him was not of this world. She had nearly missed it but had looked closer at the strange little god once Herblord verified that he smelled wrong. Like the static filled air before a lightning strike and the cold waters of the depths. It was unsettling and had caused a shiver to crawl up her spine when his dead eyes had first landed on her. Fear isn't a feeling she was familiar with. She had only felt a few times in her life and never towards such a young being. 

Guizhong swung open the door to her lab and smiled at the lab workers who had all turned and bowed to her. Or well, all the ones who could look away from what they were working on. She passed by a group that was in the middle of assembling one of her ballista prototypes, the wood being held together while the metal nails were being nailed in. They were doing a very good job in following along with her directions, constantly looking over them or at Guizhong’s own prototype she had made. 

This project was not the one she was interested in, it was the small table in the back right next to one of the large forges. A woman stood over the table, her long blonde hair pulled up in a bun and her sleeves rolled over her shoulders, strong arms flexing as she hammered a piece of glowing metal. Larissa of Adielle, wiped some sweat from her brow, quickly noticing Guizhong approaching and setting her hammer down and bowing. 

“Lady Guizhong, what can I help you with?” She wiped her hands on a rag nearby, a sweet smile on her face. If Guizhong didn’t have a girlfriend already and if Larissa liked women, she would have had a crush. What were they putting in the water over in Adielle? 

“Oh I was just checking in to see how your project is going on?” She leaned forward over her shoulder. Larissa turned around and used a pair of tongs to pick up her still glowing sheet of metal. 

“I’ve finally gotten the two metals to mix together, I’m about to smith them into the bolts and plates. Hopefully they’ll be able to withstand the strain while not being too inflexible.” She smiled down at the short goddess and set the metal back down. Guizhong gestured towards the metal, getting the go ahead from Larissa to inspect it. The two metals did appear to have been well mixed, much better than some of her personally trained students, human and adepti. 

“Very well done, your mother would be proud of you.” Larissa’s eyes became glassy for a moment before she smiled sadly. 

“Thank you my Lady.” 

Guizhong could remember the day that she had received a letter from Fujin that four humans that had been there with Ajax had now returned without the god and were seeking refuge. She could still remember how confused Morax had been when she had practically flown out of Guili to find out what had happened. Even now she couldn’t understand why she had felt almost frantic to get to them. She had apparently made her friend so concerned that he immediately agreed to go with her to see them, despite not getting along well with Lingyuan. When the two had arrived in Qiaoying village, they were met with red eyes and shaking hands. 

Both her and Morax couldn’t say anything when they heard the entire story of how once they arrived back at Adielle, it had been completely destroyed. Guizhong couldn’t help but feel like an omen of death and how she had warned Ajax about Rumeria, only to be proven right before he was even given a chance to save them. 

As soon as she heard about how Ajax and Valentine had stayed behind because the stupid, stupid god decided that Scylla, fucking Scylla, was the one who killed the people of Adielle. Morax had even begun laughing his rock of a heart out at that, shocking the poor traumatized humans. The two gods had reassured them all that Scylla definitely didn’t kill the people of Adielle and that Ajax was most likely going to be okay. Scylla didn’t like killing, he was nothing more than a giant seal who just liked sleeping, singing, and pissing off Morax. The two of them didn’t get along due to some kind of old rivalry and the whole…Celestia showing up thing. 

The three adults all seemed to heave a sigh of relief because of this, the baby not caring the slightest about everything happening. Guizhong quickly assured them that despite Scylla not being likely to tear their young god apart, it wouldn’t be smart to just send them all back. So she and Morax took them back with them to Guili. 

The first week they spent in Guili, the remaining people of Adielle didn’t fit in or have anything to do. Blanche was the first to approach not Guizhong, but Morax to ask if she could join his soldiers. He had agreed after having her spar with one of the human generals. LArissa was the next to ask, this time asking Guizhong. She had simply asked if there was a blacksmithery that she could lend her skills to. The goddess of dust had been a little shocked that this mild mannered woman, who had just given birth, was a blacksmith. 

She had listened to how her own mother and grandmother had also been blacksmiths. Guizhong had pulled her into her laboratory and had Larissa smith a few simple objects to test how skilled she was. And she turned out to be very good. And so Larissa now worked under Guizhong while her husband happily took over taking care of their daughter, albeit with a few visits during the day for Aimee to eat. 

“Oh don’t thank me, it’s you I should be thanking. You are a very skilled blacksmith, something we could use around her.” She conspiringly whispered to Larissa. The other woman began to snort and chuckle, covering her mouth as other people looked over at the two. Some of them looked on with anger and envy that this complete stranger from Rumeria, one who followed another god, had completely captured the goddess' attention. They couldn’t understand why some blacksmith's daughter from a backwater town was better then them wasn’t right. 

They were torn from such thoughts by the laboratory door being slammed open and a powerful presence entered the room. Now, no matter what anyone was doing, they all bowed towards the figure that glided into the room. Brown and gold flowing robes trailed behind him along with a long glowing ponytail. His bare golden feet thudded against the ground, creating an echo in the room as he approached the goddess of dust. Adorning his head wasn’t a crown, but a pair of four horns, two smaller ones on the outside and two larger ones that swept upwards. All four of them glowed in lower light near the forge. He came to a stop a few feet away from the two women, his long tail curling gently around his feet, the fluffy orange end brushing against some of the metal shavings, making a crescent of clean floor among the chaos. 

“I was wondering where you were, Guizhong.” Morax calmly announced, breaking the silence of the room. Guizhong waved her hand around, motioning for everyone else to go back to work. They did but with more glances towards the two goddess. 

“Where else would I be if not in my workroom? What, do you think I should be on the roof?” She put her sleeves on her hips and raised an eyebrow at the stoic dragon-qilin in front of her. His ears twitched at her response in embarrassment, a sign that only she seemed to pick up on. “So for what reason are you seeking me out?”

“I need your opinion on an offensive front, I am…unsure which would be the best choice for a coordinated assault.” He didn’t take time beating around the bush, getting right to what he needed. 

Guizhong bumped what would be her elbow into Larissa’s side, breaking her out of her blatant staring. “You hear that, he only needs me to use my brain. Clearly doesn’t appreciate me.” Larissa’s face contorted as she tried not to burst out with laughter at the face the goddess was making. Her eyebrows raised up and an overly exaggerated frown.

“I value you outside of your intellect, but I did originally only agree to partner with you because of it.” Guizhong squawked at that and began to smack her large sleeves into his side. 

“Cruel! Evil! Stupid lizard! I am being horribly used! Larissa, you must save me!” Guizhong then dramatically fell back into the very muscular arms of the blacksmith. Maybe Guizhong should recommend a better arm routine for Ping. 

Morax appeared to see through this and gave Guizhong a ‘are you kidding me’ look. “Guizhong…this is very important, we do need to figure out the-”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” A child’s happy scream rang out through the lab. Little Ganyu crashed immediately into the back of Morax, scrambling up onto his shoulder while still screaming with laughter. “Morax! Morax! Save me! Save me!” The sound of someone else running up behind them also echoing against the floor.

Morax took this incredibly seriously, turning towards the door with Vortex Vanquisher in hand. Luckily the person running towards the group stopped right before impaling his neck on the spear. Fillicien squeaked at the sight of the sharp golden eyes boring into his soul. Aimee squealed happily from the wrap on her father’s chest she was in, a spit bubble dropping onto the spear. 

“MORAX! Stop trying to kill my friend’s humans!” Guizhong pushed his spear down, pulling Fillicien, still staring into Morax’s eyes with fear, towards her and Larisaa. “Ganyu wasn’t in danger, her and Fillciien were just playing around.” 

Morax narrowed his eyes. He had to quickly shut them when Ganyu tried to poke his eyes out. “Don’t hurt Filli, he’s gege’s friend.” Ganyu had her hands gently pried from the gods eyes and then pulled off his shoulders. She shrieked and giggled as she was hung upside down in the air by her foot. Guizhong felt something in her blow away in the wind at seeing the young qilin get swung around like she was a sack of rice. 

Larissa immediately threw propriety away and dashed forward to snatch Ganyu from Morax’s loose hold on her ankle. “You can’t hold children like that! What if you dropped her, she could hurt her head.” Ganyu looked up at Larissa a little confused on what the woman was saying. She had begun to learn a little bit of Rumerian from Ajax and then from Fillicien but she was in no way fluent. Guizhongs other technicians were also looking shocked at the scene before them. Some mortal dared to chastise Rex Lapis? Did they have a death wish? 

Morax was completely shocked, staring blankly at Larissa as she explained that shaking around children wasn’t safe. That made no sense to him in the slightest. His A-Niang would toss him a round quite a bit. And soon after he hatched. He would attempt to bite her ears and tail and she would toss him across the den and sometimes even off of a cliff. He survived didn’t he? While Ganyu was half human, she was also half Qilin like him, her father had been his cousin. So she had to be more resilient than a fragile mortal child. 

Before he could say anything about such obvious facts, the Rumerian woman was manhandling his arms into a cradle-like shape. She then deposited her infant into his arms without another word. Morax couldn’t help but freeze. The baby was…so light. He felt as if he was holding a flower, and he often accidentally crushed them. 

He looked over at Guizhong for support but she was too busy cooing over how scared he looked. “Aaaw are you scared the baby is going to bite you?” She poked his side and he couldn’t help the growl in the back of his throat. The small infant stopped her fussing and began to cry at the noise. “Oh now you’re scaring her, give her here.” Guizhong tried to snatch the crying infant from him but Morax protectively held her closer to his chest, tempering to not squeeze her. 

He didn’t mean to do so, he…just suddenly felt the urge to keep her safe. Glaring at Guizhong, he began to purr and chirp to the human infant who probably couldn’t understand what he was saying. It didn’t seem to matter to her that much as she began to stop crying. She nuzzled against his silk robe and stretched her hands up to his face. His lips twitched into a smile, his fangs peeking out from. And yet she didn’t scream or run away at the sight of such features like other children did. Humans were.so strange. 

“Uhm could I get Aimee back?” The adult man anxiously stuck out his hands and had an uncomfortable smile on his face. Of course…the infant's parents would be able to see that he was a danger to her. Perhaps human infants didn’t have good eyesight. 

Morax handed her back, feeling almost reluctant to do so. As he did the little girl grabbed onto his robe and refused to let go. Her father chuckled nervously. “You must let go.” Morax rumbled and gently let his hand rest on hers. As carefully as he would touch a fragile book, he peaked her fingers from his clothing. As he did, one of his fingers grazed across the back of her hand. 

A small shock went up his arm as his fingers moved over the starry patch of skin on the baby’s hand. The mark of a foreign god. He still found it so strange that a god would be willing to risk certain death to avenge a small village of humans. But perhaps he didn’t understand the motivations of this god, this Ajax. While he would not hesitate to protect his own followers, Morax would not begin a march towards death to avenge those already dead. He would focus on protecting those still living. The ghost of the dead must cling like ash to this new gods form, clawing and screaming for attention and bloodshed. What a pity. 

He quietly watched the two parents coo over their child in their language, making sure she hadn’t been hurt by the big scary dragon. Morax felt someone’s eyes on him and looked over to Guizhong. She had a sad little look in her eyes, a look that appeared more frequently as time went on. He didn’t need her pity. He was fine. 

He turned around with a dramatic swish of his robes and left the room with his head up high. Nothing got to him. He was stone, strong and ever standing. Thousands of years had passed and he was still here, thousands more will pass and he will still exist. Erosion would set in slowly but by then he would become immortalized in the memories of the mortal. Even after he turns into dust and gravel, he will live on. 

Guizhong silently watched him stomp away, probably off to throw a hissy fit. He was always so dramatic when it came to emotions. Hopefully one day someone would come along and drag him out of his cave of being emotionally constipated. She chuckled a little at the thought. Morax would likely protest the entire time. Stubborn old lizard. 

Chapter Text

Ajax had been awake and aware for three days. Three days since he had opened his eyes to find himself tied down to a bed while a very tired looking Valentine yelled at him. Apparently, running off in the early morning and fighting a full-blooded ancient dragon was stupid. They had then explained what actually happened to Adielle. Ajax had then dislocated his thumb and attempted to run out of the tent to attack Boethius instead. He had been stopped by the silently watching Scylla who had been hiding in the corner of the room. The drake didn’t look injured or like Ajax had done any meaningful damage, except for the near invisible cut on his cheek. A mark Ajax had begun to quietly call the ‘I-fucking-hate-hydro-alligned-dragons’ mark. He was two for two currently. Well…two for three. 

Elynas had come into the room shortly after, immediately crying and begging him to not hurt himself again. Himself, not his brother. That was when he learned that the nightmare he had had was somewhat real and he really did try to rip out his throat. Hence the heavy bandages around his neck. They were really mostly for show, as the wounds had all but healed; leaving a mess of light lavender scars around his neck. 

Because of his little ‘outburst’ someone was always keeping an eye on him. Either to make sure he didn’t try to run off again or hurt himself, either option was highly unlikely. It pissed him off they didn’t trust him…well that Valentine didn’t trust him. Despite everything they had gone through together they still treated him like a wild animal that could turn around at any time and bite off their hands. 

He tried to sigh but found it stifled by the tight bandages around his neck. “When can these come off again?” Ajax dramatically tugged on them, looking over at Scylla with his best attempt of a pleading face. The drake didn’t even look at, completely absorbed in whatever he was reading. 

“When the doctors deem you fit enough to get them removed, while they might look healed from the outside, the inside could still be raw and fragile. You did quite the number on yourself, little fox; I’m surprised you didn’t need more intensive care.” A page was slowly turned, the noise grating on Ajax’s nerves already. 

“Stop calling me that.” The ginger all but growled, only making the other mouth turn into a smirk. Annoying. 

“Hmmm…no I don’t think I will. It’s the least I can call you after your violent stunt.” Ajax flopped back on the bed covering his face. This was the worst part of the recovery, everyone acting like he was a misbehaving child! Like he hadn’t been doing pretty decently against an ancient dragon and wasn’t a being of mass destruction. He was dangerous, Archon's damnit! “Now stop flopping around, Elynas wants to take you out of the tent for your stroll today. So be a good little fox.” Scylla finally turned towards the abyssal man laying down. 

His face stuck in a permanent scowl that looked more akin to a pout if one ignored the lightless eyes. Ajax’s brows were furrowed in his frustration. He would get wrinkles before he was 3000 if he kept that up. Scylla couldn’t stop himself from poking at said wrinkles as the abyssal man went crossed eyes looking at and trying to avoid the clawed finger. “Stop touching me.” He hissed and tried to wiggle away as Scylla got up from his seat. 

Scylla grabbed the others hands, and pulled them away from swatting at his hand. “Stop frowning, you’re going to become hideous if you keep it up.” Ajax responded by trying to bite Scylla…again. This was a real issue with the little fox, he was half feral. Despite Ajax’s sides being somewhat upset at his moving and twisting, the two grown men ended up hissing and shrieking at each other, Scylla trying to smack Ajax in the face and Ajax attempting to poke out Scylla’s eyes. 

“Why do you care!” Ajax kicking Scylla in the side and getting no response. 

Scylla didn’t even pause in his attempts to stop Ajax from frowning before he said “I can’t have ugly people being around my brother, what if someone thinks he has bad taste in friends?” A starry purple heel immediately smacked the drake in the nose, breaking it. Scylla’s eyes burned blue as he growled and forwent any scrap of dignity he was barely holding onto by jumping at the heretic. 

This was the sight that greeted Elynas happily flinging the tent flap open. His smile quickly fell as he watched the two fall off the bed and continued squabbling. Staring blankly at the two, he quietly sat down on a nearby chair, watching the fight. It wasn’t a real fight, luckily. Perhaps this was a bonding activity of whatever species Ajax was. It would be best then if the two finished their bonding activity. Elynas’s tail happily wagged as he watched his brother put his new friend in a headlock. The elder dragon completely disregarded the neck wrap of the ginger’s neck. 

Ajax’s vision began to blur as his air was cut off until Scylla let go quickly. He gasped, air filling his wretched burning lungs. He looked up at Scylla, frowning as hard as he could. “I’m gonna be as ugly as possible.” he managed to get out, before falling into a coughing fit. Scylla meanwhile tossed his braid back over his shoulder and attempted to straighten out his once elegantly draped clothing that had become crumpled in their little fight. 

“Please try not to.” Scylla straightened up and glanced to his side before freezing. “Elynas, how long have you been here?” Ajax jumped up, also attempting to make himself suitable for the young dragon prince. 

Said prince was gleefully kicking his feet back and forth with a shit eating grin on his face. “For a while, are you two friends now?” The two grownups side eyed one another, both coming to the same conclusion.

“Yes, we are indeed friends now-”

“-The very best of friends.”

“That’s good, I am so glad that the two of you have mended your relationship.” Elynas clapped his hands together and happily swung his tail back and forth. What relationship? We didn’t even know each other before I started attacking. There is nothing to mend! Ajax gave Elynas a confused look which only caused Scylla to start huffing. 

“You really are going to end up hideous in only a hundred years. An wrinkly little fox.” He stuck out his forked blue tongue in an extremely childish action. The former harbinger couldn’t help but question how the hell this was an ancient dragon, much less one that was known as the king of the vishaps. How that translated to the petty, looks obsessed drake in front of him he didn’t know. “I can just picture you becoming a mess of wrinkles with your twiggy arms like sticks in mud.” 

Elynas giggled at the mental image while Ajax simply raised a brow. “Twiggy arms, if anyone has twiggy arms it’s you.” He subconsciously looked down at his own arms. While they were lean they still had considerable muscle on them. Not twiggy at all. He crossed his arms and looked back at Elynas. “Anyway, Scylla said you would take me out for a stroll?” 

The youngest looking one in the tent perked up even more, hopping from his chair and grabbing his cane. “Oh yes, I want to take you around the camp and introduce you to a few people. You…caused a bit of a ruckus when you first arrived so hopefully seeing you with me will bring their worries down!” He latched onto the side of the heretic beaming up at him. “Do you feel okay enough to walk around? I don’t wanna push you too much.” 

The hundred-some year old pre-teen stuck out his bottom lip in a pout as he looked up at Ajax with large sad eyes. Even if the man turned beast wasn’t feeling well, he would be inclined to go anyway if only to make the little dragon happy. “Yeah I’m good to go. Been good to go for a few days, you shouldn’t doubt me.” He smiled down at Elynas and ruffled his hair which earned a little growl from Elynas and a loud sigh from Scylla. 

“Please do not ruin my brother's hair.” He sat down on the chair and looked at the two, stroking his bread slowly. “Please try not to beat anyone up.” Before Ajax could respond with a snarky comment, Elynas had grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the tent with ease. Damned dragons and their crazy strength. 

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“I don’t see the purpose of this other than to annoy me.” Ajax sat still with his eyes closed as some weird smelling mush was spread over his face.  He felt someone slap his side, from the lack of true force he would say it was Valentine, another victim of the clay and herb goop. 

“It’s purpose is to relax you and make you not look like an angry old hag.” Scylla muttered as he added more than what was needed to the heretic. Valentine meanwhile had a much smaller amount on their face. Their eyes were shining with mirth at their god's predicament. Elynas sat in front of them getting his hair braided. He had yet to join the two in herbal mud mask hell, as Ajax would call it. “This is an ancient practice, the mud will remove impurities in your skin while the herbs included are to help you relax and smell decent.” 

“Oh so the ancient dragons were just rolling around in mud were they?” Ajax grinned, a glop falling onto the carpeted ground. He could picture the stupid Fell Dragon rolling around like a temperamental horse in a giant mud puddle. One of his neighbors had one that made it their job to be constantly covered in dirt once spring and summer rolled around. 

Elynas giggled along with him, trying to turn and look at Ajax only to have Valentine roughly make him face forward once more. “It sounds silly but it feels so nice after a shed. The mud helps pick up any extra scales left and it leaves you looking so shiny after a swim.” 

Valentine finished their braiding before tying it off with a dark blue ribbon. “Do you shed often?” They twirled the braid upwards and made it into a loose bun between his rhinophores. Elynas then turned around to look at the seer. 

“Well I usually shed twice a year since I’m not full grown yet. Brother however sheds about once every two years. Dragons don’t ever really stop growing, we just…slow down as we get older.” 

Ajax finally opened his eyes, slapping away Scylla’s claws full of more mud. “If you continuously grow, then how come he’s so small?” He pointed at Scylla who was now applying a layer to Elynas’s face. 

“Because fully grown dragons can change how large they appear. We can’t make ourselves bigger, but we can make ourselves smaller. I can only imagine how horrible it would be if we couldn’t.” His face scrunched up in disgust. “I would have been trampled to death as a hatchling.” 

Elynas opened his eyes and looked at his brother with a pleading expression. “Really? Why would you?” Valentine and Ajax shared a look, Elynas had hatched after the end of the war. By then, many of the sovereigns were dead, except for the dendro sovereign who disappeared into the depths of Sumeru. It wasn’t only the sovereigns that had been killed off, Ajax had been privy to one night when Scylla had broken down crying and blubbering about how he failed his parents and his brother during the war. Ajax could do nothing but sit and awkwardly pat his back. After that the two of them had gotten along a little better but they still had little spats with one another. It was strange how quickly two years had gone by for Ajax. 

Scylla froze for a second before resuming his movements. “Oh yes, Our Pere was over three thousand when I hatched and Mere was five hundred years older. I would have been lost in between their claws.” He chuckled as if remembering a fond memory. “In fact I even considered a large hatchling, I grew rather rapidly. I was often placed with…the older hatchlings when we had to socialize.” He said the last bit with much disdain. 

“You sound like you would rather cut off your beard than socialize with the older hatchlings.” Ajax joked. “Did they bully you? Oh did they pull your tail?” He poked Valentine’s side who only rolled their eyes. 

“I think the only one bullied as a child was you.” They slapped him on the back of his head. 

Scylla chuckled and shook his head. “I supposed I was a little bit bullied, only a little though. I was the smallest and youngest among them of course, but I wasn’t the one who garnered all the…attention.” He set the cowl down and leaned back, sighing. “No that was reserved for the odd one out, little feral Morax.” 

Ajax’s ears twitched and perched up. “Morax? Why was he the odd one out?” 

Scylla looked at Ajax, his eyes staring right at him as if peering inside his head and coiling around all those memories and dark thoughts. “Well for one he was the son of the Geo Sovereign, I was terrified of her.” He awkwardly chuckled. “The second would be he was, how to say this politely, a half breed. The Geo Sovereign finding a mate in a Qilin was quite the stir. While Many dragons had…flings with non-draconic creatures, taking one as a mate especially as a sovereign was unheard of and extremely looked down upon.” 

“So the other hatchlings would poke fun at him and since we were both the odd ones out, them and the older dragons often had us ‘play’ together.” Elynas dramatically swung his tail around and pointed at one indiscernible point on it. “Look at what that-that absolute brute did to my tail! It’s all dull and ugly because that rock headed idiot put a rock through it! Oh the scales grew back but they lack all the shine of the others.” 

The three others all looked at each other before breaking off into laughter. Scylla pouted and softly petted his apparently ‘ugly’ spot. None of the others, even Elynas, could see any form of dullness on his scales. “I think you have become delusional, brother.” he reached out and patted his tail. “There isn’t a single mark on your tail and even if there was you would look very cool, like Ajax.” 

Scylla looked at Ajax, his eyes parting to the scars on his skin and wrinkled his nose. “I would rather toss myself into a volcano than have any visible mark upon my scales.” He had let go of his tail and now seemed more like himself. Egotistical and vapid. “But anyway best not to dwell on the past. Tell me Valentine, what do you think of my plans? Of the slow approach.” 

Valentine sat quietly for a second, eyes going somewhere else before coming back to the group. “It could work. I-I do not think a direct assault upon Rumeria at this time is a good idea. It could also be helpful to gain more support from the clans of humans scattered outside Rumeria. Many of them do not want to join in the symphony of Remus.” They glanced over at Ajax. “This future is shaky, and cloudy. It is unstable and as such I can only get the general shape. Remus will fall but when and how I do not know.” 

Ajax reached out and took their hand. “While I want to kill Remus as soon as possible, I know now to listen to your advice.” He looked over the Scylla, “If they say we should wait then waiting is what we should do.” 

“Obviously we should listen to the seer. The only one who that’s new news for is you.” Elynas joked, his smile making the mask crack. 

“And that is a sign that it’s time to wash this off, any longer and it will make your skin turn bright red and patchy.” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ajax and Elynas sat crouched behind a bush, quietly watching the marching golems as they trampled over the dewy spring grass. The two of them were supposed to only be on a quick walk but it quickly turned into a scouting expedition after Ajax had a bad feeling. Foul Legacy had grumbled about a sound over the hills so he took off towards it. Elynas had followed like he usually did, a little shadow behind him. Ajax had ended up carving a cane for him with a wider base so it wouldn’t sink as easily into the dirt and he could travel more overgrown areas. 

“What are they doing so close to camp?” Elynas asked, his thin tail wrapping around himself. 

Ajax hummed a response, it was a small group but not a scouting party. They weren’t stealthy enough for it and they didn’t seem lost. They had a clear purpose and they were marching towards it. “It’s a hunting party. They’re chasing someone or something.” He leaned back and looked to where they were traveling to. A slightly forested area but nothing dense. There was nothing in there except a small pond and a bunch of frogs, he had been there once. It was very suspicious. “Wait here, I’m going to go check it out.” He patted Elynas’s arm and took off, ducking behind rocks and little shrubs. 

When he reached the edge of the trees in no time and tried to glance through to see what they were doing. Luckily, their large stone forms had cleared a sizable path through the underbrush making it easy for the former harbinger to slink forward. Suddenly a scream pierced through the air startling the birds and Ajax. He froze for a second before dashing forward through the trees and over broken branches. He entered the clearing and saw the golems had surrounded a person he couldn’t quite see. 

Without missing a beat he lept into action, summoning his hydro blades and slicing into the backs of the golems. While they did leave marks upon their stony exterior, it didn’t decapitate them like it would a mortal. The four golems turned towards him, their swords raising with the sound of stone grinding against stone. 

He dodge their blow, going to the side before escaping the sweep of another. Hydro whirled under his fingers as he summoned another blade and sent it right into the helmet of one. The golem staggered before falling to its knee. Ajax was about to stick a blow right at the glowing blue dewdrop shaped hole on its chest when another one sent its blade, now activated with pyro down at him. He did a backflip and sent a bolt of hydro at another.

He wanted to get this done quickly, he feared what would happen if he left Elynas alone for any longer. Foul Legacy happily overflowed from his mind, transforming his body into that of the creature. His blades of hydro were transformed into one large claymore that he used to block three blades of pyro. He vanished and teleported behind one of them, ripping its head from its body, revealing the light blue water-like substance that flowed through it. The golem fell the pieces as a sharp spear of water hit the vulnerable substance. 

Before he could attack the others, a blast of water from the sky dropped down on one of them, forcing it onto the ground despite its stone body. Foul Legacy looked over at the white and light blue dragon that growled from just inside the forest. Elyas. His draconic form rippled through the air like a fish in water as he dodged a blade sent his way. This snapped Foul legacy back into action ripping and tearing apart the remaining three golems as Elynas kept them down with hydro from the sidelines. 

Foul Legacy floated down from the air and he landed on the dust covered ground. “You could have gotten hurt, Elynas.” He turned to the young drake who was still in his draconic form. Thin and wiry, completely unlike his brother who looked more akin to a seal or whale of the ocean rather than a sea snake. Elynas dipped his snout looking embarrassed. Ajax sighed and walked over to him, patting the side of his neck softly. “Thank you though, kept me from worrying Valentine with another nasty scar.” 

The noise of water stirring behind them made the two of them turn around. A hydro eidolon was floating partway out of the pond looking inquisitive at the two of them. It slowly rose from the pond and floated to the shore. “Thank you…for helping me.” It answered in a feminine voice. Ajax felt a trickle of hydro beside him as Elynas transformed back into his humanoid form. 

“Of course we helped, no one really likes those golems, muchless when they are attempting to squash a hydro eidolon of Egeria.” Elynas nodded his head a little. The little Eidolon bowed to the best of its ability to Elynas in turn. 

“Oh please, that title means little when compared to yours, Elynas the last of the pure blooded ancient dragons.” The Eidolon turned its body? Blob? Towards the former harbinger next. However I do not know who you are, other than you are not from nearby waters.” 

“I am Ajax, I suppose I was the god of Adielle but Adielle is gone now so now I’m just…me. No fancy title, not anymore at least.” 

Elynas looked at him with a frown. “You are my best friend, and you do have a title.” He turned to the eidolon that seemed to be looking at the two with amusement. “He is the god of the depths and he is also dragon-friend.” 

“I see, then it is an honor to meet you Ajax, god of the depths and dragon-friend.” The eidolon’s form shifted and stretched as it changed forms. It soon resembled a short young woman with white and blue hair with a pair of heterochromatic eyes in a light blue and black dress. Ajax felt the gears in his head turn and the memory of a piercing laugh sounding out in his skull. The Eidolon bowed at the waist, her arm sweeping wide before standing up straight. A mischievous smile upon her lips. “I am Focalors, Eidolon of Egeria. I am quite pleased to meet the both of you.”

Ajax nodded and kept his face from spasming. His memories from years ago flashed through his mind as he recalled how this future archon had refused to fight him and also let that hack of an Iudex accuse him of a crime he never committed. He never really liked what he heard of Focalors or the Furine as she later went by. From what he had heard, all she did was meet with random civilians and watched operas or trials. Nothing more than a figurehead while the Iudex was the real powerhouse behind keeping Fontaine running. 

Perhaps the earlier Focalors would spar with him. It would be interesting to see the strength of a future archon before they become archon. But he could play nice until then. He bowed in return to the little future archon and smiled politely at her. “I am pleased to meet you as well. I haven’t been with Scylla and his forces for long but I have heard about how Rumeria has been cutting down Eidolons and other elemental creatures.” 

Elynas nodded along with his words, eyes sparkling at the possibility of gaining more friends. “Yes, we only have one other Eidolon with us back at camp and she often keeps to the healers' tents. Would you be interested in coming back with us? We can keep you safe and I am sure my brother would be overjoyed to gain some extra help.” 

Focalors smiled at Elynas and dipped her head again. “I would be honored to join you and your merry band. Egeria always spoke kindly of your brother.” She stepped out of the pond and over a shard of the golems. She wasn’t acting quite how Ajax remembered Furina acting, perhaps she was just acting polite due to Elynas or maybe the gnosis went to her head and she became crazy. 

He could hear Foul Legacy whisper in his head about attacking her, taking her power before she got too strong. He ignored it and pushed it’s angry chittering down trying to focus on what her and Elynas were discussing as they walked out of the small glenn. “-have really been making progress in talking with some other tribes. A lot of them only agreed to join when they learned we had Valentine with us.” 

“Valentine? Who is Valentine?” Focalores looked up at Elynas, less a testament to how short she was and more how tall Elynas had gotten after his latest molt. He opened his mouth to respond but had shot his hand out and grabbed his arm. He looked up at the ginger confused but closed his mouth at the expression on his best friend's face. Ajax then looked at Focalors, who simply looked amused by everything happening. “Oh no need to say anything. I am a new variable and it wouldn’t be wise to let everything slip.” 

“Indeed, I am glad you understand Focalors. You are still more than welcome back with us but we will have to travel back in silence now.” She nodded in agreement and began to walk in the direction they had already been heading in. Elynas yanked his arm out of Ajax’s hold and leaned back on his cane glaring at the other man. “Don’t look at me like that. You can never be too careful.” 

“She is an Eidolon, I doubt she is a spy for Remus.” Elynas hissed back quietly. He glanced over to Focalres who was very politely pretending like she was unaware of the talk the two were having.

“Yes but there is something about her that doesn’t sit well with me.” Ajax looked back at her, Foul Legacy purring in the recesses of his mind in agreement. “I’m sure it’s nothing but better safe than sorry.” He patted Elynas on the head and smiled. The young drake grumbled and swatted at the other’s starry hand.

“I can’t wait until I am taller than you and you’re unable to do that anymore. I am older than you, you know.” Elynas began walking again, seemingly done being mad at Ajax. Ajax chuckled and walked next to him, watching as the future hydro archon picked a random flower from the ground. 

“Ha, well in my eyes you’re a little kid, nothing you can do about that even if you get tall. I’ll just float up and ruffle your hair.” To punctuate his statement he reached over to do just that but it was dodged with a happy shriek. Ajax sadly smiled as he stopped his bothering and they continued their trek in comfortable silence. His heart hurt a little as he could remember having a similar conversation with his own older brothers. Timur was the eldest and tallest but Ajax had always been adamant about getting taller than him and then returning the favor.

In the end, the only time he had been taller than his eldest brother was when he had dragged a feral foul legacy off of a neighborhood bully it had been intent on killing. His brother never ruffled his head again, nervous about losing a finger to the monster that was now his brother. Ajax had done something similar with his little siblings but he always felt guilty about, touching them with his cursed, bloodsoaked hands. 

But with Elynas he felt none of that guilt. The young dragon had watched him attempt to rip his brother apart and instead of fearing or hating him he was met with nothing but kindness. It hurt a bit that the creature that wasn’t even a real human should give him more human kindness than his own flesh and blood. Perhaps it was because they were both monsters in human eyes. 

They reached the camp that was more like a small town at this point within a few hours. Scylla was waiting by the gate looking worried. He had been in the middle of another round of pacing before pausing when he saw the form of his younger brother and his little fox coming over the hill. He immediately jumped down from the wall and ran up to the two of them. “THere you are! A walk! A WALK! You were gone for half the day, where did the two of you go and what trouble did the two of you get into. What trouble did you drag my brother into!” He pulled Elynas into his side with his tail with poking at Ajax’s chest. 

“I followed him, he told me to stay put and I didn’t. Besides, we saved an Eidolon.” Elynas struggled out of his brother’s hold, pointing towards where Focalors stood awkwardly halfway behind Ajax. 

“Hello Fell Dragon Prince Scylla, it is an honor to meet you and be in your presence.” She came out from behind Ajax and bowed. When she stood up it was with a sunny smile and a friendly disposition. She practically screamed I-am-no-threat-and-I-will-not-hurt-your-brother. Scylla relaxed and looked her over before smiling. 

“I am always glad to see one of Egeria’s Eidolons alive. Please come in.” Scylla gestured for her to go with them inside the gate. Him and Focalres immediately began to talk and Elynas walked behind them chiming in. Ajax stood still where he was glaring at the so called Focalors, joining the two dragons with ease. There was something up with her and he was going to get to the bottom of it. 

The three of them entered the gate, the large wooden doors looking down upon the three hydro aligned creatures. Behind them slunk something hydro aligned but not in the same way as them. Something festered and dark, perhaps hydro aligned but instead of being from clear sparkling waters it came from still waters with unknown dangers lurking just under the surface. The gate closed behind it, locking it in with the poor, pretty, little Eidolon that had unfortunately made herself its prey. 

Chapter Text

The so called ‘Focalors’ had been inside the camp for a few weeks and Ajax had become certain that this was not Focalors. After getting back the first day, he had laid down and came to the conclusion that she was acting more stiff and less…Lady Furina due to being nervous about meeting new people and also getting hunted by Rumerian golems. However, even after establishing herself, she was still not…weird! And because of that she was weird. Foul Legacy did little to assuage Ajax’s thoughts towards the Eidolon, constantly whispering for him to devour her and her power. 

He promptly ignored it, instead trying to reason that maybe she had a total attitude change but it didn’t seem like that was likely. The Lady Furina of the Fontaine he knew…or used to know…will know? Whatever, she was like Scylla on steroids. Loud, obnoxious, vain, a big fan of theater, with a holier than thou undertone. Except unlike Scylla, Lady Furina was all bark and no bite. She didn’t even make an attempt to stop him when he had decided that being thrown in prison for a crime he didn’t commit. 

This new Furina was completely different. Well…except for the theater loving part. It had pissed him completely when she had shown up to the camp's theater club with Scylla. Theater was fun, he liked acting, he was good at it. And now she was there and he didn’t trust himself enough to not accidentally slip up and let Foul Legacy out or slip up about the whole going back in time thing. It was as if she was trying to worm herself into all of Ajax’s daily encounters despite him going out of his way to avoid her. He had even stopped hanging out with Elynas and Scylla as often because she was now always plastered to one of their sides and where Elynas was Scylla was bound to be close. He couldn’t really hang with Valentine as often either since they were happily existing with their wife and he didn’t want to be a third wheel. 

So here he was, standing near the top of a mountain angrily attacking a piece of wood with a carving knife. While he could just make one from hydro and call it a day, he enjoyed feeling the wooden handle in his palm. It settled him, as did sharpening it. It was these little pieces of his old life, of being Ajax Yakovlevich Sokolov. Just a regular kid from sleepy Morepesok. He was working on creating a set of paint brushes for Elynas’s hatching day, the equivalent of a birthday. He wanted the to be perfectly smooth while also being comfortable to hold so this was his second attempt of the third brush. For some reason this one had been giving him the hardest time. Or maybe he was just too angry to focus. 

Just as he thought that, the knife slid a little too far through the wood, completely ruining the handle. His Abyssal energy flared up and he crushed the ruined brush in his hand. He could feel the clawing talons of Foul Legacy trying to escape but he beat the demon back. He slowly released to shards of wood that normally should have impaled his hand but now didn’t. Ajax set the carving knife aside and let his head fall into his hands.  “Tsaritsa, give me strength.” He mumbled. 

“I’ve never heard that language before, what were you saying?” Ajax jumped up like a frightened cat, teeth barred and hands twitching to claw those stupid dewdrop pupils out of the not-Focalors Focalors. Said fake Focalors just stood there blinking like she hadn't done anything wrong. And technically, she hadn’t…yet. 

We should devour her, gobble her up in one bite and take her power for our own! We would have much mastery over hydro with her trapped in our maw. The demon whispered. Ajax didn’t even deign to give it a response. He straightened up but didn’t even try to hide that wary contempt in his eyes. “None of your damn business is what I was saying. Why are you here?”

Focalors, or Fake-alors as Ajax had just decided to call her, dramatically sighed. She sat down on the fallen log the other had just been sitting at and looked up at him with false innocence and that stupid all knowing smile. “I was going for a little stroll and happened to hear some angry muttering. Is it a crime now to walk through nature and enjoy what it has to offer.” She spread her arms like an actor on the stage looked at him as if that were his cue to continue. He didn’t like her, even if sometimes he liked her energy. 

“It isn’t a crime but I’m pretty sure stalking is.” Ajax crossed his starry arms and glared down at the Eidolon below him. Fake-alors picked up one of the brush handles he had succeeded in making, twirling it around in her fingers. 

“I doubt you’ll believe me if I told you I wasn’t stalking you. I’m not planning on peeking in through the holes of your tent or stealing your items.” Ajax scrunched his nose at that, Scylla would be disappointed. “And while I did consciously follow you today, it was to talk to you. And that is not illegal.” She pointed the end of the brush at him and he snatched it out of her grip immediately. “You have terrible manners, were you raised by eels?” 

The ginger slid the brush into a pocket and glared. “I wasn’t raised by fucking eels. In fact, I was raised with manners, please and thank you, but I don’t see the purpose in giving you any when you’re not you, Fake-alors.” He hissed the last part, his ears twitching with irritation. A more sane, less sleep deprived, Ajax would have probably found what he just said horrible and insane sounding. But this was a sleep deprived and paranoid Ajax who had an Abyssal demon constantly chanting about how tasty little Eidolons are and how much fun it is to pop them in your fangs would not find this insane sounding. 

Fake-alors stared at him with a completely shocked expression. The corner of her mouth twitched violently. The next thing he knew she burst into that hideous laugh. The same laugh as Lady Furina…

“Oh my Egeria, you’re insane.” She got out, wiping a tear from the corner of her eye. “You think I’m not me? Please do explain why you think that is.” She calmed herself done, crossing her legs and setting her folded hands on top of her knees. She was the perfect image of openness if not for the mischievous and laughing look in her eyes. 

Eat? 

“No, we are not eating her, shut up.” He muttered to the voices. 

Fake-alors eyes widened and she nervously chuckled. “What?” 

“I don’t need to tell you anything other than I know that you’re a fake, I can feel it. You’re too…pure. You can try to hide and cozy up to everyone but I know the truth, and soon everyone will too!” He stomped over and grabbed the rest of his supplies by her and took off down the mountain leaving a thoroughly confused and somewhat scared Focalores sitting on log. 

“What-what just happened?” She said to the air. Perhaps she should tell Scylla that his little fox was becoming a little-actually-really-crazy fox. She got up, dusting off her dress and followed the ginger down the mountain. She tried to keep her distance to not set him off but she knew that he was aware of her following behind him. His nearly black ears twitching with every noise she made. Once they reached camp he disappeared amongst the tents, no doubt running off to sulk on his own. She instead made her way to the large purple meeting tent where Scylla would be at this time of day. 

She passed inbetween the blue tinted tents, their doors flapping in the breeze as people milled about. As she got closer to the epicenter where Scylla was, the weather became darker and the winds picked up, the tents rattling a little in the storm breeze. In the sky above where the central tent sat was a perfect circle of a storm cloud building and brewing with unreleased water. Scylla was likely upset. If it was Elynas it would already be pouring, not having as tight of control over his emotions and powers as his older brother. The eidolon picked up speed to hopefully see what was the matter. 

The tent rose from the now stormy sea of blue along with the sound of two people yelling at each other. A few people were also peeking out of tents, trying their best to hold their tent doors from flying around erratically as they eavesdropped. Focalers stopped her advance towards the meeting tent as the sight of two very pissed dragons circling around each other. Their tails both thrashing in the air, one large and healthy with bright fins off of it and the other thin with drab fins that brushed the floor. 

Elynas was waving his free arm around while the other held onto his cane with a death grip. “-always do this! I’m not a hatchling anymore! You can’t just-just decide everything I DO! JUST LEAVE ME BE!” 

Scylla barked a laugh and crossed his arms. “Oh yes because you know soooo much more than I do. So sorry that I decided to give two shits about you and your future. Next time I’ll just ignore you running off to go kill yourself on some harebrained suicide-adventure.”

“I AM NOT GOING TO DIE IF I WALK OUTSIDE THE CAMP!” Elynas slammed his hand on the table, his cane finally turning into a handful of splinters. Scylla made an aborted motion to run to his brother's side but was stopped by him growling and hissing angrily. His eyes flickered with warring emotions to continue reprimanding him and making sure he was okay. “You keep treating me like I’m some…some fragile little kid that will crumble into sand if the wind even so much as BLOWS on me.” 

“But you are frag-”

“SHUT UP! You want to talk about fragile, how about all these humans you order around? They don’t instantly die and they are weaker than me! I can more than take care of myself, just let me help!” 

“NO!” Scylla slammed his hands on the table as well, the legs of it protesting with an audible groaning. “If you go out there, you will get hurt and die, I just-” He rubbed his forehead, leaning back and sighing. “I just want you to stay where I can keep you safe.” He reached out towards Elynas, dark blue claws carefully trying to hold the others matching hands. 

Elynas yanked them away from the table and took a set backwards. He looked right into Scylla’s eyes and hissed “I don’t need someone to protect me, I need someone to show me how to protect myself. This is why I HATE YOU!” He then turned around and began to walk away, leaving Scylla numbly blinking as rain began to fall from the overfilled clouds. 

“What-Where do you think you’re going!” 

“Away from you!” Elynas made a rude gesture over his shoulder towards his older brother. The rain increased in strength and some of it followed the sulking young dragon. He brushed past Focalres with barely a glance. She followed him with a worried look, noticing the other eavesdroppers hiding back in their tents to avoid the storm. 

She looked back to the meeting tent and the defeated looking drake inside, kneeled down and carefully picking up all the shattered pieces of wood. Looking at the sky and letting the rain fall directly on her face, Focalores said a quick prayer to her creator, Egeria wherever she may be, before making her way over. 

Scylla ignored her approach, slowly blinking back his own tears that mimicked the ones coming from the heavens. She kneeled down next to him and began to help him collect the pieces. Her mouth opened a few times, looking for the words to say, unable to find anything to help. 

Luckily she didn’t have to wait for long before Scylla sniffled “Do you think he really hates me?” She looked up at him, his eyes sad and watery. 

Focalores blinked a few times trying to think of something to say. She had no experience in this…sibling drama. While she technically had a large number of fellow Eidolons that were made in the same batch as her, she wasn’t close like that with any of them. Not close enough to call any of them siblings. “I think he didn’t mean it. He is getting older, so it makes sense for him to want independence…I think.” She muttered the last part to herself which Scyla heard and made a wounded sound at. 

“But I didn’t go through such a phase. My parents had to partially pry me away from the den. Why can’t Elynas be good and stay in, he had no problem a few years ago. I just don’t understand what changed.” He carefully set the wood shards to the side. His tail coming up and wrapping around his legs. “Maybe I did something wrong, maybe he’s hanging out with some unsavory, teenage, human hooligans.” 

Focalores could think of one possible bad example that often left the camp, fought shit, and back with grand stories romanticizing the battles with Rumerian forces. But she bit her tongue, it wouldn’t do to say such things to Scylla and possibly further ruin the very rocky relationship she had with said unsavory, not teenage or human hooligan. “Perhaps he is going through the same thing as those human children. Becoming more independent and needing to…spread his wings.” Scylla looked at her like she had all the answers. The rain had stopped violently pouring so perhaps she was doing a good job. 

“Is that what is happening? Is it just normal for him to do such things and say such hurtful words?” 

“I am quite certain he doesn’t actually hate you, he just seemed…frustrated. Maybe when he comes back you can talk to him and listen to his side before saying something. Treat him like a…hostile party in a negotiation.” 

Scylla giggled before fully breaking out into a laugh. “I fear it would be much harder than even that. It’s not like I can threaten military action against my little brother for not staying where I can see him.” 

Focalores pushed herself closer to Scylla. “Well you could but I doubt he would take kindly to it. He would probably bribe Ajax to spring him out.” Her elbow nudged his side a few times earning a little slap to her own side by the tail. 

“I would have to disagree with you, Elynas wouldn’t need to even bribe him. Just start tearing up about how mean I am and he would be trying to kill me for a second time!” The rain cleared up with his next laugh but the clouds remained. Focalores smiled to herself, proud of how she had conveniently pushed their discussion close to what she wanted to discuss while also calming down the drake. 

“Ah yes, his fabled attacking introduction to you two…is that common for him to do? Threaten people with bodily harm.” She played up her soft innocent look giving Scylla a confused look.

Scylla gave her one in return looking even more confused. “Did he try to fight you? If he did then I think he’s just like that. You can always turn him down although he will likely try to keep convincing you to spar.” 

“No not that…he just keeps-well I don’t know maybe I’m just going crazy.” She chuckled and pulled at a piece of loose hair. 

Scylla fell right into her goading, turning to fully face her. “Please tell me, is he saying rude things about you? I can have a talk with him about not being rude.”

“Oh no, nothing like that…unless you count whispering to yourself about eating me as being mean then-”

“WHAT!” Scylla grabbed her shoulders and shook her a little. “EAT YOU!” 

“He didn’t exactly say that, just said that he wasn’t going to eat me to himself or maybe the voices in his head. He seems to often be muttering to himself, is that normal?”

Scylla made an exasperated noise, halfway between a laugh and a pained cry. “No! That is not normal.” He let go of one of her shoulders, immediately beginning to chew at his claw. “Oh Sovereigns, I hope It isn’t talking to him…”

Focalores awkwardly smiled unsure of what to say. She had been expecting either being brushed off or being reassured that he just always argues with himself about eating Eidolons. “It? What does that mean? Does it…have something to do with the energy around him?” Scylla looked back at her, his ears going back a bit. “It does, doesn’t it? I saw his transformation, it was clearly abyssal but there also seems to be something primordial about him.”

Scylla pushed himself up and began to pace back and forth. He didn’t answer at first, clearly trying to decide what to say. “Yes…it is Abyssal, but you are right that there is something else. I don’t know what it is but it’s something that I only saw with those that came directly from the Sea or spent a long time in it.” Focolares nodded along with him, having come to a somewhat similar conclusion. “However, I don’t see any real reason to fear him for that.” 

“He’s been whispering to himself about eating me.”

“About not eating you.” Scylla ran his fingers through his beard, nodding as if this made perfect sense. “He has a handle on it, and it is likely due to you being a new factor; give him a few more months and he’ll warm right up to you.” 

Focalores gave him a deadpanned look. “Ah yes he seems very happy to warm up to me after declaring that I am a ‘Fake-lores’ and his whole reasoning is that I am too ‘pure’.” She pushed some of her hair from her face and gave the even more confused looking Scylla a sad smile. “I will try to endear myself to him but I fear it might be a futile endeavor.”

“I can talk to him for you-”

Foclaores shook her head, standing up and dusting off any wooden flakes that stuck to her dress. “No, I don’t wish to force him to like me or make him hate me even more for tattling to you. I think I will try to hear him out first before saying my piece.” She walked to the edge of the tent, looking up at the sky. The clouds had lightened considerably but close in the distance a heavy front sat near the furthest edge of the camp to the north. Most likely a young angry dragon stomping about. 

Scylla chuckled under his breath, standing up to join the Eidolon in looking at the horizon. “Indeed. It seems like that is something we both must do.” He patted her on the back before gesturing towards the storm clouds in the distance. “If you are looking for him then I would check the land just outside to the North. He enjoys…playing with the Vishaps that stay in that area.” 

Focalores gave him a pat back on his arm and looked up and smiled at him. “If I see Elynas I will tell him that he should talk to you. Not argue, just talk.” He nodded, still watching the sky with a solemn but serene expression upon his face. It always shocked her how quickly his emotions could turn. A strange creature but weren’t they all. 

The hydro Eidolon left the tent, mud squelching under her feet but not sticking as she walked towards the north. A few people nodded and waved to her but most ignored her presence. She was still new to them and an elemental being, she was a new variable they didn’t know how to feel about yet. The closer she got to the northern part of the camp the more it became an army camp. The north and south of the encampment had the army part in it while the western and eastern sides came right up to the sides of two mountains. It was less of a large encampment and more of a small tent city. 

The soldiers went around her like a wave around a stone as she made her way up the stairs to the top of the wall. A few soldiers stared off into the distance at one specific point right under where the storm clouds were. Bright flashes of hydro and electro blazing to life every now and then along with the roars and growls of great beasts. 

“Monsieur Elynas left the camp about twenty minutes ago. The storm and fighting started soon after. Is everything alright?” A guard turned to Focalores and then back again to the storm clouds and roaring. The other guards also seemed a bit on edge, glancing between the storm and the rest of the area, biting their lips and their knuckles turning white as they drummed their fingers and their spears and sword handles. 

A falsely confident and serene smile crossed the Eidolons face as she answered them. “Oh yes, I believe Monsieur is simply blowing off some steam. He is at that age when children want to argue about anything and everything.” An older guard laughed to himself suddenly looking less concerned. 

“I remember when my kids went through that phase. Teenagers.” He chuckled fondly. “Monsieur Scylla shouldn’t worry too much, he’ll grow out of this rebellious phase, they all do.” Focalores smiled and dipped her head before heading to the edge of the wall. She then quickly jumped off of it, summoning forth her hydro to slow her descent and soften the landing. 

She then took off across the ground and closer into the storm. Wind whipped around her, throwing her hair and the edges of her dress around. Little droplets of rain fell every so often, but not rapidly enough to call it anything more. After a few minutes she began to see signs of torn up earth and a few torn off scales. Luckily none that matched Elynas. A large bank of Vishaps were all clumped together around a large stone outcropping. Some of them lay on the ground ignoring the sounds of fighting behind them while others watched waiting for their own turn against the foul abyssal creature currently sparring with one of the larger electro Vishaps. 

Although sparring would be a very loose definition for the absolute mess that was the fight Focalores was bearing witness to. Some elemental power being used but mostly just claws and teeth. When she had first seen the monstrous form of Ajax she had assumed that the red mask was just a mask and that he had a normal human looking face underneath. This only seemed to be true when he removed it in the form on purpose; when attached the bottom of the mask would open up and a maw filled with sharp glistening teeth would be revealed. Truely a strange creature he was. And so here she was, stuck watching the two beasts tussle in the dirt slowly becoming mud under the hydro of the star covered beast. Her attention was pulled from the fight by a sharp flick of a long blue tail on the stone outcrop. Elynas laid on it in his draconic form, stewing in anger with a mist shimmering around his body. He must have been talking to Ajax if the annoyed eyerolls and dramatic huffing movements were anything. 

The Eidolon was planning to just watch a little bit more, at least until the Vishap and Ajax finished their…practice fight, when one of the dozing VIshaps eyes snapped open and glare right at her. It slowly rose up with a disgruntled hiss and moved away from her. The others around it followed its ‘advice’ making a path from Focalores to the somewhat clear center. Elynas looked towards her, his head dipping a little in what had to be embarrassment, the dark clouds overhead turning a slightly lighter grey. 

The electro Vishap let out a pained chirp as it was slammed into the ground, attempting to twist itself out from under the black claw. The creature turned its single, swirling galaxy eye to Focalores and chittered in its strange language she didn’t understand in words, but the emotion behind it was clear. She was an intruder it didn't want around. One bare foot took a step back when it released the vishap it had pinned, its head cocking to the side, sizing her up. Then in a burst of stars and hydro, the red armored mask turned into a pair of small red horns and the black armor to a lavender and dark purple starscape on scarred freckled skin. 

“I thought I told you to leave me alone.” Ajax sniffed and crossed his arms. The Vishaps around seemed to get the message and began to disperse, their opponent done with their fights. Before Focalres could answer, a haughty no-it-all laugh interrupted her. Elynas was sticking his snout in the air, looking down at the two below the rock. 

“She’s probably here to lecture me about how my brother is in the right and I’m stupid like everyone else does.” He glared at Ajax who sighed with a weariness that was almost only seen amongst the elderly humans. “Sovereigns forbid I try to do something other than sit around and swish my tail.” 

Focalores awkwardly glanced at Ajax who was now staring at the sky and muttering to himself in a language she didn’t know. “Tsaritsa, give me strength.” He then looked over at Elynas, hand on his hips. “Your brother is just looking out for you. I’m certain that as long as you tell him when you are out adventuring then it’ll be okay. The problem he has is you slipping away without a word. You probably give him a heart attack when you do that, I know that you would certainly give me one.” 

“Yeah well you don’t tell him when you go running off to kill shit.” Elynas hissed down at Ajax. 

Said person now had raised eyebrows. “Yeah he doesn’t care cause I am not his little baby brother. He raised you Elynas, he only wants to keep you safe and protected. Sure he’s a little overprotective but he’s an older brother it’s what we do. And stop cursing like that, I have no problem dragging you back to camp and washing your mouth out with soap.” He waggled his finger in a disappointing gesture. 

Focalores had to cover her mouth and fake a cough to stop from laughing at the surprised and disgusted look that the dragon had. She quickly got control of herself. “Indeed, that seems to be what Scylla wished to tell you.” Now both were glaring at her. Wonderful. “Perhaps you could sit down with him and each take turns saying your side of the story without interrupting. Then you could figure out a comeground based on what you are willing to give up and what you want to happen. You could think of it like a practice negotiation with a hostile force.” 

“A hostile force? That’s one thing you call that overly protective worm.” Elynas grumbled jumping down from the rock, carefully landing on only his front feet before swinging his weaker back legs down behind him. “He thinks he knows what’s good for me but he knows nothing, he got to run off and do whatever he wanted when he was my age, but now I have to be babied.” 

“That was a different time Elynas; we are now at war.” Ajax walked over to Elynas and carefully rested his hand on the other's shoulder. Elynas sighed, his form becoming a humanoid one. “He and I, in fact probably everyone in the camp, doesn’t want you injured or worse. That would be the opposite of what we want to happen. When you rush off into the unknown without telling anyone, you put not only yourself but everyone else in danger as well.” 

“He’s right. If Rumeria captured you I have no doubt that your brother would quickly give anyone away if it meant keeping you safe.” Focalores carefully interjected, glancing at Ajax for any sign of unease but he seemed to have toned down for now, likely seeing her as an ally in convincing the young drake to not go running off in the night on an adventure and accidentally ending up in Remus’s grasp. 

“...would he really do that for me?” Elynas asked with the smallest voice that Focalores had ever heard from him the few weeks she had known him. One that betrayed him as just a kid who wanted space but also didn’t want to hurt anyone. 

“I have no doubt he would even give up himself if it meant you wouldn’t get a single scratch.” Ajax smiled sadly, “And I know that I would also do horrible, evil, vile things to make sure you are also safe.” He playfully ruffled the short one’s hair which earned him a giggle and a pair of hands pushing him away. 

“Okay, okay I get it. I’ll go talk to him. I will go and have my negotiation with a hostile force.” A half hearted smile was flashed to Focalores who returned a much brighter one to the young one. Elynas gave Ajax a quick hug before picking up a spear that was hidden in the grass next to the rock. “Are you gonna come back with me?” 

Ajax shook his head looking right at Focalores “No, I got some things to clean up here.” A shiver went down her spine, perhaps having this talk amongst a bunch of Vishaps who preferred the abyssal monster over her wasn’t the smartest decision she had ever made. Elynas nodded and took off, the spear glittering in the now shining sunlight as he walked away. The heavy clouds went with his improved mood. The two silently watched him disappear before Ajax sighed. “ So what do you wish to torture me with this time?”

“I simply want to understand why you hate me so much. You saved my life and then decided that I was a liar and fake. And on top of all of that you whisper to yourself about not eating me. WHy the idea of even possibly doing so is so prevalent you must reaffirm to yourself to not eat me is unknown to me.” She turned to him doing her best to appear calm and collected and not on the edge of screaming at the sky. 

To his credit, he did appear to be embarrassed by his former mutterings. A soft pink blush settled on his cheeks and his ears dipped down. “Ah you really heard that huh.” He rubbed the back of his head before walking over to a nearby Vishap. He leaned against it, the beast making an annoyed huff but not stopping him. “I apologize for how I acted this morning, I was…tired and busy working on something. You showed up and messed up my flow.” 

Foclaores didn’t even try to stop her eye twitch. This was absolute bullshit. And she said as such, “This is bullshit, you have been acting like this for nearly the entire time I have been here. So tell me why you hate me and I will do my best to leave you alone. If you don’t I will bug you until you either tell me or apparently eat me!” She tossed her hands in the air, fuck being scared she was just pissed. 

Ajax blinked at her with a blank expression. “It’s like I said, you aren’t you. You shouldn’t be acting like this.” 

“Then how I should be acting then oh great knower of the true selves of people?” 

“Like a drugged up Scylla on enough caffeine to kill several Vishaps!” He waved his hands and paced back and forth. His comment about the several Vishaps dying created a few angry growls. “Oh shush, it was a figure of speech.” 

“Did Valentine, your seer friend, tell you I would act in such a way?” Ajax bite his lip and began to turn even sharper than before. In that instance Focalores felt a pit open in her stomach. Suddenly little things began to make sense. 

According to the people in camp and Valentine, he had emerged from the bowls of Teyvat about 25 years ago and he lived with the people of Abeille. And yet he spoke in a language unknown to Focalores and Scylla, considered himself an older brother despite never referring to Elynas or anyone as his brother, and how knowledgeable he was about mortals and all their many emotions that immortals never seemed to understand. And on top of all that there was his strange nature, Something soaked in Primordial waters, Abyssal energy, and the power use hydro despite not being an elemental beeing such as her or the two dragon brothers. The Primordial Sea was ancient and strange; it won't be so far out of the realm of possibility if AJax had…

“...come for the future. You aren’t from this time are you?” Focalores watched as he froze and looked at her like he was a wounded fox cornered by a hunter's dogs. Ears back and teeth bared waiting for the killing blow. “You knew me from the future and that’s why you believe I am not who I say I am, because I act completely differently.” 

“...And what are you going to do with that information, Focalores? You were weak then and you’re weak now.” In a blink of an eye he was now towering over her, dead eyes blazing with an unholy fire that sang of death. She was wrong, there was no corner or injury that a feral beast could have that would hinder it in tearing her apart. 

Lively dual blue eyes met dead stormy ones, one blessed by Celestia and their ilk and one cursed by the abyss and its vile stood their ground against the other. The world had gone quiet around them except for the distant noise of an encampment. 

“Nothing, I wish you felt that you could freely share that with me but I will respect your wishes.” She blinked and bowed her head, defeat and submission. She didn’t wish to find out whose side Scylla and Elynas would take when she was new and unknown. “I won’t tell anyone but…I do have to ask a question, just one.” 

“What is it?” 

“What do you think…made me act so differently?” She looked back at him searching for something in his closed off expression. The idea of her completely changing her attitude and personality was a shock and nothing she would predict for her future. 

Ajax seemed to think on it before coming to an answer. He hesitated before deciding that it was worth sharing, or at least part of it. “There is a terrible event that happened before I met you and you…took a public position. I know some soldiers will see things and return changed or with completely different personalities, something like that could have happened to you.” His demeanor opened a little as he fell to the ground and sighed, looking up at the sky and the floating Celestia in the distance. “Something broke you so much that when you tried to put the pieces back together, they didn’t fit as they did before.” 

Focalres attempted to process the new information. Something bad was going to happen sometime in the future and she possibly got so messed by it she became insane from how Ajax described her future disposition. She giggled maniacally before dropping onto the ground beside the time traveling heretic. “Wow, that’s…I don’t know what I expected but it wasn’t that. Huh.” They both looked at each other before breaking into identical insane sounding laughter. 

“Yeah, It’s insane sounding. I thought I had seen and done every crazy thing possible but nope! I had to get blasted into the past as fucked up god apparently!” He knocked on the horns on his head. “Didn’t have these guys before coming here or this!” he gestured to his arms and legs, “ It’s completely disorienting waking up and your body isn’t how you remembered it to be.” 

Focalores nodded, “Sounds like shit, have you ever tried hiding them?” He gave her a confused look. “You know…like how Scylla can make his tail and horns disappear.” 

“Oh yeah, Guizhong told me about that, that many immortals can hide features but not everything.” He scratched the side of his face, appearing more like a somewhat clueless young man and not the demon that had just been here. The whiplash was going to give her a headache. 

“Yes that is exactly what I mean. Maybe I can teach you how to focus and hide some of those features, maybe it would make you feel better.” 

He suspiciously squinted at her “You just want me to like you and tell you more about the future.” She shook her head but was met with him nodding his head like a rebuttal. 

She rolled her eyes and stood up. “Well there goes me trying to be nice. Are we good now? No more thinking or threatening to eat me?” She stuck her hand out to help him up and to serve as a handshake. 

He looked at it suspiciously before taking it and pulling himself up. “Only if you don’t do anything suspicious or I might have to take a few chomps.” He grinned like it was the funniest thing he had ever said. He then held his hand out again with only his pinky extended. “I’ll only accept your offer of peace if you agree to a pinky promise. You can’t break it.” He wiggled his finger for emphasis as the Eidolon gave it a confused look. 

“I’m not accidentally agreeing to be eaten am I?”

“No I- I don’t want to eat you, ew.” His nose scrunched up at the actual thought. She was EIdolon and probably just tasted like that weird sparkling water Signoria used to drink instead of regular water. Disgusting. 

“Okay then let’s do this ‘pinky promise’” She stuck out her own pinky so he took it and recited the words. He watched her face go from slightly amused to concerned. When he finished his chant she looked at her finger as if expecting it to fall off. “If I lose my finger I am going to shave you.” 

“Hah, I’ld like to see you try and get the drop on me!” He smacked the back of her head and began to walk back to the camp with an angry Eidolon chasing after him promising pain and suffering. For the first time since he met her, Focalores sounded like Furina. 

Chapter Text

“Ajax, can I speak with you?” Valentine stood at the entrance of Ajax’s tent. Their hands folded over each other as they watched their god turn away from his desk to look at them. 

“Oh Valentine, I was just thinking about you. Must have foretold I wanted to talk. Come on in, get comfortable.” He smiled and gestured for them to come in more. They sat next to him on a chair that was covered in some masterful and some amateur carvings. They found themselves touching one of the nondescript flowers. It was crude and could really only be identified by its basic shape. “Elynas has been helping me with that chair, the carvings. He’s pretty big into art and painting and when I made him paintbrushes a while back he wanted to learn about wood carving. Unfortunately he doesn’t seem to be as gifted in carving flowers as he is in painting them.” 

Valentine chuckled softly, wrinkled and liver spotted hands still following the edges of the wood. “I’m sure even you were an unskilled carver when you began as well. Given enough time I’m sure Elynas will give you a run for your gold.” Ajax had to fight back a giggle at the saying. Mora hadn’t been created yet so people simply used gold or items they had to barter and sell. He almost slipped up a few times when talking about trade routes.

“Perhaps he will. Anyway we recently got a hold of a scout and they had been carrying a letter to some of the human tribes to the east closer to the edge.” He began to gather the copy of the letter as well as the crude map of the current? Past? Fontaine. “We’ve been planning on possibly sending and envoy of our own in order to-“ 

“I’m dying, Ajax.” 

The papers fell onto the floor. A soft thump as the god stared at the seer. Valentine refused to meet his eyes, still focused on the little flower carvings. Fingers snagging on the too sharp edges, not yet sanded down. “What do you mean? You-you’re still young.” 

Valentine let out a bitter laugh, finally looking into the other's dead eyes. “Sure, and I’m not wrinkled and you are.” They shifted slightly in their seat, hands now folded in their lap on top of dark blue fabric. “I am nearly eighty-four Ajax, I have foreseen my decline when I am eighty-five. The call of my family, of Helene and Basile, pulls me nearer and nearer to my end.” 

“But you can’t…how can you be eighty-three? It-it seems like yesterday we were celebrating your fortieth.” He fell back in his seat. His head felt like it was spinning, how could he have missed so many years passing? He didn’t miss them passing he just…forgot that humans got older with each year. That their hair lightened, skin wrinkled, and bones ached; but his didn’t. Ajax didn’t have his hair turning gray, didn’t have wrinkled skin, or aching bones; but Valentine did. He had seen them getting older and just ignored it all. 

A hand came down on top of his head with a soft thump, lacking the former force it once had. Valentine glared at Ajax. “Stop thinking so hard, you’ll get an aneurysm and die.”

“Wha-”

“Not really, just kidding with you. Heh, I have to have some fun in my old age now…I am going to die, that is a simple fact of life for us who aren’t immortal or close to it.” They pulled themselves back into their seat, grabbing and holding onto his hand. They sighed and smiled sadly. “Nothing is your fault so don’t blame yourself.”

Ajax tightened his grip on their hand. “But I should have been more aware. I-I got so wrapped up in everything that I…that I forgot about you.” When first arriving, he and Valentine had been almost stuck to each other's sides, two strangers in an unfamiliar place that had had a very unorthodox introduction to them. Then the years went by and he had gotten fully swept up in Scylla and Elynas’s plans and rarely spent time with Valentine outside of council meetings or asking about anything they saw. He had been a terrible friend. And he said as such. 

Valentine muttered to themselves and slapped his hand. “ You are a god, an unorthodox one who is nothing but a harbinger of future death and suffering.” Ajax scoffed. “ Don’t laugh, I still see that vision of you executing and imprisoning the people of this land, nothing to laugh about you evil bastard. Ahem, as I was saying, you are a god so of course you would forget about little mortal me. Even blessed as I am.” They let go and dramatically waved their hands near their face and the eyes with which they saw the future. 

“That doesn’t excuse anything. If I were a good god then I would have been a better friend.” Ajax carefully set his hand on their shoulder. “I could have done more but I didn’t. I will do better, I know you don’t have a lot of time but I will, and I pinky promise I will, spend that time with you by your side.” He raised his pinky up to them with a soft smile. 

Valentine stared at it blankly before setting their hand over his extended pinky. “I’m sorry Ajax, but I can’t accept that. I…am not staying here, in this camp.” They took a shaky breath, a few tears forming in their eyes. “Julia, my wife, passed away five years ago, our daughter and grandson are doing well, blessed as they are like me they will surely find a place here. But for me, all I want is to see Blanche and the others again.” 

“What do you mean?”

“I am planning-no more than planning, I have already planned to travel with a trading caravan going down to Guili so that I can spend my last few years with my people. I wanted to offer you the chance to but…we both already know that you have to stay. You have to fulfil your promise to get revenge for us. That is why, I can not accept your promise, because either you fulfill it or you break the one you already made.” Valentine stood up from their chair, bending down to pick up the fallen papers. “This is a good plan, I don’t see anything potentially disastrous going on with it.” 

Ajax looked at them, heartbroken at being told all of this. Why, why can’t he do anything right? “There’s nothing I can do.” Not a question, but a statement. There truly was nothing he could do or say to convince Valentine or leave Fontaine. Valentine glanced up at him, standing back up and setting the report and plan back on the table. It too was carved with vines and flowers, all of them perfectly carved and detailed. 

The seer leaned against the table, arms crossed and looking up at the top of the tent. The two of them said nothing, sitting in silence as faint noise from outside came in through the somewhat open flap. Valentine finally broke the silence, walking towards the exit. “I will be leaving tomorrow morning. All I ask is to keep an eye on my descendants, take care of and love them for me.” 

Ajax watched them walk out of the tent feeling completely broken. He stayed still for possibly a few seconds or an hour. When he finally came back to himself he felt angry. Angry at himself, at the world, at Remus, at everything and everyone. Rage filled him as he stood up looking at the table with the map and blasted plans on it. He swept it all onto the floor with a pained yelled. His hands shook as the urge to break, to destroy, to kill. 

Foul Legacy swirled around his emotions, all of his anger, sadness, and pain. Everything felt amplified as he began a stumbling run out of his tent. He had to get out of the camp, he felt like he was going to explode and hurt someone. He didn’t want to hurt anyone but himself for being so stupid and ignorant to everything. To miss so much of someone he called his friend’s life. The Abyss hummed under his skin, feeling like ants or bees were crawling or bussing under it. 

People he passed waved and said stuff to him but all he heard and saw was of them laughing at him. He knew they weren’t, knew that it was just Foul Legacy playing with him to make him attack, make him hurt others how he was hurting. He just nodded back and tried not to make it look like he was falling to pieces. 

He got near the edge of the camp when all of sudden he felt someone strong approach. A challenger someone to fight, to tear, to destroy- no,no,no,no. He had to get out of camp. He all but jumped over the wall with a surge of hydro, not wanting to deal with soldiers asking him where he was going and if he was okay. He made it about a mile away from camp before he fell to knees shaking and sobbing. He watched as dark purple droplets of something splattered on the ground below him. Ajax froze, his hand reaching up to his face and wiping the tears from his eyes. 

Instead of the regular clear tears on his fingers, there was a viscous purple-black goop. The same stuff had been in the Abyss when he fell. The same stuff that he had been taught to filter somewhat and then drink by his master. His hands shook, cradling his face as he curled into a ball on the ground; wishing, hoping that another hole would open below him so that he could escape all of this happening. Why couldn’t he be normal? Why couldn’t he have just been what his parents wanted him to be. 

“Ajax, are you okay?” A familiar voice asked behind him. The abyssal aligned man jumped up with a snarl, energy and hydro swirling around him before he finally realized that it was Scylla standing before him. Foul Legacy grumbled about him being stronger and backed off, letting Ajax collapse and begin crying again, showing his weakness, his underbelly to the other. 

Strong blue scaled arms hugged him and pulled him into the others arms. Claws ran through his hair comforting him as he cried his stupid fucked up tears. Eventually Ajax got ahold of himself, pushing himself back and wiping his face. His cheeks flared up in embarrassment over what had happened. He was…he actually didn’t quite know how old he was now but he was certainly much too old to be crying on an ancient dragon's shoulder.

“Sorry, I just-just had an emotional day.” Wiping his eyes again he felt a sense of relief to see them normal looking and no longer like purple goop. Scylla nodded slowly, still looking at him like he was a fragile bird with a broken wing. He hated being looked at like that. “I am okay, really just…needed a good cry.” 

“Yes it did seem like you did need one. I sensed a large and growing Abyssal presence moving through the camp. I rightfully assumed it was you and went to investigate. May I ask what made you…react in such a negative way. And cry all over my new white robes, now they have purple tears all over them, how dare you.” The drake jokingly said, nothing truly mean in the way he said it. 

Ajax almost didn’t want to answer him but decided to bite the bullet, the arrow in this case since bullets didn’t exist. “...Valentine is going to die soon-” Scylla nodded. “-and they are leaving for Guili.” Scylla cursed. 

“They just told you! I thought you knew and just weren’t mentioning it because you wanted to be delusional.” Scylla dramatically covered his mouth and looked at Ajax with wide eyes. The shock that Scylla knew, that they all probably knew before him hit like a boat. 

His mouth opened and closed a few times in shock. “They told all of you before me? Why?” Why in the whole of Teyvat would Valentine do this? What possessed them to not tell him? So many questions and the only one with the answers walked away from him and to who knows where. 

“Perhaps…they didn’t want you to mourn over them too much or try to stop them.” 

“I won’t have tried to stop them! I just wish I had more time with them. I wish they weren’t dying, why do they have to leave me.” Ajax could feel his emotions bubbling up again. He hated feeling like this, crying and being a mess. He had thought he had everything under control, no emotions that would break him like this. Apparently he had not. “I just wish I had been a better friend to them.”

Scylla scooted closer to him in the grass, the strands swaying in the wind. The sky above the two was a soft blue with fluffy white clouds, a perfect early summer day. A day that couldn’t be more different than the day he felt like he had been having. “I keep forgetting that you are but a young immortal. You are finally watching those you viewed as…close to you and your age grow old while you don’t. It’s a shock and it hurts.” The two looked at eachother, one with fresh pain and the other with old. “ Watching mortals that have become close to you die is painful, and it is why most immortals don’t get too close with them. You can be friendly with them and form relationships but you can’t get too close so that way when they do die, you don’t end up tearing yourself apart in guilt over every little thing you should have done.”

“But isn’t that lonely? You miss out on knowing so many people.” Ajax carefully pulled a piece of grass out of the ground and began pulling it apart with his claws. Looking back to Scylla revealed an even sadder face with a few darker clouds disfiguring  the otherwise lovely sky. 

“It can be, but you learn to truly value the others around you who will live as long as you. They become your family and you rely on them being beside you always. In a way it makes their death all the more painful but those are few and far between.” Scylla’s left hand came over and landed on the other upper back. “My only real advice to you right now is that you will feel and grieve for Valentine but as time goes by, it will become less painful. And throughout your grief, me, Elynas, and Focalores will be here for you. Please talk to us, don’t run off and hide.”

The ginger moved over on the grass leaning against the fell dragon’s side. “I can’t promise that but I will try... I’m really gonna miss them, them and their shitty attitude.” He laughed at the last part. Despite accepting him as their god and as a future harbinger (hah) or death, they still treated him like a misbehaving child (heh). They had become an almost older sibling to him, wacking him upside the head or making fun of him; it was something that he hadn’t gotten from his own older siblings since before he fell. He had missed it then and now he was going to miss it again. 

Scylla’s tail wrapped around Ajax’s side and the dragon hugged him again. “And I am sure they are going to miss you, but you have to let them go. Respect their decisions and go forth and live a life that they would be proud of you living.”

“Pretty sure they saw the future of me living life how I would want to live and they were very disappointed in it. Not proud at all.” 

“...Well fuck them then, revel in your disappointing future.” Scylla joked, causing Ajax to burst into laughter. “Sorry that was mean, I meant, live how you want and fuck what anyone else says.” More laughter came out of Ajax, his eyes screwing shut as his body was shaken by his laughter. He felt manic with how he laughed, a mixture between actually finding what Scylla said funny and being so tired and done with everything happening around him. 

He eventually calmed down and the two of them sat quietly listening to the swishing grass and the wind moving through the valley around them. Ajax at one point pushed himself back up, Scylla  moving a little bit away from him. “I should probably let them spend their last evening with their family huh?” 

“Yes but you are their family. I doubt that they would object to you spending time with them.” Ajax nodded in agreement but still didn’t get up to leave. Sensing that it was likely time for him to go, Scylla stood up. “I’ll let Elynas and Focalores know that you’re okay, they were worried about you.” 

He squeezed the heretic’s shoulder once more before leaving him alone in the grass. Ajax watched as the white haired man walked away and he didn’t really feel like he was being left alone. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Valentine hated traveling. They hated traveling to Chenyu Vale young and they hated traveling to Guili old. The wagon they had been stuck on, due to being seen by all the other travelers as old and weak, was the most uncomfortable thing they had even sat on. Perhaps they should have never left, died happily in a tent surrounded by Helene, their daughter, and Alois, their grandson, rather than out here on a stupid rickety wooden piece of shit with enough splinters to light a bonfire. 

But all their pain was finally paying off with the large city in the distance coming closer and closer. They would likely reach it by midday. A little bit of giddiness fluttered in their chest as the relativity of being able to see Blanche and Larissa grew nearer. They already knew they were too late to see Fillicien again, he had been doomed to die an early death the second he got sick. They had come to terms with that a while ago when they stopped seeing him in visions of reuniting with all others. It stung but there was nothing they could do. 

The last heat of autumn settled on their cheeks as they smiled wider than they had in a long time. They couldn’t wait to arrive back home. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ajax was depressed. He wasn’t feeling well at all. He had just watched Alois, Valentine’s grandson die. He held his hand as the old and fully gray haired man left the world, his son and daughter crying as his freaky, emotionless granddaughter, Maria, didn’t say anything other than that her mother would die next. He had just about had it with this family of seers. 

When Helene 2.0 died, she had just died quietly in her sleep without saying anything. But she did leave a picture of a blob of brown gold color and left it to him in a note that said it was a picture of his future happiness. He kept it but he had no idea what that meant. Helene 2.0 had seen things as more colors and textures than actual visuals. Alois could-had an ability to smell and hear things in the future but couldn’t see anything. It had skipped both his children but had turned up in Maria who saw when people died and the circumstances before and after they did. Creepy kid. 

Ajax left the tent so that way the family could properly grieve, and to give himself space to process yet another death of a mortal close to him. It still made him feel terrible referring to them as that. He had been mortal but now he wasn’t. It sat…wrong with him, acting like an otherworldly divine figure only spending real time with the other immortals. Scylla was right however, it hit less trying to remain on another level but he still couldn’t help getting somewhat close with them. 

Hopefully having the next Helene iteration being a creepy little girl who sees people die will help him become even more detached from humanity. He walked through the tents that had only gotten closer and closer together as even more people were born into or arrived at the encampment. More people arrived because of Rumeria and more people angry and ready to fight back. 

The battles had increased in frequency and the outcomes were more often than not ending in their favor. They were making significant advances in pushing back and hopefully soon they could begin a full on war against them. A moving frontline camp instead of a few outposts and their one large, more permanent, encampment. Alois had mentioned hearing a large violent battle with the scent of blood, steel, and stone a few years out. Hopefully the final battle where they hit Rumeria and Remus so hard it sinks beneath the waves. 

He couldn’t remember much about Rumeria or Fontainian history but he did know that Rumeria in his past was below the waves with only a small outcrop of what was once a mountain peeking out from the violent waves. He had gone fishing there while hearing the whale sing for him. He didn’t catch anything special but he could have sworn there was something else joining the whale in its song; mournful and quiet. Perhaps it was Remus’s soul singing out once more. 

He pulled back his tent flap and froze for a second before scoffing and walking in. Focalores sat on one of the chairs while Elynas laid on his bed, feet kicking in the air above him. “Soooo, how do you feel? Feel like smashing someone’s head in?” Focalores joked from the chair that was spun round the wrong way, letting her rest her arms and head on the backrest. He dramatically sighed, pushing Elynas aside and collapsing onto the teal and seafoam blankets. Elynas hissed at being moved before begining to play with the others short strands of hair. He had chopped a bunch off a few weeks prior, sick of having to push hair out of his eyes. 

“It was horrid, he could barely breathe towards the end and kept silently screaming. His mouth would open and face scrunched up but nothing came out. I almost wanted to offer to slip him something to help him pass on.” Ajax set his head to the side to breathe and answer her question. “Maria told her mom she was going to die next.” 

“Sovereigns, what is wrong with that kid.” Elynas grumbled, trying his best to make a braid. Focalores got up from her seat and sat at the end of the bed, knees drawn up to her chest as she smacked the side of Elynas’s tail. 

“You can’t just say that Elynas, that weird little weirdo is one of Ajax’s. You shouldn’t make fun of her.” She smiled wickedly at the other, giggling. 

At that, Ajax rolled over and tried to kick the other two. “She’s nine and has to see people die every time she closes her eyes, be nice. It would be more worrisome if she wasn’t a little messed up. And also what in Celestia do you mean ‘she’s one of mine’.” 

Elynas and Scylla gave each other a look. One of those looks that practically screams ‘look at this idiot, we have to explain another thing to him’. “Well you know how a lot of the people in the camp look up to my brother and I. Sometimes giving gifts or asking for blessings.” Ajax nodded. “Well I suppose you could argue they are our worshippers, they do the same thing for you to a lesser degree. Well, Valentine's line all follow you, do what you tell them to do, and seem to always have food to give you. Ergo, they are yours.” 

“They don’t do that…they just worry about me eating enough, Helene the first did the same thing.” He laid back down, hands behind his head. “Besides, if they actually worshipped me, why don’t they have altars or statues or something like that?” 

“Why do they need an altar when they have the real thing right there? Really how stupid are you? The most ungodly god.” The young drake punctuated his last statement by flipping his dark blue shiny hair over his shoulder in a very Scylla-like manner. Focalores mimicked him with a shit eating grin on her face as she gave Ajax a wink. 

She had gotten it into her mind that he had been some sort of elemental creature and thus was not used to worship or godhood, instead of assuming he was a human because that would be completely ridiculous. How could a human survive falling into the abyss and then the primordial sea and getting sent back in time? It’s preposterous. “You forgot to add the evil bringer of death and destruction part, Valentine would be rolling in their fancy willow coffin.” 

Focalores rolled her eyes. “So specific, how do you know that they were buried in a willow coffin? Why not pine or any other wood. Maybe they were cremated.” 

Ajax just grinned. He may or may not have listened to a certain lying backstabbing funeral consultant talk for hours about wood choice in burials. And not only for modern burials but ancient burials. Willow was lightweight and often used in furniture and was abundant enough that it could be used for burials, but it was also nice enough that a random but still respected seer could be buried in it. And cremation was something Valentine personally didn’t want. They couldn’t stand the smell of burning flesh, animal or human, after discovering Adielle. Guessing some more he could probably get a basic idea of other aspects of their funeral as well. 

“I don’t know, maybe being around seers has rubbed off on me.” Ajax joked before sobering up with the realization that another one of his seers had just died not even an hour earlier. He covered his face with his hands and quietly screamed behind them. “Oh Tsaritsa Alois is dead.” The starry hands on his face were carefully peeled back by dark blue claws, Elynas looking down on the other with a sad expression. 

“Are you okay?” 

Ajax forced himself to smile a little, the corners of his mouth only moving upwards a little before falling back down. “Not really, I don’t feel as sad as I did when Valentine and Helene 2.0 died but…it still kinda hurts.” Elynas nodded slowly in agreement. 

“Apologies for your loss, we probably didn’t handle checking in on you very well. We should have been more considerate.” Focalores amicably said, a remorseful look in her mismatched teardrop eyes. “We did actually come here with a purpose.” Elynas sat up even more nodding frantically. 

“Scylla wants to have a meeting as soon as possible. A scout just came back with reports from the outpost to the west. Apparently some of Rumeria’s forces were seen traveling north west, almost like-”

“They are trying to sneak behind us to launch an unexpected attack from the north.” Ajax finished for him, sitting up and swinging his feet off the bed. “We should get a move on then, there will be time to mourn later.” All three of them made their way out of the tent, walking briskly towards the newly expanded purple war tent. Nothing screams ‘let's plan a war’ like soft lavender. 

Scylla stood over the table like he normally did, tail whipping around and a cloudy expression that matched the sky above. The newest batch of generals and commanders stood around pointing to places and moving little carved figures of their soldiers and the enemies. They had been carved by Ajax about 100 years ago. He looked up at the three coming up to the table and nodded to them. 

“I heard about Aloise, my condolences.” The drake gestured to Ajax who accepted it with a sad smile. “Now let’s begin, our outpost to the west sent a report about a large group of Rumerian golems traveling north but also attempting to be discrete. They were traveling at  night and were doing their best to avoid being seen. Using scouts, moving through harder to be seen terrain, using lesser known paths…they are likely trying to sneak up behind our main camp here by accessing one of the northern passes that lead into our encampment.” 

The entire group stood around silent, grim looks upon their faces as they came to terms with what that could mean. Even though much of the encampment was full of soldiers or retired soldiers, there was still a large civilian group. If even one golem got past the soldiers, innocents would die and there wouldn’t be any more illusion of safety. They had to take out the enemy platoons. 

“We’ll need to send a few squads or so to the western outpost, not too many that the main camp is exposed but enough that we can support the outposts soldiers. Do we know how many golems there are?” Ajax came closer to the table, resting his hands upon it. There were five soldier figures around the western outpost, much less than the number at the southern, twelve, and eastern, nine, outposts. Each little carved soldier represented around 50 men, a whole platoon. 

One of the other people around the table spoke up, “There were around seventy-five to one hundred, maybe even slightly more than that.” The person was wearing lighter clothing and looked bone tired. She was likely the scout who ran to inform them of the squad. 

“We should send three  extra platoons to intercept them while the western outpost sends three of their platoons. Attack them from both sides.” Elynas scooted two figurines from the center camp to in front of a larger imposing wooden figure. It was carved in the shape of a Rumerian golems helmet. “It would also allow us to leave enough troops behind so if it is a trap we aren’t completely left unprotected.”

“Yes but possibly over a hundred golems? I doubt that even six, very well trained mind you, squads would be able to take them down without significant casualties.” Focalores argued.

Elynas furrowed his brow as everyone else muttered to each other and themselves. “But we can’t risk sending too many out when this could be a trap.” He retorted. 

“I agree with both of you, which is why I believe that Ajax and I should go with them.” Scylla announced much to the shock of everyone, including Ajax. “Elynas, you and Focalores will stay here and hold down the fort. If it is a trap, then both me and Ajax going there increases the chances of it ending in our favor with less casualties.” 

The former harbinger rubbed his chin, it made perfect sense but he still didn’t like the idea of leaving the camp without one of them staying there. When he voiced such opinions again Scylla just smiled. “I can understand that but have you not been training Elynas?” Well shit. “I don’t doubt the skill you have imparted upon him and I am certain that between him and the soldiers, even the regular citizens, would be able to hold off any surprise force until one of us can get back.” 

Elynas’s chest puffed up with pride at the compliment. “Yes, we will be fine keeping watch here.” He looked over at Ajax, his tail circling around the other's ankle loosely in a comforting manner. “The longer we spend debating this the closer they get.”

Ajax sighed, he knew that the sooner they left the less chance they had of being caught unprepared. Elynas had indeed been a good student and had been making leaps and bounds. He favored a thin rapier-like blade that he could keep inside his cane and pull out if needed. Terribly overdramatic; but Ajax had acquiesced to making him a cane/scabbard out of a lovely piece of hickory. He had no doubt that if Remuria was planning on faking one attack and then launching a bigger one on the actual camp that Elynas would protect the camp very well. Between him and Focalores analytical minds, they would be a force to be reckoned with. 

“Yeah you’re right.” Ajax gave Elynas a reassuring pat on the back before looking back to Scylla. “We should take platoons Fortune, Chene, and Heron. They should all be getting ready anyway to begin training soon so they should be able to mobilize the fastest.” 

No one disagreed and two generals, Fiona and Herbert, left to go inform and prepare the troops to move out. The remaining people began to hash out some more back up plans and that sending scouts to inform the other outposts immediately would be paramount to resisting any other attacks. A few more squads were also chosen to be on guard in the main camp and ready to be deployed if needed. Once everything had been decided, Ajax and Scylla left to get ready to move out. 

Ajax quickly returned to his tent, grabbing a silver embroidered red cloak and a pair of lightweight bracers. He preferred to remain fast and mobile, not wanting to get bogged down with the extra weight. Even when he was in a fight that required a little bit of extra toughness, he just transformed into Foul Legacy. He still wore the bracers though due to them being a present from Focalores, to better protect himself before immediately turning to using his abyssal powers. They were a darker red, almost black with a silver inlay that matched his cloak. He slipped a small dagger into his right boot and grabbed his unstrung bow leaning against the table. It was made of a heavy strong wood, what type of wood was unknown to him, Scylla hadn’t been willing to tell him when he was given the light gray bow. 

The last thing Ajax did was check the metal chain around his neck, making sure that the opal that Helene had given to him lifetimes ago was still hanging there. It glimmered up at him the dim lighting, slightly smaller than when it had been gifted due to being worn down by his hands touching it. He carefully set it back into place, letting his left hand reach up to ear where his earring, the last physical item that proved that he was not of this time, still hung before leaving the tent. 

He reached the southern exit of the camp, it being a faster trip to the western outpost than through the north which was a complicated maze of narrow valleys and steep drop offs. The three platoons were already outside of the gate, being organized and drilled on the plan. Scylla stood off to the side dressed in glimmering armor that reflected light in a silverish rainbow. The breastplate looked like it was all one piece but it was actually created from multiple layers of Scylla’s shed scales. His scales were stronger than much of the armor that these people had while also looking intimidating. And according to Scylla, it was very fancy and pretty so he had to wear it over any of those other drab leather and metal armor. 

“Herbert is finishing up his inspiring speech to the troops while Fiona is still getting the supply carts ready to go. We should be ready to move out in a few hours.” He was picking at a loose strand of his shirt, his brow furrowed and face overcast. As always, the sky was also overcast. As the days wore on and Rumeria overreached more and more, the sun shone less and less due to two damned moody dragons. 

“Alright…are you certain that leaving Elynas and Focelores is a good idea? I know that both of them are more than capable but I just-”

“Want to make sure they are okay.” Scylla finished the other’s sentence, a knowing look in his eyes. “I seem to recall a few years ago you telling me not to be too overprotective and to let him be more independent. Well I am and you need to as well.” His clawed hand rested gently on Ajax’s shoulder. 

Ajax sighed, pushing the other’s hand away. “Yeah, yeah I know. It’s just harder to say give him space and let him have responsibilities than to actually let him do it…I just don’t want him to get hurt.” 

“Neither do I but what can I do to stop him from growing up, from wanting to do more and be more than the little hatchling hidden away doing nothing but painting all day.” Scylla looked over at the growing crowd of soldiers. “It seems that Fiona is having them all move double time. We will likely be able to move out in less than an hour.” The ginger nodded in agreement and walked away from Scylla and towards the horses, it had been a while since he rode but hopefully it was like riding a bike. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The golem army was a little more than hundred or so, it was more like 200. A string of Schneznayan cruses never yet uttered in this world flew from his mouth as he flung himself off his horse and towards the edge of the hill. “Did that scout have eye problems?” He asked over his shoulder towards Scylla. Scylla’s own horse was anxiously pawing at the ground, clearly not enjoying having a dragon sitting on its back. The dragon thankfully feared it of the torture by getting off as well. The two of them had ridden ahead of the group to see how far they had traveled and, if need be, start an attack to keep them from progressing. 

“Looks like it was good that we both came along huh.” Scylla elbowed him in the side. The golems all marched at a slow but steady pace. They looked like a normal group of golem except for the carts they were pulling. Each cart was covered in a burlap, a very large piece of burlap. There were six golems pulling each cart, each golem having the strength of about ten normal men. “What do you think is on those carts?”

“I don’t know but I don’t like it one bit. How long until the army catches up with us do you think?”

“Maybe a day or two at most. Due to the danger of them advancing too far I think Fiona and Herbert will make the platoons move.” Scylla sat down, getting comfortable on the ground. “Well we have a pretty good vantage point here, might as well sit down as we wait.” He patted the ground next to him with a nonchalant attitude that seemed out of place before a battle. Ajax didn’t question it however, getting too worked up would only make the time pass even slower before the troops arrived. 

“If they seem to be moving faster than normal or the others don’t arrive in time we should strike early.” Ajax muttered, sitting down next to the other without ever taking his eyes off the moving golems. Scylla gave a hum of agreement and the two of them slipped into a tense silence as the dawn of battle drew closer and closer. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dust flew around Ajax as he dodged a large sword swinging down into the ground where he had previously stood. Other soldiers ran and yelled around him as the scent of blood, dust, and freshly torn up earth filled the air. Golems tore apart soldiers before getting chipped into little pieces. The shimmering water-like substance that kept them together seeping into the ground as their stone exterior fell to the ground empty, devoid of life. 

Between the stone remains of the golems laid the mangled and smashed bodies of the humans who fought against them. Already Ajax had run past a few whose faces looked familiar. But now was not the time for that. He could hear roars from Scylla to his left as the drake, still in a human form, swinging his water summoned claymore around himself and into the golems. While he claimed to not enjoy fighting, when faced with many stone giants, he seemed to enjoy himself quite a bit. 

The battle appeared to be moving in their favor, the noise of stone grinding together had lessened as the day wore on. But so had the noise of the men and women fighting, corpses littering the ground along with crushed rock. Ajax ignored all, sending an arrow of hydro right through the center of the a golem. It shuddered for a moment, the different stone parts moving still before falling down. He quickly stabbed the center one more time to make sure it was down fro good before surveying his surroundings. 

The golems seemed to have been taken off guard in their attack, taking a bit before attacking back in a more orderly fashion. Despite them trying to fight back they were maintaining the upper hand, pushing forward closer and closer to the strange covered wagons. Ajax personally thought that there could be explosive items in there, perhaps to send an avalanche of rocks down into their camp. 

A stone sword swung down with pyro setting it ablaze right next to his head. Ajax had dodged just in time as the stone centaur pulled it back up with a grumble of stone. Hydro from his swords swirled before reforming into a broadsword, bringing it up to block the sword coming down once more. Using more strength than he expected, he pushed it back before jumping back himself. The heavy wooden bow found a place in his hands as he aimed a barrage of hydro at the centaur. It galloped around, jumping to avoid the arrows that flew to where its center was. It raised its shield as the heretic ran forward with his swords once more summoned. 

Using the raised shield as a springboard, he jumped up in the air, blade changing to a spear. He sent force a strong blast of hydro, causing the centaur to falter and fall to its knees. The spear went right into its glowing center, the stone centaur doing its death twitches before falling to pieces like its brethren. Ajax pushed his bangs out of his face, dust clinging to his hands as he caught his breath. Those centaurs used to give him a bit of a challenge outside of foul legacy but now he knew what made them tick and how to make them break. 

Before he could fully recover the ground began to rumble and shift. The small stones that used to be golems bounced as it shook. Ajax turned around to see what was happening when a heavy body slammed into his sending him to the ground. A wave of dust, geo, and pyro filled the air around the two, Scylla taking most of the attack. Their soldiers around them screamed as flames burnt their skin and geo impaled itself in their flesh. Ajax pushed Scylla up to see what had just created the wave. His eyes widened in shock at what he saw. 

The wagons were now empty with what had been on it now connected and moving. It was a giant dragon made of stone, twisting through the air neary close to the ground making strange rumbling growls. “Shit, looks like Remus got inspired by Natlan.” Scylla stood up, grabbing Ajax’s arm and running towards an outcropping of stone. “GET TO SHELTER NOW!” He yelled to the soldiers they passed, the men and women immediately following his orders. 

“That thing is from Natlan?!” 

“Not quite, it certainly seems inspired but it’s not a one to one recreation of the stone dragons they have there.” Scylla bit his claw nervously as another wave went off while the sound of stone grinding together filled the air. “But this is good for you.” Ajax gave him a confused look. “You wanted to fight Morax, this can be a practice round for your little obsession.” 

Ajax’s face turned red in embarrassment. “I am not obsessed. I just think fighting him would be-”

“A good test of your skills and to see how strong you’ve gotten blah, blah, blah, whatever.” Another loud noise as the dragon shot forward and attacked a group of soldiers. Its stone jaw crushing their bones and screaming in half. “You should probably do something about it soon though, it’s tearing through everyone. You’re the only one who can probably defeat it. Everyone else would get crushed.” Scylla said concerned, his face screwed up in disgust and sadness. 

Ajax nodded in agreement before pausing and slowly looking over at Scylla. He blankly stared at the other for a few seconds. “Scylla?”

“Yes.” 

“You are a dragon, right?”

“Yeah obviously, why?” 

“So you can turn into a giant dragon, correct.”

“Again, yes I can but I don't see why that matt- oh.” The ginger just shook his head and walked away from the outcrop, letting the abyss cover him until he became Foul Legacy. 

The dragon had turned to the abyssal energy, a metallic hissing coming from its mouth before a burst of pyro shot forth. He darted away in a flash of stars before hydro an abyssal energy collected into a bow and he sent a few shots forwards as he darted around to avoid the geo blasts being sent his way. The shots he sent to the stone parts didn’t appear to do much but the one that was aimed for the blueish energy keeping the pieces together was deflected by the dragon moving. Similarly to the golems it’s weakness was the joints. 

This angered the dragon that was looking right at him, its eyes a glowing orange on top of the blue soul stuff. It let out its roar of grinding stone before shooting forward. Foul legacy also ran towards it, swords back out and ready to sink itself in the weak spots. Before the dragon snapped it’s jaws closed, he teleported bove it’s head as a white and blue blur slammed into the golem dragon, sending it slamming into the earth. 

Scylla’s dragon form was similar to Elynas’s but much stronger looking, his tail being closer to that of a whale than a thin snake. His horns glowed with hydro as he brought down a claw covered in hydro on the back of the other's head. The stone dragon shrugged it off a little as its own claws shot forward to swipe at the real dragon. 

FOul Legacy floated in the air observing the fight, looking for an entrance when movement to his right tore his attention away from the rbaling dragons. “ Fuck.” There was a second dragon rising from the overturned wagons. It was smaller than the first but it was beginning to move in a circle, the same movement the other did before it unleashed its geo and pyro wave attack. A few of their soldiers were back on the outskirts of the field fighting the golems that remained, they would likely be wiped out if it unleashed the attack. 

He aimed a shot for one of the weak spots, hitting the dragon and breaking its build up for the attack. It glared up at the heretic before opening its jaws and sending out a beam of pyro. Dodging it was somewhat difficult as the false god darted through the air trying to get closer to the dragon that was doing a rather good job at keeping him away. It lasted for long as the dragon had to close its mouth and recharge, giving the other a chance to push ever closer. 

He sent forth his whale of hydro to crash down on top of the drake and hopefully do some major damage. It tried to escape from under the bright blue whale, glittering in the sunlight as it came crashing down, covering the ground around in a few inches of water even after it receded. The giant golem kicked up mud as it pushed itself up right again. It’s dead glowing eyes locking with the one in the center of Foul Legacy’s mask. A gurgling hiss rose up as geo shards manifested in the air around it, sharpening into tiny points before shooting forward. 

Foul Legacy dodged most of them, hitting the rest back with its claymor, as the foul beast teleported right in front of the dragon. The hydro and abyssal weapon sank easily into the golem soft spot, earning a pained rumble before the dragon moved out of the way with a violent thrashing. More earth got torn up as its tail hit the abyssal creature and sent it towards the ground. Foul Legacy hit the ground with a thud, pulling itself up to dodge more of the drake's flailing body and slashing talons as it attempted to hit the other with anything else. The behavior of an animal that had been cornered and knew there was no easy way out alive or unharmed. 

Before the abyssal heretic could attack again, the sound of a rich war horn filled the air. The human soldiers and golems both looked over a hills crest to the west as a line of people on horse appeared. The person in the center of the group on a dappled gray horse raised their sword in the air before pointing it towards the battle and charging. Foul Legacy braced itself to get ready to fight on two fronts when the horse riders, human horse riders, began to circle and attack the golems instead of its soldiers. 

The golem dragon seemed to realize this, attempting to raise once more into the air to possibly either escape or unleash an attack on the newcomers. Foul Legacy let loose a roar before it attacked again, this time using hydro to form a spiked rope to wrap around its joints. The dragon thrashed and roared even more, sending rocks into the crowds of soldiers around them. It strained against the ropes as it attempted to escape, Foul Legacy refused to let its prey go, holding onto the rope and refusing to let it slip from his fingers. 

As it tried to pull the creature closer so that it could end it, the person on the dapple gray drew closer. “Hold it still, I'll end it!” they said, jumping from the horse and onto the back of the moving golem. Foul Legacy grumbled about not killing it but summoned more hydro tendrils to curl around and hold it still so the little mortal could safely climb to its head and kill it. The mortal drew their sword, shimmering with a power that made Foul Legacy salivate, something strong that it could devour. They pulled their sword back before thrusting it into the small circle in the center of its head, likely the center of where it drew its power. 

The dragon made more grinding noises as it attempted to throw off the human, but Foul Legacy held steady, pulling the ropes taught and feet digging into the ground refusing to budge. The human stabbed the center of its soul again and again until the light in between the segments puttered out and the carefully crafted stone drake fully fell into the sodden, torn up earth never to move again. 

Foul Legacy called back the abyssal hydro ropes as it too was called back by Ajax. One final chittering hiss escaped it before the ginger was left standing on his own two feet. The noise from the fighting around had begun to quiet as the new soldiers helped make quick work of the remaining golems. He turned to see how Scylla was doing only to find the giant dragon rolling around one of pieces of what once was the stone dragon. Unlike Ajax and his new friend with a cool sword, it appeared that Scylla used the classic method called smash your enemy into the ground until it stops moving. 

Ajax snapped out of watching the dragon with morbid curiosity by the sword person walking up to him. They took off their helmet revealing a shock of bright red hair. Not his own carrot orange but bright as a poppy red hair. “Thanks for the extra help.” He said holding out a hand to the woman. She took and gave it a firm shake. “I’m Ajax, god of deep waters, and you?”

“Giselle, leader of my people the Cheval. We come from an island to the west but it and our own god was destroyed by Boethisus and his golems.” She let go and looked over at Scylla who was now carefully looking over his scales. “I had heard that there was a group of people against Rumeria in this area following the last great hydro dragon and came to offer our support. I had no idea that it would be needed so soon.”

Ajax chuckled and whistled to catch Scylla’s attention. The dragon turned to him with his snout wrinkled before turning back into a more human from and walking over. “You don’t need to whistle, what am I a dog?” He threw some of his hair over his shoulder before turning to face Giselle. “Despite what my idiot friend believes, I can hear things other than a whistle. It brings me great sadness to know that Madame Jument has fallen.” Scylla gave a respectable bow to Giselle before opening his mouth again. “I never liked her much personally, she was an uptight prude.” 

Ajax pursed his lips to try and not either laugh or smack the dragon upside his head. Giselle luckily took it in stride, throwing her head back and laughing. “She really was, wasn’t she? It did make for an enjoyable time however whenever something strange would happen. We never knew how she would respond.” She sighed and looked Scylla up and down before a wolfish grin spread on her face. “Besides, if her dying means I got to meet a beauty like you then I would happily let her fall again.” 

Scylla’s face turned a light blue as he sputtered, pushing some of his hair behind his ear. “Oh, well thank you. I usually look better than this though, the dust and everything dulls my scales a little.” 

“Really? I thought you looked glorious destroying that rock dragon, absolutely stunning.” She leaned closer to the drake. “But if you look amazing after a battle I can hardly fathom your beauty outside of one. When I heard tales of the Great Scylla, they never said he was this beautiful.”

Ajax’s eyes darted between the two, quickly realizing that Scylla seemed to enjoy the praise. As quietly as he could, the heretic stepped away and back towards the soldiers combing through the fallen. He would worry about Scylla and his new admirer later, right now he had to take count of the dead and get the wounded help. 

Chapter Text

“Hey, hey, Ajax wake up. Put the knife away, it's me, Scylla.” Ajax blinked up at the blurry figure of Scylla hunched over his bed, putting his knife back under his pillow and pushing himself up. 

“Scylla, what are you doing here, what time is it?” He rubbed his eyes as they adjusted to the darkness of his tent. Scylla sat on the edge of his bed in his sleeping robe with a concerned and manic look on his face. 

“It’s the middle of night, and I need your help with something right now. It is critical that you help me.”  Scylla pulled himself fully onto Ajax’s bed, his face in that moment looking worn and weary like he had been unable to sleep for days. 

The ginger shook his head to get the rest of sleep’s heavy hands off his mind. “What- what is it, is something wrong?” He heard Scylla sound concerned and upset many times but never before had he been in such a state. Confused and yet with a heavy sense of mourning hanging over their heads. 

“Well yes, something terrible has happened. One of the worst things in the world, world ending even-no don’t get out of bed. No one is attacking and everyone is okay.” Scylla quickly pushed Ajax back down after he attempted to jump out of his bed. 

Ajax, now fully alert and sitting up, looked at the dragon with more confusion than before. If it was the end of the world then he was acting rather laissez faire about it. “But you said it was the end of the wor-”

“End of the world for me.” Scylla had covered the others mouth with his clawed hand. “Possibly the death of me, forever and ever. And do try to be somewhat quiet, I don’t want you waking the entire encampment.” Scylla slowly removed his hand watching the ginger’s contorted face for any sign of him starting to panic. 

“Are you sick?”

Scylla laughed, completely ignoring the warning he just issued to be quiet. “Oh sovereigns no, that would be horrid wouldn’t it? Or well…maybe I am sick in a way.” He pondered the answer for a moment. “I am horrendously sick in love.”

Ajax slowly blinked. “With Giselle?”

“Yes obviously with Giselle.” Scylla flopped backwards on the bed with a great sigh. “When I first saw her I thought she was bold, beautiful, and amazing. I really liked her and then BAM I realized I am in love with her. So, so, so in love with her I just- Oh Sovereigns I don’t know what to do Ajax. I really don’t know what to do.” 

He looked at the other with a lost look in his slitted lavender eyes filled with pure concern. Ajax didn’t know what to say in response to that. Scylla was apparently in love with the woman who he had been…involved with for the past few years. The only reason he could be freaking out was if she didn’t feel the same for him. Ajax said this aloud but was only met with a scoff and a hand waving lazily in the air. “Oh no, she certainly loves me as well. I fear she would never say it to me until I do first, likely since she is worried about being hurt.”

“But if you love her, and she loves you then…sorry I just don’t see what the issue is.” He rested his head on his hand, rubbing at the building headache under his horns. 

“It’s not just that I love her, it’s that she is my soulmate, my other half. I never thought I would find mine but I did.” He whispered the last part, dripping with pain and agony. “She’s my soulmate and everything is going to end because of it.”

“Wha-what? Scylla what are you talking about? So you’re soulmates, that’s great. What is with you acting like it’s the end or-or that you are going to die.”

Scylla raised his eyebrows in shock before a look of realization hit him. “Oh my, I keep forgetting that you know absolutely nothing. Forgive me, you probably are very confused and not just pretending to be an idiot.” 

“Hey.”

“So, as you know, dragons are immortal or at least have the capacity to be immortal. And it’s not just dragons, it's pretty much any immortal, but since we live such long lives eventually you find that one person that fully completes you and it’s most times romantic but it can be platonic of course. But when you meet your soulmate, the more time you spend with them the closer your bond grows and that’s great. It sounds great doesn’t it?”

“Yes?”

“Yes it does, but there is a hidden bad side to it. The bad side is that by getting so close to someone else, when they die, when your soulmate dies, a part of you also dies. And this either leads to you being completely depressed, going insane, dying, or all three in that order more or less!” He pulled his legs up onto the bed, hugging them close to his chest. “My own father died soon after my mother because he couldn’t stand to be without her. And that’s considered an okay turn out. Do you know why? Because one of the other options which is going insane could lead to you hurting others you care about or destroying a section of the world.”

Ajax’s mouth dropped open. “Really?”

Scylla looked over at him a little disgusted. “Stop looking so excited for death and pain, and I wouldn’t actually be able to do a horrible amount of world damage if I did go crazy. But the former geo sovereign who is Morax’s, your favorite obsession, mother went completely bonkers  after her soulmate died. She likely would have destroyed a good portion of Teyvat if he hadn’t killed her. Really only succeeded because somewhere deep inside her fractured mind she knew she didn;t want to hurt her and her soulmate’s son-”

“He killed a sovereign! His mom!”

“A sovereign that didn’t really want to kill him and stop focusing on that part, focus on the ‘she went insane because her wife died’ part. That could happen to me if I keep this relationship with Giselle.” Scylla whispered the last part, his tail curling around his legs. “I don’t want to lose myself for someone who will only live an extra seventy years at most when my little brother still needs me.” 

He looked over with a broken look on his face at Ajax who didn’t know what to say. “I don’t know why you are even coming to me with these questions. I don’t know jackshit about love…well maybe in the platonic family sense but not romantically. I’ve never been in love before, what do I know?”

Scylla scuffed and brushed a loose strand of hair from his face. “Obviously you aren’t, Monseigneur I-want-to-fight-everything-and-everyone. You wouldn’t notice someone hitting on you if they grabbed you by the shoulders and kissed you.” Ajax punched the other’s side. “But I came to you because you are the most mortal immortal I know. If anyone has any viable opinion on this it’s the immortal with mortal-like opinions and views on life.” 

His mouth opened and closed a few times, trying to refute it but what could he say. That he used to be mortal? Focalores already knew he wasn’t of this time, he didn’t need anyone else knowing he was also a fake immortal. But was he really fake anymore… ‘Nevermind that, I can worry about my own abundant issues later.’  The mortal-immortal sighed once more, struggling to find what to say. “Okay…so, you love her-”

“Without a doubt.”

“-since you certainly love her and you also love your brother, it seems cruel to make you choose. Please don’t interrupt me again, I know you would choose Elynas.” His hand shot up to cover the already ready to interrupt dragon’s mouth. “But since you know she will eventually die, you can mentally prepare yourself for her death, talk to her about it and prepare for it. I don’t think you would lose control of yourself or let yourself fade away, I believe your dedication to not only Elynas but the people of Fon- the encampment would help you push through.” 

Scylla leaned back some more, his eyes searching the younger’s dead ones for something. And seemingly he found it as he closed them and nodded. “I suppose you are right, I focused so much on the negative endings that I dismissed all the other dragons and immortals who kept their minds and their lives”

“Yeah and you only have one life, you don’t want to spend the rest of your long immortal life regretting and wondering what could have happened.” 

“How human of you.” Scylla replied back with a snarky undertone. “This is why I came to you. You always know everything even though you don;t know anything.” This earned him a well swung pillow hit that was mostly blocked by the drake’s two pairs of horns. “Thank you for your help, I must go inform her of my decision.” 

“Wait did you already tell her that you were soulma-” Ajax couldn’t even finish as the other basically skipped out of the tent and into the dark of the early morning. The reminder of how early it was hit Ajax in the gut. While he didn’t need as much sleep as he had a couple hundred years ago as a mortal he still enjoyed the act of sleeping and not needing to think. With nothing else needing his attention or anyone else running into his tent to complain about their love life, the ginger fell back on his pillows and let himself fade back into the sweet darkness. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The days grew longer, the shadows of the mountains straining long over the encampment. The sun would soon be unable to shine down on the people inside, to warm their bones and skin in its warm light while cold winds blew sharply from the ice capped peaks above. Snow would fall from them soon, the crisp promise hung to the tips of Ajax’s nose and ears, a quite anticipation for what it would bring. 

The first snowfall of winter still brought joy to his corrupted heart, some part of him still the tiny child in morepesok who would run out bundled in too many coats to catch snowflakes on his tongue. His mother yelling after him and his older siblings to not stay out too long and be back in time for dinner. While the memory of her calling out remained, the sound of it had faded. 

Ajax would spend time sitting on the rock outside the camp he often sat at surrounded by the vishaps and try to remember everything he could. Little things from his past had become cloudy in his memory despite his best efforts. His mother’s exact voice was one of them but he could remember her eyes and face, similar to his own when he looked in water. His father’s however had blurred and smeared, all he could fully remember was his intense eyes and beard that covered a strong jaw. His older siblings had also become blurred in his memory, but too be fair he rarely saw them back then so it didn’t worry him as much as the possibility of losing his younger siblings. 

When he first noticed his memory failing, the former harbinger would begin his mornings by repeating their names to himself. Over and over again he would repeat them along with their favorite things. 

Tonia Yakovlevna Sokolovna, he was her knight and she enjoyed putting pretty colored ribbons in her hair and fishing almost as much as he did. The last thing he sent her was a box of ribbons he bought from a boutique in Fontaine whose name he had forgotten, only that it was run by a stern looking Inazuman woman. He hadn’t been able to write to her and her last letter still sat on his desk waiting for his reply. A reply that would never come. 

Anton Yakovlevich Sokolov, he was much more of a bookworm than Ajax or any of his other brothers were. He had been making his way through a light novel series Ajax had gotten from Inazuma and had a small collection of stones he had collected from the river bank behind their house in the woods. The last time Ajax had seen him, Anton had requested a few books from Fontaine from their research institute. Books that sat next to Tonia’s unanswered letter, ready to be sent back home. 

Tuecer Yakovlevich Sokolov, his littlest brother who was nothing but light and joy in his eyes. Obsessed with ruin guards and possessing a surprising ability to get into danger and miraculously walk out completely ignorant to the danger. He had told Ajax that if he didn’t come home soon he would ship himself to Fontaine with Tonia’s letter to see him again. Perhaps he had done that when they didn’t hear back from him. Perhaps he was wandering the lonely yet crowded streets of the court calling out for a brother who would never be able to answer. 

He was pulled from his musings by a large scaled head putting against his arm. A large electro vishap gave him a concerned rumble, asking what was wrong. It had taken the ginger a little while to warm up to them, and them in turn, but after so long and Ajax’s frequent visits to the small field, they formed a small bond. 

“Just thinking a little too much. I should really leave that for smart people instead huh?” He forced himself to laugh, coming out hollow. The vishap snorted, possibly aware of the fakeness, before laying back down with one eye still opened and watching the heretic. Ajax sighed, leaning back and looking at the sky above him. 

Indeed, it sucked forgetting things. He hadn’t thought much of it before he realized that he had forgotten, too busy trying to find his place in this strange yet familiar world to realize it had slipped away like water through an open palm. The one thing he wished he could forget hadn’t budged however, his time in the abyss. Despite it being so long ago, nightmares still rattled their way through him, scaring Elynas and Focalores whenever they all ended up having a “slumber party”. They used to ask what had happened but he brushed them off so many times they finally got the hint. Instead of asking, they would sit or lay next to him providing comfort through their presence. They never touched him soon after it, Ajax still on edge to accept any contact as anything but harmful. 

Even outside of the abyss, it seemed that many of his bad memories clung to him like tar. The time his father left him at the Fatui camp, fear in his eyes as he turned from his son turned into a monster. The first time he had a “check-up” with Dottore. His mother crying as watched him and his older brothers get into a violent screaming match soon after he became a harbinger. Zhongli holding the gnosis in his gloved hand, refusing to look Ajax in the eyes. Tuecer standing in front of a bunch of activating ruin guards. Realizing that he was back in time with no way to get home. The burning of Adielle… All bad things that shone with unparalleled clarity. 

But even in them, some happy memories still floated to the top. Learning to ice fish with his father and cook with his mother. Their guiding hands were warm, calloused, and filled with love. Being surrounded by his little siblings when he came back, they all sat on the floor near the fireplace as they listened to his stories and adventures (all child friendly of course).Walking with Zhongli along the beach as the archon droned on with stories of the land with such knowledge Ajax should have seen it sooner. Pulcinella clapping him on the back in congratulations for making harbinger. Being able to go all out in sparing sessions with the traveler. Happy memories that he cherished close to his heart.

The sound of someone walking towards him snapped him from his reminiscing. He turned with a small smile that fell as an angry Elynas stomped his way up to the rock. His cane held in a vice grip as it hit the ground so hard Ajax feared it would snap. The drake plopped down on the rock next to Ajax, his tail swiahing side to side like an angry cat. 

“I hate her.” Straight to the point. A dark cloud further hid the sun, following the pissed off Elynas. 

“Well hello to you as well, and who has earned your scornful ire today? Did Focalores accidentally ruin a painting again?” The hydro eidolon had accidently fallen back while laughing a few months ago, accidently sending her hand through a nearly finished landscape. Elynas didn’t talk to her for an entire week. 

Elynas snorted, but he remain stormy looking. “No. You know who I’m talking about, the harlot.” He hissed the last part, his draconic teeth bared. 

Ajax froze for a second, trying to figure out who in the world the harlot could be. Then it hit him. Elynas had been a little off since Scylla and Giselle began to spend even more time together and even stranger after Scylla had apparently professed his undying love for his apparent soulmate. “Giselle? Did she do something?” 

Elynas threw his hands in the air with a cold laugh. “Did she do something? Yes she did, her entire existence is a something. She should go back from where she came from, and take this-this soulmate nonsense as well.” 

Ajax slowly blinked for breaking out into laughter that caused Elynas to turn his glare onto him. “Oh my-hehe-you’re angry because your brother has a girlfriend. Oh I can’t breathe!” He doubled over coughing. “Ahem, that’s really funny Elynas. Now what are you actually upset about.” 

“THAT IS WHAT I’M UPSET ABOUT!” Ajax jumped back as Elynas’s tail smacked the spot he had just been in. “Sovereigns, why is it no one seems to be taking this seriously! She’s nothing more than a run of the mill mortal! And she’s going to die in like a few years and she’s going to take my brother with her!” A rumble sounded in the sky before rain began to fall. “She is nothing more than a stupid insignificant MORTAL!” 

 “Elynas, calm down!” Ajax walked over to the other, setting his hand against the other's shoulders. They were roughly shoved off as Elynas continued angrily stomping around. The vishaps nearby began to stir, hissing and growling along with the dragon. “You’re getting a little too worked up about this. 

“Worked up? WORKED UP! How can I not be worked up! My brother is going to die because of that stupid little futureless mortal! I don’t care if he’s in love, I just care that it’s with her!” 

Ajax stood off to the side, his hands raised unsure of what to do as the Vishaps began to move away from the snarling drake and rain began to fall faster and faster. “You should have more faith in your brother, he will be okay, Elynas.” 

Danger flooded Ajax’s senses, causing him to jump back a few feet. A long slash of hydro tore through the ground near where Ajax had been standing. Elynas was glaring at Ajax, sharp teeth bared and hands looking more scaled. “It isn’t going to be okay. Nothing is going to be okay.” 

Ajax scuffed and threw his hands in the air. “Okay, fine. If you want to be such a horrid little pessimist,” Elynas hissed. “Then you can just keep your bad mood and opinions to yourself. I don’t know what you want me to say.” 

“I want you to agree that my brother is killing himself!” 

“BUT I DON'T AGREE WITH YOU! I swear on the fucking archons themselves, I will smack you if you keep trying to drag everyone else down into your-your little self important anguish spiral!” Abyssal energy crackled in his hand. He forced it and foul legacy to calm down, running a hand through his hair. “If you have such a problem with your older brother then why not tell him yourself instead of taking it out on everyone else.” 

Elynas growled and muttered under his breath. His head popped up with an expression that screamed he was going to say something Ajax wasn’t going to like. “I would prefer it if Scylla was fucking you or focalores instead of that stupid mortal bitch.” 

Ajax made a disgusted sound, his nose wrinkling in disgust. While Scylla was an attractive man, he wasn’t blind, he viewed the narcissist as a friend, archons forbid even family. Even the vague idea of sleeping with him left a sour taste in his mouth. 

“Maybe if he had a pair of tits but certainly not how he is now.” Focalores appeared as if summoned by invoking her name. While her body language was relaxed her heterochromatic eyes flickered between the two tense figures. “Really Elynas, you would have better luck setting your brother up with a frog than either of us. Besides, him and Giselle are cute.” 

Elynas groaned and covered his ears while shaking his head. “Sovereigns, why don't either of you see what I do. Scylla is going to kill himself because of that human and you’re all willing to let that happen!” 

“Elynas-“ 

“Don’t even bother with him,” Ajax scoffed, standing up. “He’s too stubborn and too stupid himself to realize that his brother is beyond the moon happy over Giselle. If you can’t appreciate the joy she brings him then I don’t know what to say or do. Just wallow in your own misery and don’t drag anyone else into it.” He threw is hands in the air and stomped away himself. A Vishap nearby grumbled at Ajax but whimpered and slunk back after he glared at it. 

Why Elynas refused to see reason he didn’t know. Ajax never had to have these talks with his younger siblings before, none of them gave a shit when their older brother got married. True their older brother wasn’t immortal and it was unlikely his life span was linked to his wife but still. He was out of his depth with this. 

Grumbling to himself as he pushed past the guards concerned about the growing storm he didn’t notice the small hand reaching out to grab onto his own clawed one. Ajax nearly flung the little girl before stopping himself as Maria stared right into his soul. 

“When you die….you’ll be happy about it.” She all but whispered in a conspiratorial way. Ajax tugged his hand out of her surprisingly firm hold. Crouching down he gestured for her to come closer. 

“Wow, that's great to know. But I probably won’t die soon cause I’m fucking pissed off. Now why don’t you go run off and be a freaky little shit to someone else.”  He gave her a fake smile before standing back up and walking away, leaving a shocked crowd of people at how easily he cursed at a small child. Well sucks to be them because he didn’t care. He was done with people, seers, dragons, everything and everyone. “Damn teenagers.”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Ajax, Elynas, and Focalores sat on a wooden bench in front of Scylla and Giselle’s tent in varying states of anticipation and fear. Focalors’s knee bounced up and down nonstop while Elynas had pulled his feet on top of the bench with his tail wrapped around himself in a comforting manner. Ajax, meanwhile, played with a small knife from his boot, eyes glancing over periodically to the closed entrance. “It’s been a few hours…do you think everything is okay?” Focalores asked. 

Ajax nervously looked over at Elynas who was likely dissociating while looking at the ground. “I’m sure everything is okay…no one’s run out screaming and yelling for help.” He tried to give the other a reassuring smile but her deadpan look made it clear it wasn’t helping. “Judging from the anguished yelling and impassion threats to Scylla, I would say everything is going as smoothly as birth goes.” 

Ages ago he had been present when Tuecer  had been born, forced by the snowstorm outside that prevented his father from returning with the midwife safely. His mind had blocked most of it out but he remembered his mother chugging firewater and swearing that she would make sure this was the last child. And she definitely did. 

Giselle had been more…violent in her swearing and screaming, likely because she didn’t have the experience of six previous pregnancies and childbirths. They had all been discussing the attack on the capital of Rumeria after years of pushing them back further and further, when Giselle suddenly announced that she was going into labor. Scylla promptly shrieked and began to fret over her and yell frantically for a midwife. Giselle only started her own cursing a few hours in while Scylla had continued to act as if he was the one about to give birth. 

So for the past few hours the other three immortals had parked themselves outside the two's shared tent, waiting for news. Ajax looked over at Elynas, the drake still looking at the ground with concern in his eyes. While he had remained somewhat hostile to Giselle, he had softened a little when her and Scylla announced they were expecting. He still refused to acknowledge her as his brother's soulmate but he no longer left the camp to yell about how much he hated her. Progress. 

“Hey,” the ginger softly poked his side until he looked up from his spot. “It’ll be okay.” 

Elynas scrunched up his nose. “I’m not worried.” He snapped back, too fast to actually be true. “I’m just….hoping it all goes well.” Focalores snorted at his shitty reasoning and got a sharp elbow to her side in turn. But before she could complain a loud cry came from the tent followed by a length of silence that felt too unnatural to be anything good. The three of them sat at the edge of the bench, heads inclined towards the door, listening for anything. 

“What the fuck is that! What just came out of me!” Giselle's voice cracked as Ajax, completely throwing decorum to the wind, got up and rushed inside. Elynas and Focalores hot on his heels. The sight that greeted them when they entered was not one they were fully expecting. 

Giselle was, thankfully, fully covered with a blanket staring at a blueish white slightly oblong circle in Scylla’s claws. It was the size of an adult's head and glowed softly in the dimmer lighting. “It’s our egg Giselle.” Scylla said, looking at the orb as if it was the best thing in the world. “Aren’t they beautiful?” 

Giselle, sweaty and looking like she was only barely clinging to her sanity began to cackle like a maniac. “I just laid an egg like a chicken! Ahahaha, I was expecting a baby with arms and legs and-and little horns and a tail. I just laid a gods damned egg.” She covered her face with her hand as she further lost her mind as Scylla looked at her with shock. 

“What do you mean arms and legs? Do humans come out without a shell? I thought they hatched soon after birth and that’s why you never see human eggs.” 

“Oh Tsaritsa help us. Did the two of you never once discuss how you expected the baby to come out? What were you two doing?” Ajax gestured between the two trying to figure out how these two idiots even got this far. 

Scylla and Giselle looked at each other with Giselle cackling once more and Scylla turning a violent shade of blue. “Th-that’s not important. Little eggy is here now, that’s what matters in the end.” 

“I'm surprised little eggy doesn’t have a sibling on the way.” Focalores muttered quietly, looking Scylla up and down. Ajax gave her a weird look, concerned that perhaps she didn’t understand that humans could only have one pregnancy at a time. Immortals were so dumb sometimes. 

“Hot stuff, hand me the egg I just laid. I want to see what I created.” Giselle made grabby hands at Scylla who slowly and carefully passed her the egg. She gasped and pulled it closer to herself as the other three unconsciously got closer to see it. “Oh it’s heavier and softer than I thought.” 

Her hand gently rubbed the side of it. “It will harden after a few days, or it should. I don’t know if them being half human will change that as well. Usually eggs aren’t laid for over a year after conception.” Scylla whispered, sitting on the edge of the bed next to his soulmate. He carefully wrapped an arm around her, gazing down lovingly at her and their child…egg. 

Elynas cautiously scooted forward, craning his head to look closer at the egg. Its shell was a pale blue, almost white, with almost wave-like blue patterns all around it. Giselle glanced up at Elynas, something in her eyes sharp as if she knew how the drake disapproved of her despite him then out loud saying it to her. Despite this, she gestured for him to come closed, tilting the egg a little more for him to see. “Don’t be shy, come meet your…I think nephew.” 

“Nephew? I would say it’s a niece.” Elynas muttered, carefully setting his cane against the side of the bed and pulling over a chair to look closer. He seemed enraptured by the egg, simple as it was compared to a baby. “I hope they are a niece.”

“Well whatever they are, I’m sure they’ll be overjoyed to meet their uncle.” Scylla twined his tail with his younger brother's arm, smiling softly at him with love. He then blinked a few times and looked over at the still awkwardly standing Focalores and Ajax. “And aunt and other uncle, get over here you two and say hi to eggy.” 

“I thought you would be more territorial.” The Oceanid said, sitting at the very far end of the end and awkwardly looking at the new mother. “I don’t want to intrude.” 

Giselle sighed, sounding as tired as she looked. “If I had a problem with any of you being here I would have gotten up and dragged you out already.” Ajax chuckled at the idea of the very obviously not physically okay woman trying to drag them out. “You three are Scylla’s family and as such my family. Even if you don’t consider me as one of your own, I would not deprive you of getting to meet…eggy for the first time.”

Elynas frowned looking down at his lap. His ears dropped a bit almost in shame. But before he could look even more pathetic and like a wet cat, Focalores reached over and swatted his side. “Stop pouting and start apologizing.” She not so subtly whispered sharply. Scylla looked at the Elynas confused, he had been so absorbed in Giselle and finding his soulmate that he had somehow missed the one sided hatred between Elynas and Giselle. 

Elynas made a face similarly to a cat trying a lemon, his face screwed up and ears pulled back. “I have nothing to apologize for.” He swatted Focalores back which turned into the two of them trying to smack each other. Ajax attempted to ignore them and be the adult between the three of them, but focalores getting shoved into his side roughly had him reaching over and smacking Elynas’s shoulder which caused the young dragon to yelp and Focalores to burst into laughter. 

“What-what’s going on?” Scylla asked. “Why would Elynas apologize?” His look down at Giselle who played ignorant. 

“Likely some pointless squabble of some sort.” A yawn punctuated the end of her sentence. Her body and face finally losing the adrenaline of discovering your child was actually in an egg. “I hate to cut this sweet moment up but I would like to close my eyes for a bit.” 

Scylla leapt into action, grabbing Focalores and Ajax by the back of their shirts and dragging them to the door. “I’ll see these fools out my dear.” A stupid smile on his face as he beamed at his wife and their egg. Elynas was spared the rough treatment, quietly slipping out of his chair and away from the bed with one last look at the egg. 

The egg stayed silent, unmoving from its position in their mothers arms. Quite and almost austere in its existence when compared to that of a screaming child. An egg that would never hatch in time to see his mothers face or his fathers eyes.

Chapter Text

“So they expect us to just send Scylla right into their midst without any backup to discuss their surrender? That’s the most blatantly obvious trap I’ve ever heard of.” Ajax crossed his arms, glaring down at the message sent by Rumeria. The pale white scroll with delicate swirling letters seemed to taunt him from where it lay on the table. He wanted nothing more than to rip it up and shove it so far down Remus’ throat that he-

“Obviously, I am not an idiot, little fox, it's clearly a trap.” Scylla interrupted his train of thought before it could begin to spiral down much more…unsavory routes. “Our spy has given us similar information about this being a trap although they are unsure of what it details. They were unable to get more information from Boethius without causing suspicion.”

“What are we going to do then? We can’t turn you over” Elynas crossed his arms. His face already screwed up in an angry scowl in preparation for another argument with his brother. While they had somewhat decreased after the…birth? Laying? Of the egg, he had still been rather snippy. Teenagers. 

Everyone made noises of agreement, puzzled over whether to simply ignore it and push ahead with their planned siege or reassess their options. Waiting could prove potentially the smartest choice, allowing them to collect more information either through communicating directly with Rumeria or through one of the spies. Foclaores snapped her fingers drawing everyone’s attention to her, a look of insanity upon her face. “But what if we did.” 

Ajax felt his jaw drop at the suggestion. “Are you crazy, stupid, or both? Because right now I think you just said something absolutely batshit insane. Why don’t you reassess what you just suggested and then maybe think some more.” Focalores simply grinned back in response, her eyes twinkling like it did whenever she had something devious up her sleeve. 

But before she could respond, Scylla raised a clawed blue hand, silencing any potential retorts. “Before everyone begins to jump in and start arguing, I would like you all to listen to me… I think she might be onto something. Even though it sounds insane, Focalores might have a point.” Scylla suggested, beginning to move pieces around the map. Small chunks of undecipherable words muttered under his breath as he did so, pulling even more worried whispers among the humans and the immortals around him. Focalores meanwhile puffed up at the praise, sticking her tongue out at Ajax, his hands curling up into fists to stop from reaching over and smashing her smug fucking face into the table. 

Instead of the Eidolons face, Elynas’s hands snapped down instead. The little figurines shaking where they had been placed. “Onto what, letting you possibly get killed? I’m sorry but I don’t quite fancy happily shipping my only brother off to the butcher with a smile and a skip in my step!” 

Giselle set a callused hand on Elynas’s shoulder. The dragon not even reacting at the touch as he might have done a few years prior. “Yes, I agree with Elynas. I would like to not see my love get murdered by wandering into a trap.” She gave said dragon a nasty glare that screamed ‘we will be having a long talk later’. 

“They wouldn’t kill me, at least not in the center of their capitol. The backlash from my death would completely destroy Capitolium. They wouldn’t risk that.” Scylla carefully began to pick pieces up off the map, settling the little dragon that was him in the center of the Rumerian’s capital. “They want me to be used as a hostage, whether to use in pushing back or to gain an upper hand in negotiations. Or even just to help level the playing field for them in future battles. No…they don’t have death planned for me. It would be tantemount to suicide.” 

Focalores nodded along, grabbing a few pucks that represented a couple platoons. “Exactly, we could use them thinking we were falling for their trap to stage a counter attack.” She placed them around the city near the causeway. 

“But wouldn’t they expect that?” Ajax looked around the table, Elynas and Giselle giving him a betrayed look for even entertaining this idea. It wasn't the best one but it made sense. “We aren’t stupid,” Focalores and Elynas looked at each other. “And they know we aren’t. Rumeria knows we would never send Scylla in there without back up of any kind. You likened them killing you to suicide, well this is them walking into their own pitfall.” 

Scylla snapped his fingers, pointing at Ajax as his other hand grabbed the little fox figurine. “Exactly, their entire attention will be on me and the areas surrounding their city where we could attack. Likely the north and east. They won’t be looking at the south as it would be nearly impossible, no it would be impossible for us to get our forces there without alerting them or taking months to do so.” 

“So what’s your genius plan? Give you up to them and rush into an unwinnable battle? Or do you want us to use ships to send them to attack their southern wall. Which is by far the worst option. Rumerias don’t require food anymore, a siege wouldn’t work and just make our own forces weaker.” Giselle crossed her arms, still not seeing whatever it was Scylla was planning. 

“No, we wouldn’t do that. There’s only one main causeway into the city; we would need to take out their outer wall defenses and make sure the gate is open to come through. We need someone to  make that all happen.” Scylla set the fox down at the southern edge of the city. His eyes flashed with something mischievous as he looked up at Ajax. “We wouldn’t be able to send mortal forces to the southern wall to breach it, but we could send an immortal one. You could teleport to the southern wall before going inside and taking them out.” 

Ajax opened his mouth to say anything but he couldn’t. There was an odd pit in his stomach he couldn’t figure out, a pit that screamed that something about this idea wasn’t good. It made some sense, he would go in and cause an internal distraction while letting their forces in and freeing Scylla. When he said as much, Focalores began to manically move more pieces. 

“Exactly! You should probably let our forces in first and then free Scylla. While you are very accomplished in fighting, the size of their forces might overwhelm you if given enough time to regroup. They know their city and you don’t, you would be running in blind.” 

“Not exactly…” Scylla reached under the table, pulling out a large scroll and unraveling it. Elynas softly gasped as the city plan for Capitolium emerged from the unwinding yellowed parchment. “This is a rather old map so they might have changed a few places but most of it ill be the same.” 

“H-how do you have that!” Giselle pulled it closer to her, sending a few figures clattering onto the ground. “They would have guarded this with their life, how in celestia did your spy get this?” She looked at Scylla who just shrugged, unwilling to add anything to his statement. 

“So…your plan is to get captured, have Ajax sneak inside and open the gates for our forces, and then free you? It seems too simple.” Elynas leaned forward on his cane, analyzing the table. He still obviously didn’t like the plan but was coming around to it. 

“I don’t think it needs anything else, in terms of large moving parts. Sometimes the best plans are the simplest ones.” Focalores poked Elynas’ side. The dragon pushed her away but she just retaliated by smacking his side which got her a growl and barred teeth. She yelped and ran around the table to hide behind Ajax. 

“I know you aren’t very excited for this plan, Elynas, in truth it’s a rather shit one depending on a multitude of factors and assumptions. With me entering the city, their forces will all be armed and ready for an attack. Ajax will likely struggle a bit with getting through them to open the gate.” Scylla walked up to his brother, setting his hands on his shoulders and letting their tails entwine. “But this is the only way to end this war quickly and move on. Our people need to be freed from the fear of becoming a mindless statue and be able to build a city, a home that will last. A home for all of  us.” Scylla looked over at Giselle who in turn looked over at the egg where it sat on a cushion. “But we can’t do that without making a few sacrifices, and this sacrifice is me…for a short time. I will only be gone for a day or so before Ajax gets me out.”

Elynas leaned into his brother's side. “...I’m just worried about something happening, I know they don’t plan to kill you but what if…what if something happens that’s unexpected, what then?” 

“Then it happens, and we all move on and adjust.” Scylla carefully cupped his face before the two of them pressed their foreheads together. “I will never purposefully leave you behind, Elynas. I wouldn’t do that to you.” The whole tent remained silent as the two draconic brothers took a moment to exist in their silence and their bond. Ajax had to look away, unable to deal with the sight of the two siblings without thinking of his own that were now lost to him. 

He had failed them all, but he wouldn’t fail those two, he would make sure that Scylla would come back and Elynas wouldn’t also lose the brother who raised and protected him. After a moment longer, the two let go of one another, Scylla gently squeezing Elynas’ arm once more before clearing his throat. “Well now, since we have seemed to reach an agreement-”

“One I still don’t like.” Giselle muttered. 

“-We should begin to prepare the troops and move everyone into formation. Now I plan on taking a small squadron with me as it will be more realistic and believable if I didn’t show up alone”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The old worn red scarf sat heavy in Ajax’s hands even though it weighed practically nothing. Being careful of his claws, he brushed his fingers over the slightly frayed embroidery that his mother had painstakingly stitched. The red on red made it difficult to see at first but he had all but etched it’s pattern into his mind. While his parents had sent him to the Fatui, they always disapproved of him becoming a Harbinger. Their arguments against it faded and dull, only the base message remained. Our son is a monster and now he works among monsters. You shouldn’t be a harbinger, you aren’t good enough. Why would you do this to our family? It had always hurt him when they said such things. After all, what parent wouldn’t be proud of their child raising to the top in their field? 

A now familiar ache resonated from his chest as he looked down at the last handmade gift his mother had made for him. The words she had said when he had been given it were still solid and tangible in his mind. “I-I do not like what you have become…but that new mask of yours won’t keep your nose from getting cold…not even wearing it right on your face, tch. You were always a difficult child, never bundling up enough to play in the snow.” He could still feel the phantom touch of her warm fingers as they had adjusted the scarf to make it perfect. And it was perfect. His parents were not perfect, they tried to love him but he couldn’t fault them for struggling to love the monster he became.But oh how he missed them.

“Oh Mama…I fear I’ve become more of a monster than you ever knew…” He whispered to the scarf in his native tongue that was slowly becoming more foreign upon his lips as the years went by. Tears threatened to fall as he buried his face in the age worn softness of the dull red wool. 

He stood there just holding for a moment, trying to breath in a scent that no longer clung to it. One that wouldn’t exist or might never exist for millennia. Carefully, he pulled it away from his face and began to wrap it around his neck and shoulders. He tried his best to not wear it and ruin the fabric, but today he needed something familiar. If it all went to hell then he was going to do it wearing something made by Lyudmila Constaninovna Sokolova. Instead of letting it loosely drape loosely, he wrapped it around his neck like his mama showed him so many years ago. 

The opal from Helene was clipped to the end of it. He had made the metal casing for it a few years ago, the missing weight of his vision and delusion wearing him down finally. It wasn’t one but the weight let him lie to himself a little more. As he turned to leave his tent, his eyes caught himself in the little mirror of polished metal. 

His body drifted closer to it, taking a good long look at what he had become. His hair had once more become unruly and long, brushing the top of his shoulders. The horns that poked out from the orange strands had stayed the same size as when he had first arrived. Their bloodred tips gleaming in the low light from the beeswax Elynas and Scylla taught him to use to keep them healthy. Tilting his head up, the thin zig zag lines from where he had attempted to rip his throat out had turned a soft blue, almost invisible unless you really looked. And his eyes were dead…like always. Strange how something that had been a sign of great change was now a familiar constant. 

A broken chuckle broke from his lips, his head shaking back and forth as he finally left his tent. Ajax snatched a long black ribbon from near the door as the flap swung closed behind him. Walking through the war ready camp while he pulled back his hair into a simple ponytail, it was clear that everyone was on edge but a good edge. They had done their best to keep their plan close to their chests, only telling the camp that they were going to try negotiations but still ready themselves for a fight. There were nerves and fear but not an overwhelming fear that caused men's knees to lock and their weapons to grow heavier in their hands. No, it was the adrenalin that kept you alive and pushed you to move on. 

A few people waved and gave him wishes of strength but a majority simply bowed their heads. No matter how many times it happened, he just couldn’t get used to the worship. Within a few minutes he had made his way to Scylla and Giselle’s tent, the dark blue fabric fluttering in a newly arrived cold breeze. Dark clouds hung ominous above a herald to bad tidings. 

Ajax rushed inside, hoping that everything was alright and that the clouds were only there due to Focalores being a little bitch or something else lighthearted. Inside was no Focalores, instead it was Scylla, Giselle, and Elynas. And the egg. The three of them all turned around to look at Ajax with varying expressions. Scylla tried to smile but it looked like a grimace, Giselle had clearly just been sobbing, and Elynas…Elynas was staring at Ajax with heartbroken eyes. “Wh-whats going on? Is something wrong?” 

“Just…just a little nervous and giving me up to Remuria, but its okay. It’s going to turn out okay.” Scylla walked over the Ajax and clapped a hand on his shoulder. Giselle made a choked up broken noise. “In fact, you’ve arrived just in time. I want you to do up my hair for my horrid abduction, I’ve gotta look my best and you my dear little fox are the best at making those complicated hairstyles.” 

Ajax nodded slowly looking over at Elynas trying to ask what was happening with his eyes but Elynas seemed glued to the spot, only able to follow Ajax with his eyes as Scylla dragged him over to the drake’s vanity. “I-sure I can fix your hair.” He looked at Giselle who was now sitting on her and Scylla’s bed, holding eggy and still crying. “Are you sure that everything is fin-”

“Yes. Now get to work.” Scylla growled, eyes and rhinophores glowing blue for a second. “Ahem, sorry about that, just…please fix up my hair…I want to look my best.” Scylla turned back to the mirror. Ajax took a deep breath and began to twist and braid the long white hair, being careful to not pull. As he did so, he noticed Elynas leaving the tent while Giselle stayed, eyes puffy and red as she clutched her egg to her chest. Watching with a defeated expression as Scylla got ready for his battle. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ajax sat hunched behind a pillar on the outskirts of the castle. A sheer drop was below him with only the roiling sea and sharp rocks below. He would have struggled to get up here without the help of an abyssal portal. In fact it likely would have been near impossible without any of his powers. The wind blew around him, making it hard to hear anything else on the wall. He was to wait until Scylla made a loud noise and then he was to teleport in and cause confusion and chaos, take no survivors and kill everyone and everything in his way. 

But before that, before he could fulfill his urge for blood, to make foul legacy happy with carnage, he had to be patient. He had to sit and wait with his thoughts over what had happened and what was going to happen. Scylla was going to be captured. Scylla was likely going to become injured and incapacitated. He had to act fast to free him before any lasting effects took hold or anything worse happened to the drake. 

Both him, Elynas, and Giselle's behavior before he left in the tent was strange. He couldn’t shake the feeling that they all knew something he didn’t and that something horrid was going to happen. The little pit in his stomach had become larger and larger as the dread grew more and more. After he had finished fixing Scylla's hair, he had pulled Ajax into a spine crushing hug before leaving with Giselle and eggy. Leaving Ajax with way more questions than answers. Focalores had already left her position so she was out of the question to interrogate before he left. Elynas had also been  missing from the camp as storm clouds rumbled overhead. It was strange that on the day of their planned attack, he couldn’t find anyone. 

Foul Legacy whispered of a trap for him, that this was a secret deal to trade him for peace. He knew that was false, why would Rumeria accept him when they could get Scylla or Elynas instead to control the other. It didn’t make sense. He refused to think hard enough to have it make sense. He wasn’t a harbinger anymore, his friends were real and they wouldn’t trade him for the chance to get even a little ahead. He couldn’t listen to the growing pit in his stomach brought upon by this entire situation. He would hold Foul Legacy back long enough to open the gate before making his way to Scylla. Foul Legacy could wait until it was time to fight and confront Remus.

Still…the little voice in the back of his head, scared to be abandoned and left behind, still whispered to him that they were going to get rid of him, that he wasn’t good enough and would thus be tossed to the side. That he was replaceable. He knew he wasn’t but the doubt still crept in. 

Before anymore worry could creep in, a loud pained cry filled the air and the castle he was perched on shook. A mournful mix between the low groaning of a whale and the shriek of a cat or bird. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand straight up. Ajax shot out a hand to keep himself from falling off as he listened to the cries of Scylla. The cries that rattled his teeth and made loose stone tumble down into the now tumultuous sea. His sign to begin his attack, to become part of the downfall of Rumeria. 

He pushed down his urge to immediately run to Scylla and help the drake, instead counting quietly to ten. He closed his eyes, stealed himself, and then let go of the ledge and fell. Foul Legacy crackled in his veins as he opened a small portal and tumbled through it and into Capitolium.  He immediately went into a roll, springing bac up with hydro condensing in his hands, ready to turn sharp in the blink of an eye. It seemed that fate was smiling on him as the hallway was empty. Its tall marble columns lined the long hall, gold and bronze inlays and carvings decadently placed everywhere. It was a place of filthy wealth and perfection. 

Only taking a moment to briefly glance around he quietly ran down the hall. Scylla had asked him to study the map and he had been for the past few days, diligently imbedding it into his mind. If he was correct in where he had sat upon the outside wall and where he had teleported in, then he should be close to the libraries. Ajax slowly opened one of the large doors to peak inside of a room, pleased to find it filled with ceiling high shelves. A library. 

A sharp grin broke out on his face as the door was gently shut and he continued on his path northwards. There was a staircase at the end of the hall that spiraled up further into the city and down into the depths. In order for him to make it to the ramparts on the wall he would need to go up, run along roofs and take out any potential archers or long range attackers. 

Just as he was about to launch himself up the stairs, a person, if they could even be called a person anymore, turned into the hallway he was in. Their marble face revealed nothing as he grabbed the front of their chiton and pulled them into a hydro sword that completely beheaded them. The momentum threw the body into the wall while the head rolled down the staircase, making a loud noise with every step. A blue liquid oozed out from the neck stump and the body began to crack and fall to pieces. 

“Fuck, I hope no one else uses this stair.” He muttered, looking away from the body before running up as fast as he could. A few other golem people were on it as he climbed up, up, and up; but they fell down, down, and down. The dust from their body filling the air behind the ginger as he made his way through them. 

At last, Ajax hit fresh air. The top of the staircase was a flat observation-like area with two golems. Just like the previous ones, he took those out as well. Standing fully up, Ajax looked down at the glistening city below him. Marble arches, bronze roofs, and lush gardens smiled up at him. It was beautiful, a city of arts and culture that had been made on the removal of free will and an endless campaign for more. More gold, more land, more power. 

Ajax understood the lust for power, he knew it all too well. Like a sickly sweet drink that is too good to put down but only leaves you wanting more. Dangerous in the hands of many, many like him that turn into monsters. But he was different. He wasn't the same as Remus nd his cohort. He had morals, he fought to get stronger to protect those he valued or were loyal to. He fought to survive, they fought purely for greed and to control people. 

The sky had become a mottled gray, rain slowly descending upon the city. Ajax looked down at the spot where Scylla likely was across the city. A  large set of pillars that glowed purple and emitted an energy that made the abyssal monster in him snarl and set his teeth on edge. It made him want to fight and run and thrash. The wind hit him in his face with a roar as the rain grew colder and more fell fro the crying clouds. 

The causeway and the gate were on the opposite side of the palace in the center. Metal pipes shot upwards, emitting a constant lullaby. Such peaceful sounds while Scylla was restrained and who knows what else made him angry. It made Foul Legacy angry. Ajax made an aborted movement forward, pausing to stare at the great instrument that was the palace. He really should be making his way to the gate but…the palace was on the way, hardly out of the way. And besides, if something bad happened at the palace, everyone would go there and opening the gate and allowing Focalores in would be easier.

His mind made, and fate set in stone now, he leapt onto a roof below him and began his dance across it towards the palace. He would just send a slash of hydro at one of the smaller organ-like pipes. Let it fall and create chaos and confusion, if those stone people even could. Either way they would investigate. 

Clawed near black fingers dug into the side of the stone palace, finding purchase where there once wasn’t and pulling his body up. He began his ascent much like a mortal scrambling to climb a mount of the gods. Praying and hoping they will be heard, that mercy will befall them for their heroic task. But it would be all for naught, and they will be tossed out for trespassing and left to become dashed upon the stones along the base. Ajax had made it halfway before his eyes caught sight of the god upon the mount. 

Remus stood in the center of a large stage like platform. His body larger than the golems with three sets of arms. One sporting from his shoulders wielded a violin like instrument, the instrument made of some type of silvery wood. A pair of tiny hands folded up to his chest where instead of a heart or organs lay an empty cavity filled with the strings of a harp. His final set clasped together and pressed against his forehead. Their lower half was that of a horse, hives polished in gold with rich purple fabric draped around him. 

Ajax was going to kill him. He was going to get revenge. He would avenge Adielle, Helene, Basile, Scylla, everyone. He had to kill him. Had to see him crumble to dust, to taste that strange blue ichor that flowed in his joints. He didn’t even realize he had let go and descended onto the red floored stage until he was there in front of the god of Rumeria. 

“Remus…prepare to fight. I will kill you to fulfill the promise I made years ago.” He summoned his twin swords getting into a battle stance. Remus slowly removed the hands covering his porcelain face from view. A marble white mask marred with thin golden lines was revealed, face twisted in a serene expression surrounded by a golden laurel. 

“And who might you be?” Remus’s voice echoed in the air, even when Ajax knew he had only whispered. As the god stood up more, little holes in his body created a sound like a flute as he moved. Not only has his entire palace a great instrument, but his body was one as well. “Ah, so you are the one of the Abyss. I can hear it upon and in your flesh, ringing and singing out in such dreadful discordant notes. But under that clanging there is a second…and third song. Ahhh you took a tumble in the sea beyond didn’t you, little mortal?” 

Ajax grit his teeth, hands tightening on the blades. He wasn’t ashamed of what he once was but hearing that god say it like so made him want to rip his porcelain face right off. “Did you not hear me, get ready to fight!” 

Remus tilted his head, looking at something over Ajax’s shoulders. He refused to turn and look, unwilling to turn his back on the god. If he had he would have seen a small floating harp there. “Perhaps…this is not the end I foresaw of myself. I had seen it more as a solo, one final aria before the end.” He raised a hand above his head before bringing it down to his side. “But I now see that it is in fact a duet…it has indeed been a long time since I last performed with another. Do not disappoint me.”

Ajax barely registered it as a large flame came towards him and the music changed. Instead of a sad, soft lullaby it was instead a loud and virtuous concerto that rattle his bones and made his ears pop. He dodged to the side with hydro, gingerly touching his ear. His own blood tainted with abyssal shine was coated on his hands. He winced, trying to pop his ears to relieve the pressure but it only made it worse. 

Another wave of noise and pyro flew at him. He scrambled out of the way, suddenly fully realizing what he had just done. He had failed his objective, gotten sidetracked, and began a fight with a god who was likely going to take a bit of effort to kill. Focalores was going to strangle him. He dropped to the ground and darted forward, letting loos hydro on the gods legs before attempting to hit further up. Remus dodged the second strike while completely shrugging off the first, hooves crashing down to try and trample the heretic. 

Dodging under Remus with a roll, Ajax tried attacking the gods underbelly but it was aking to hitting solid rock, a reinforced with elemental energy rock. But Remus was a fighter who obviously preferred far away combat, using his music to disorient and disarm, Ajax’s only real way to defeat him would be finding his weak spot and getting up close. Remus reared up, stepping back while moving his hands to play yet another cord. 

Ajax used the movement to hide him changing weapons, shooting up a bolt of hydro that clipped Remus in the chin and sending him stumbling back a little. He soon recovered, no sign of wear with a measure of flames that licked at Ajax’s skin as he drew back again. The remus jumped in the air, using bursts of pyro to propel himself up before he paused for a second, the music reaching a swell before diving towards Ajax hooves first. 

Using his abyssal energy, he teleported to the other side of the stage as Remus recovered, slowly standing back up and facing Ajax. “There is the Abyssal energy you wield. I have heard much of your mastery over the corrupting teachings of the depths.” His voice coming out muffled and ringing in Ajax’s ears. 

“You have, huh? Well why don't I show you a little more?” Ajax felt a feral grin stretch across his face. He straightened up from where he had been crouched down, letting his blades disappear. Foul Legacy rippled over his skin, the hard metal like plates springing up and mask covering his face. He roared before charging towards the large god who was now a bit smaller. Despite having a stone face, his body language still gave off overwhelming disgust and dread at what was before him. Remus’s middle hands plucked at the chest-harp, creating a flaming shield to block the abyssal claymore crashing down towards him. “Well, what does the great god Remus think?” His voice garbled out as the pyro shield shook. 

The upper arms played short notes, rapid and high pitched that made the pyro shield briefly heat up before exploding out, sending Foul Legacy across the field once more. Remus stamped his hooves, instruments raising. “I have nothing left to say that words would be able to convey. Listen to my dirge and understand the true meaning of death.” 

The air smoked and vibrated as the chaotic music joined together in a symphony that caused even Foul Legacy to stumble. It lifted its claws unable to deal with the noise as its host’s soul shrieked and shook as the vibrations. With rapid speed, it smacked the sides of its head, above the ears. The force making Ajax’s ears stop ringing and all sound cut out. He just deafened himself by making his eardrums rupture. Archons he really hoped that was fixable. 

Without a moving mouth, it was impossible to tell if Rmeus had said anything but it let the two focus on his movements instead. Short bursts led to short ranged explosions, the louder the larger. Longer notes were like hornets, following him even as he dodged and weaved between them to get back at Remus. Unable to find an opening, Foul Legacy summoned the narwhal. Remus appeared to freeze for a moment before summoning his shield again. 

Focused fully on the whale about to crash down, he didn’t pay attention to Foul Legacy teleporting inside his shield. By the time the god had spun around, the whale crashed down, destroying the pyro shield as Foul legacy grabbed the left upper arm. Its other clawed hand flattened and stabbed with abyssal energy making its hand sharp, stuck it into the elbow joint and then twisted and pulled. 

A wave of sound and pyro smacked the abyssal beast back, making him crash into one of the many columns. Dust rained down as Foul Legacy got up, staggering slightly as its charred flesh tried its best to heal. Remus was shaking, his top left arm holding the now severed end of its match. Foul legacy looked down to see Remus’s right arm in his hand, stone hand still clenched around the weird violin. 

“Like a crab, it’s your insides I want. Make your shell crack open.” It laughed, unable to hear its voice but confident in knowing Rmeus heard if the new burst and pyro under his feet meant anything. The two clashed, Remus now wielding a sword of pyro opposite to Foul Legacy’s hydro. The two figures traded blows, the overwhelming strength of the god forcing Foul legacy to go on more of a defense. 

Remus was no longer leaving openings close to him for the beast to exploit, taking great care to guard his joints. But it meant that he left his more solid areas open. While one or two hits didn’t do much, after a while small cracks began to ripple across the alabaster stone. Unfortunately this wasn’t all gained with some damage to Foul Legacy. Armor cracked, mottled abyssal skin burnt and mane singed. It growled as Remus’s chest harp sent even more little pyro notes at it. 

It was then that Remus made a fatal error, a small opening right under his swinging sword. Foul Legacy grinned under the mask diving right into the attack, using hydro to push the sword off and away from its body. Reaching out, it grabbed one of the harp strings and pulled. Foul Legacy jumped back, but was grabbed around the ankle and slammed forcibly into the ground. 

The air was punched out of its chest as it was slammed down again and again. It struggled in the hold, digging claws into the wrist of the hand. Remus was now shaking and the blueish liquid was spurting out from where the strong had been pulled out. So that was his weakness. How obvious. 

A small blade of abyssal energy separated the hand on its foot, freeing Foul Legacy as Remus reeled back. The god was panicked and now making mistakes left and right. A dirge would be needed for him. Foul Legacy ran back up to Remus taking a few hits but not stopping, letting the pain burn through him. He swung up onto the gods back, struggling to hang on as he bucked and sent pyro at the parasite. 

Foul legacy sent its talons right into the center of the harp and pulled. The movement of the stone beast began to erratically jerk left and right as the stings and the blue almost solid liquid was pulled out of Remus. 

His blood was everywhere. It was cold, cooling against the bruns from his flames. FOul Legacy cackled as it bathed in the god of Rumeria’s life force. The bottom of its mask slipping open to reveal a tooth filled mouth and long tongue. With feverish abandon, Foul legacy shoved the innards of Remus down its throat, unable to stop even as the god gave his last fight, sharp attacks doing nothing to drown out the immense pleasure and power. After a while longer, Remus had stopped fighting and only twitched. Power flowed through him, filling up every empty spot and even more. It wanted to eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat and eat…

As it stuffed itself with the power of Remus, Remus began to die. His energy and power leaching out and begin to build. One final sympathy promising destruction. But Foul Legacy wouldn’t allow its meal to run. It shoved itself into the center of the energy and absorbed it….

Ajax’s veins were on fire and frozen all at the same time. His body vibrated and itched and wanted to collapse. He looked down to see himself still in Foul legacy’s form. He-he didn’t want to be in it anymore, he had something to do. He was still unable to hear anything as he stood up and stumbled away from the now crumbling body of Remus…He had killed a god. 

Pride should be filling his soul but…all he could feel was a sense of intense wrongness. Something was fluttering in his chest and it wanted out, he wanted out. He had to get out of Foul legacy’s form. He needed it gone now. Foul legacy revolted growling that he couldn’t, that he had to stay in it but Ajax never listened to it, why would he now. Tearing at the mask, he flung it off and toward that stupid floating harp. He watched as it hit it and bounced off, harp still floating. 

Whatever…he had others things to do first, he had to help Scylla. His stomach rumbled uneasy as he tried his best to push his way to to top and send Foul Legacy back into the depths of his soul. Its claws digging into his mind, still shrieking and screaming about hunger and power. He didn’t care, he didn’t fucking care. He just wanted to go home. He wanted home! 

Where was home again? 

A loud pop ricocheted throughout Ajax’s mind, sending him crashing to the ground, the abyssal form fading away as he was left curling up on the ground. It was then that all time stop. Everything became clear and perfect and empty. 

But then, like everything, it fell apart. Time began a new and horrid pain, worse than anything Ajax had ever felt before ripped through his stomach and chest and head and limbs and everywhere. Everything was too much, he was too much, his body wasn’t big enough, he was going to tear apart at the seams. Where his seams were he didn’t know, everywhere? 

Everything was screaming, everyone was screaming. Something was roaring. Power…power flowed in the air, in his lungs, in his skin, in his bones. It was too much, too much…. Rain was falling, so much rain, so much water. Abyssal energy raged around him as reality slipped away….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All at once the cacophony around him vanished and was replaced with a quiet constant humming, distant and familiar. Ajax opened his eyes, finding himself in a place that looked similarly to the Abyss. The sky was akin to one on the cusp of night, lighter at the edges far off with stars blinking softly through the soft purple and blue sky above. Rocks jutted out in the distance, larger than normal with what almost looked like trees on them. Further, beyond the sharp towering rocks, a fog sat spilling over the edges. Tendrils of it snaked their way down towards him. 

A quiet noise, akin to a child’s laughter, rang out around him. Ajax looked around for a source, to see if there was a kid lost in this abyssal plane that needed help. This was no place for a kid. He took off in a direction he could have sworn he heard something, but was unable to go more than an inch as something clung to his feet. “What in the…” Waving his hands around, the fog cleared enough for him to see the ground finally. It was a thick dark water with hints of a shiny, multicolored liquid on top. It sat directly on top of the black muck that clung to him even as he struggled to move forward more than an inch. Reaching down, and touching it made him jolt back up, a sharp cold chill ran down his spine as the liquid tingled and burned on the tips of his fingers.

 “What the hell is this? Where the hell am I?!” Last he could recall was that he had been fighting someone…he had won? Who had he won against, why was he here? The memories and answers felt so close but it was slow coming. He could only feel the pressure of a migraine forming as he tried to piece together his memories. Remus was the god he had been fighting and he had won, the god crumbling under his hands…but then everything after became nothing but a current of pain. Someone must have hit him or poisoned him or maybe it was the effect of Remus’s music finally hitting him. If so…then was he dead?

“No you aren’t dead yet Ajax.” A kind and familiar voice pulled the ginger back to his body that he was now realizing was screaming in agony. Scylla stood in the middle of the fog, its white, sparkling wisps framing the drake in a way that made him look otherworldly. The drake looked the same as when Ajax had last seen him before the battle, his hair still pulled up the complicated twist of a bun that Ajax had put it in. He had learned how to do that one from his little sister. She had wanted to look extra pretty for the festival…what festival was it…..

“Focus Ajax, this is an easy place to be lost in memories forever. You must keep tethered in the now.” Scylla’s hand was now on Ajax’s shoulder, now suddenly in front of Ajax even though a second ago he had been ten feet away.

“Where…where is this place?” Ajax barely got out, his mouth feeling like cotton and throat sore. It was sore from him screaming. He had been screaming? Why had he been screaming?” His mind revolted at that, a hiss of pain bursting from behind his left eye. 

Scylla gently cradled the others head, looking for wounds of something else on the younger’s face. “We’re inside your soul, or an area near it. Perhaps the center of your powers, the eye of the storm.” Ajax flinched away from the hands holding him, legs dragging him back as far as the sludge allowed. 

“Wha-what do you mean? If-if this is my soul then why are here? Am I…am I in some sort of coma? Did you use weird dragon magic to be here?” Fully taking in Scylla, Ajax noticed strange markings on his arms. Purple-pink tendrils were wrapped around them in a mismatched fashion, tendrils that quietly pulsed with power. Power that felt oh so familiar to Ajax. A pervading sense of wrongness flooded his sense as panic set in. His mind was still on fire but he knew he had to get himself and Scylla out of there. “We-we should leave then, come on Scylla, use your weird magic and get us out of here. I’ll wake up, don’t worry. Tell the others not to worry. I-I think I just hit my head a little.” 

He tried to touch his forehead but was stopped by Scylla grabbing his hands. The look on his face was a sad, sad smile but his eyes were brimming with tears. Tears and the look of someone who had lost all hope. Eyes that, in this strange area where light came from somewhere and reflected off the oily water and fog, didn’t reflect the light. Eyes that were… 

“Ajax, I want you to know that I don’t blame you. It wasn’t your fault and-and I knew that it was going to happen.” No. “Maria told me, me and Giselle and Elynas,” No. “so please don’t go beating yourself up over what happened. It was fated to happen and there was nothing we could have done.” No. “Rumeria is defeated, and that was always the goal. Even if it meant my deat-” NO NO NO NO NO NO! 

A loud wailing roar echoes out around them and the the sharp heaven pointed rocks shook. The sludge around them rippled and began to rock back and forth, pulling the two sideways with each movement. Ajax’s hands had grabbed onto Scylla, fingers digging into his arms as tears filled his eyes. He kept blinking them back but they just wouldn’t stop, making Scylla become a water blob in his vision. His blunt nails couldn’t dig in, pink, human and scarred. Hands that didn’t exist in that way anymore. Why were they here, why, why, why? “No. NO! NO! Don’t-don’t say it. It can’t be true, you can’t be-no, no.” 

He shook his head, refusing to look him in the eyes, unable to see what he had done. See the eyes that were like his, dead. He had killed Scylla, somehow, someway. His memory had begun to make sense, the pain, the screaming. He had absorbed something from Remus, and then afterwards everything felt like it was splitting apart. Everything was breaking and he was devouring it all. At some point, the pain had reached a spot where he didn’t feel anything, it was bliss, it was hell, it was heaven. And then it all crashed down around him and he woke up here. That-that was when he had-he had killed Scylla and devoured him as well….

Scylla pulled Ajax into his chest, wrapping his arms and tail around the trembling man. He carefully ran his claws through his hair in a comforting manner, swaying back and forth with the water below. “...don’t say it, please don’t say it.” Ajax brokenly sobbed into his silken tunic. Crystalline tears soaking the pristine fabric. His already fractured voice fully breaking, words barely able to escape. 

“I won’t. I won’t say it if you don’t want me to but it is true. You can’t live in a lie that you didn’t, little fox.” Scylla’s own voice, usually so strong and steady, wavered so a choked back sob entered it. “They won’t blame you, they all knew it was going to happen, that it was meant to. There is little you can do to avoid fate, little fox…You have had to become so many things, I am so sorry that you had to become my executioner. This-this was not what should have happened but it did.” 

Ajax gasped for air, fighting to interrupt to say or do something. He tried to move, tried to run, to take Scylla with him and escape this place with both of them alive, but he couldn’t. His feet had started out consumed by the muck but it had risen up past his knees, the grime sticking to his clothing (grey, so grey with an unbuttoned shirt and jacket. Always so messy looking, always the opposite of put together) and skin (pink and scarred. Pink and scarred and human). Violently jerking in place, he attempted to fight his way out of it but it stuck heavy and the struggling seemed to only make the waters rise. 

Scylla, throughout all his thrashing, held onto his shoulders, keeping him steady as the ginger tried in vain to push back against the growing despair. “Stop fighting Ajax. It won’t do anything. I’m gone now, but you aren’t. You must not let this drag you down.” 

“I can’t! I can’t, I’ve already lost so much. You can’t do this to me! You can’t be-I can’t have-“ 

“AJAX!” Scylla’s claws dug into Ajax’s shoulders, the pain forcing the shorter to look right at his friend's now lifeless eyes. “I need you to get it together. Don’t make my death be in vain. I need you to promise me. Ajax, do you understand?” He nodded with a shaky sob. “Good, I need you to promise me that you’ll keep everyone else safe. That you-you’ll watch over them for me. Can you do that.” 

He wanted to say no. To say he couldn’t and that he had already betrayed that promise by killing him but he couldn’t. He couldn’t bring himself to say no to his friends last dying wishes. “Okay…okay! I-I will protect them, all of them. Elynas, Focalores, Giselle, the-the egg, your followers, everyone. I’ll stay with and protect Fontaine until…until I die as well!” Ajax ripped his hands from the mud grabbing onto the dragon's shoulders as well. He wouldn’t let go of him. He wouldn’t lose him. 

Scylla grinned, tears rolling freely from his face as the ocean of strange water rose up faster around them. “And yourself…please look after yourself as well, little fox. Don’t forget your own life in protecting others. For you are as dear to me as the others. I-I am honored to have called you my family, little fox.” 

But I’m not worthy enough to protect. I’m a murderer and a monster. The words filled his mind but before he could respond, the water had covered his mouth. Ajax thrashed, struggling to swim up while clinging onto Scylla, refusing to let go.  But no matter what he did the water rose up and up, his eyes stinging as it became coated with a multicolored glaze. Scylla’s still grinning face became covered as well as Ajax became fully consumed by the murk around him. 

He panicked, his lungs burning as his hands dug further into Scylla, trying to at least hold on even if he couldn’t see the dragon, his brother, any longer. But just as the waves had torn his sight and movement from him, so did it tear Scylla away. The once warm figure suddenly disappeared, the heretics arms and hands left empty and searching in the cold muck. 

He tried to scream, to drown in the mud; but the sludge had turned from a dense liquid into the cold fluidity of sea. The only taste hitting his tongue was of the salt from the ocean and from his tears that now drifted off becoming one of a million that had been shed that day. 

The burning had stopped in his lungs, even as water flowed in and his body landed on the ocean floor, surrounded by the now crumbling ruins and bodies of Rumeria. Ajax’s lifeless eyes fluttered open, taking in one last shred of light above him. As if pulled by a string he raise his arm towards the flickering light as if reaching out would pull him from the ocean and from his sins. But all his clawed, discolored hand grabbed was the water around him. 

He knew he was crying, even if he couldn’t distinguish the liquid coming from his eyes to one surrounding him. Perhaps…if he allowed himself to fade into that comforting darkness that pulled at him from behind his eyes…perhaps then he would be able to meet with Scylla again. And maybe…the rest of his fallen and near forgotten family….

~~~~~~~~~~~

Guizhong looked out at the now wider sea with a clenched jaw. The sea had frothed up and waves flowed ramped amongst the leftover abyssal energy and the storm caused by a dragon. The abyssal energy permeated the air even as far as Jueyun Karst, its sharp electrical tang slinking through as if proudly declaring what it had done. The energy was eerily similar to the young orange haired god Guizhong had taken under her wing, except this was wilder. A sharper quality with a new undercurrent that seemed to hum with stolen power. 

“Scylla is dead.” Morax stood beside her, his tail furiously lashing behind them. “Whatever killed him stole his power for itself.” 

“Or perhaps it was to keep his death from destroying anything else.” She quietly responded, eyes glued to the slowly settling sea. A pit had formed in her stomach as she tried to equate what had just happened, the complete destruction that happened, to the god she had met who had been almost innocent in how he interacted with the world. How this could have come from him, she didn’t know. Nothing made sense at this moment in time. 

Morax snorted, clearly not agreeing with her sentiment. “The abyss doesn’t concern itself with protecting, it only consumes. It is clear that the god you met has been fully consumed by it. I doubt that it is anything but a vessel for the dark energies of the Abyss.” He quickly looked down at Guizhong who was looking even more distressed at his words. He sighed, rested a clawed hand upon her shoulder. “There was likely nothing you could do, but simply watching will do nothing. We should prepare for it to turn it’s sight southward. With the energy it absorbed from Scylla and likely Remus it will be strong but at this moment still digesting. It will be weak and easy to put down. If we’re lucky it will be torn apart by the energy.” 

Guizhong walked forward, brushing off the claw. She said nothing as she watched the ocean with an intensity often saved for her creations. As the goddess of dust, she had no dominion over the sea and the water within it, but even still she found herself stretching herself out, trying to decipher what could be happening far below. But all she could feel from the air was the charged and tainted particles of dust swirling above the water. Some of them radiating with the leftovers of Remus white others were completely foreign and radiated a malicious energy.  

Any words she had were stuck in her throat, unable to say anything as she came to terms with what Morax was saying. With the point he made. She would have to prepare to cut down Ajax, not the first god she considered a friend that she had to help end. “...okay. We should begin to make a plan.” Turning back towards Morax, she missed the clouds above the ocean of turmoil opening slightly and a thin ray of gold shining down. “We should call for a meeting, but someone should remain here to keep an eye on the situation-”

“Egeria…” Morax cut her off looking wide eyed at the the scene behind the goddess of dust. Guizhong turned on her heels, running towards the edge of the cliff face to watch the god of the waters that had been locked away by the heavenly principles years and years ago slowly float down from the parting clouds. “Did they send her to deal with the abyss?” Guizhong pulled out a spyglass from her sleeves, using it to get a closer look at the once thought-gone goddess. 

Egeria landed on the water, standing still before taking a step forward and disappearing into the roiling waves. In that instant, the water stilled, like a great beast holding its breath. Then it heaved and began to beat again as the goddess reappeared, holding a limp figure in her arms. One that had a noticeable shock of orange hair. Bits of loose dust collected in the corners of her eyes as she took in the mutated form of Ajax held loosely in the arms of Egeria, curled up like a lost child. 

She pulled the spyglass away from her face. If Egeria was collecting him then maybe…maybe he didn’t mean to do this. She said as much to Morax who furrowed his brow in response. “Perhaps you are right, but we should still be on guard. There is no way of knowing whether or not it will wake up and be a mindless, power hungry monster.” His ears flicked as he squinted at the tiny retreating figures above the ocean as Egeria made her way back towards the land that remained. 

“...Once we have achieved peace and this is all over, I do hope that the two of you can meet.” Guizhong all but whispered, unwilling to look away from the ocean. “I have a feeling that the two of you would get along well.” 

“Hmmm, I doubt that.”  Morax’s tail flicked from side to side in annoyance. “We should tell the Yakshas to possibly prepare for a battle.”

Guizhong nodded and made a noise in agreement. “Yes…just to be safe. But, we should also send someone.” Morax looked at her with a raised brow. “No, don't look at me like that. We wouldn’t send someone immediately but perhaps soon, to foster peace and find out what really happened. I would be more than willing to go.”

Morax frowned, the crease in between his eyebrows growing. If he kept this up they would become stuck like that. “No, you will not go. You are too integral to our own protection and defense to worry about another groups. I do agree that sending someone to scope it out would be wise. Cloud Retainer has met the abyssal god, correct?”

“Yeah, she did. She won’t be too happy about it but she’ll know if he’s…off. Thank you for agreeing with me Morax.” Guizhong smiled up at him, gently patting his arm. The dragon just huffed before gazing back over the finally calming sea. Unaware that he would soon be desperate to keep said Abyssal god in what was yet to be Liyue, right by his side.