Chapter Text
Rain.
Relentless, desperate.
It soaked the leather, leaving nothing but muddy tracks behind his steps, condemned to be reabsorbed into the ground.
Erased.
“How long will I keep fighting within this blood-soaked vortex of the battlefield?”
He was carrying his body, one of many. A dead weight, so light on Earth, so heavy in his arms.
“How long will I keep protecting within these infinite killings that will never end?”
He admired his face. Pale. Covered in that disturbing pitch black fabric. Lifeless.
He longed to see the smile that adorned him, to touch his warm cheeks, to wander in the cerulean.
All he found was grey, hazy. Dead.
“How long will I keep believing in this world filled with deception and fabrication?”
Drops of water fell from his hair, slid across his lips blended with bitter tears.
He looked up at the sky, hazy. Dead.
Clouds obscured the sun. Eternal sun, frozen in time, waiting to be reunited with its beloved moon.
Prisoner of a lie that lasted millennia.
“How long will I keep telling lies while continually feeling despair at the bleak future?”
A scream echoed in the void of a ruined world.
Birds fled into the rain, in an unknown and insignificant direction. Fear.
He, on the other hand, hugged his body to himself.
He cursed men, he cursed gods.
He cursed a world that had nothing to offer them other than loneliness.
━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━
11945 CE
-Abandoned Factory-
He sat on the rusty arm of a red crane with his left leg pressed against his chest while the right one swung in the air, in an unprofessional, slouched posture. He was alone, waiting for some specific order, while in front of him was projected a screen full of complicated graphs and generic data which he was fiddling with, a playful smile on his face. Though he was focused on his work, he seemed to do it with such speed and ease that came not so much from experience as from a mind designed for that specific purpose.
His ears picked up the hum of the factory and its construction sites in motion, the machinery and gears powered by some form of autonomous energy, and the sharpness of the metallic clicking sounds followed by the softness of the light breeze that blew high up. Robotic bodies and unidentified junk laid on the steel docks, left there to catch rain and snow, wind and sun, eaten away by rust and simply left to dissolve in their own oil.
At the foot of the structure, iron foundations were covered with thick bushes and ivy, while a few trees cast a shaded blanket on the ground, stopping just before a stretch of icy water. Beyond the plain, a large sea opened up, visible on the horizon. The cold blue and silvery reflections of its waters completely merged with the cloudy sky of that day.
Fog surrounded the factory, so thick that the rays of sun struggled to shine through it, immersing the structure in a dull, almost gloomy atmosphere despite the actual lack of rain.
To a pair of external and incurious eyes, the factory might have seemed either deserted or abandoned, ignoring the life that was being created and changing inside it.
But the android knew the life forms that inhabited it very well. He had seen, studied and fought them over and over again. Creatures without brains or rationality, ruthless, indifferent, apathetic, outright devoid of emotions. War machines created by unknown life forms, born from the deepest pits of hell, who had the sole purpose of killing and conquering. An artificial species that he himself refused to give a name to, as they did not deserve a defined identity.
They were machines, now owners of that factory and of the entire planet. But he would never admit this, the Earth was their property and he would never give it up to those invaders.
A little further away from his position, a small machine was filling a tank of engine oil, then walking with its short lower limbs toward one of the many motionless bodies lying on the ground, and the android watched it with disdain as it threw the substance on another machine, larger and sturdier than it, but lifeless. Such a sight made him feel more than satisfied.
The machine kept pouring onto the other’s steel torso, until the tank was completely empty. The oil seeped into the joints and cuts on its body, but ended up uselessly spilling onto the concrete.
Its robotic, toneless voice, begged the corpse to stand up, calling out to it. “Brother, brother!”
Its yellow eyes conveyed nothing, neither sadness nor desperation, nor its prayers, making it appear pathetic in the eyes of the android, who laughed at its failure.
The larger machine did not move. Its round eyes stayed dull, its limbs static, emitting no signal that the android’s Pod would recognize as a target to eliminate.
He found the sight particularly thrilling: the thought that those monsters were capable of putting on such a show, reminded the young man how weak they actually were.
They were so intimidating to the androids, yet on the inside they were nothing more than moving junk.
He typed one last thing on the screen in front of him and then turned it off.
As the smaller machine kept praying for its brother to wake up, the boy rose from his post, balancing himself on the mechanical arm and stretching his legs.
“It’s no use praying, little one,” the young man sighed, “it is not your brother and you’ll never be able to have one.”
Childe looked up at the blue sky, where the factory fumes were dissolving into the atmosphere.
There, among the clouds, flying figures were leaving white trails behind them as they slowly approached his coordinates.
Six Flight Units tore through the skies, figures so small that they could be mistaken for a flock of birds. Some of them scattered in various directions, plummeting from the sky as if a hunter had shot them with his rifle.
The factory's defense system has already started to eliminate the intruders.
“Well… Looks like the time has come.” Excited about the mission assigned to him, he couldn’t stop smiling.
Ready for action, he effortlessly landed on a beam about ten meters below the crane on which he was sitting, without suffering any physical damage, perfectly balanced.
His Pod emitted a small ring to his left, like a ringtone, and as he started walking along the path, he accepted the call. The little robot projected the screen in front of him, a loading image on the right and various parameters and annotations on the left analyzing the surrounding sounds.
As Childe looked around, a female voice spoke and the face of an android loaded. A black veil hid her nose and mouth, leaving visible only the magenta of her sharp eyes alongside her long silver hair. Her expression was serious and formal: she looked like a strong and confident woman, and her gaze did not reveal any emotion. She was a woman capable of making the greatest of men cry, not seductive but rather threatening.
“21O to Unit 9S. Come in, 9S.”
“9S here! Go ahead, Skirk,” Childe replied cheerfully.
“The YoRHa troops have commenced their descent towards the designated area. You are tasked with hacking and disarming the defense system,” a frown crept across the woman’s face, her voice sounding annoyed, “and don’t call me by my name during controlled calls. There is no intimacy between us, brat.”
Childe pouted, feigning offense. “Got it, Operator!”
Skirk’s face remained emotionless, already used to the boy’s pranks. “You will find a Flight Unit a little further ahead, it is advisable to move by flight to minimize time.”
“Copy that. Over and out.” Right after Childe’s greeting, the call ended and, in no time, he reached a platform, situated in a quiet area devoid of enemies.
His Flight Unit was waiting for him right there: it was a mobile Unit of humanoid shape about three meters tall, equipped with defense systems and excellent artillery, usually employed for large-scale attacks and movements.
Scanners like him were rarely tasked with using one, not as well suited to combat as other models, but there wasn’t a single weapon that Childe specifically couldn’t use. His superiors acknowledged his talent, as he was one of the most formidable Scanners they had ever seen in combat. That’s why he was there.
The Bunker, from which the Command operated, was the ‘one’ that entrusted him with the mission. Skirk called from there, a space station situated hundreds of kilometers above the Earth’s surface.
The space orbit was their house, a place of training and rest for each Unit. Its ring-shaped structure gave a mesmerizing view of the stars, immersed in the black sea that was space. Through that endless hallway, large windows offered breathtaking views towards the external wall, while the internal one was dedicated to the androids' rooms, access points and elevators headed towards the Hangar or the Command Room.
Though the utter beauty of the celestial bodies was unmatched, it was during his missions on land that Childe learned to appreciate the sense of freedom.
He sat himself at the command of the Unit and took flight, flying over the factory and towards the center, following the coordinates sent by his Operator to sabotage the defense system.
While 9S worked to neutralize the generators, only one of the six Flight Units that crossed the skies safely landed northwise to the Scanner’s position. The only survivor in command of the vehicle was a Battler Unit, one of the strongest YoRHa androids.
The signal from the latter’s Black Box stopped at the coordinates of a circular room. Inside, beams and wires were hanging from the ceiling, barely visible in the darkness thanks to a low-intensity floor lamp allowing light to be reflected. With a deafening thud, the metal wall gave way under the Flight Unit’s impact, from which the owner jumped out before he could be hurt by it. The android's Pod continuously emitted warnings, like a broken record.
The impact resulted in the destruction of the Flight Unit, but the man was still standing. Shielding his face from splinters and iron plates, he gracefully landed on his feet, as if he were dancing on a stage. The black skirt of his uniform fluttered and his long hair swayed alongside it. He then drew his spear without even looking around, uncaring of the place he had ended up in. His stance was stable, muscles tense and legs spread apart. Prepared for a possible attack.
In religious silence, he pursed his lips in grief. Of the comrades who had fallen along the way, he was reluctantly forced to ignore their deaths. Their Units collapsed under the defenses of the factory, as if the wax on their wings had melted under the sun’s warmth.
He had a task and he would see it through. His feelings were a hindrance, and crying would not bring the dead back to life.
“Alert. Large enemy group detected.” Next to him, his Pod and its robotic voice reported the presence of some machines.
“Yes, I’m aware of that,” the android replied coldly, turning around as some machines jumped down from the ceiling, ready to attack.
Spear pointed at his opponents, he lunged at them with no hesitation, impaling the first one who appeared in front of him in one blow, a movement so fast that the enemy couldn’t have possibly perceived it on time. Weapon drawn from its body, it fell to the ground with a loud rumble and its red eyes lost their artificial light. Some electrical discharges shined on the cut, ceasing after a few seconds.
The android then turned just in time before a bipedal machine, larger than the previous one, could hit his back with a charged attack.
He dodged it with a practiced twist of the torso, before wedging the tip of his spear between its legs, causing it to stumble and move away, while also dodging a second surprise attack from another machine behind him, which he also eliminated with rapid fire blasts fired from his Pod - spheres charged with magic that traveled at exceptional speed.
Avoiding the attacks with light movements and elegant moves, he managed not to let a single hair get out of place. He was agile as a squirrel but light as a butterfly's wings, lowering his weapon as the last of his enemies fell lifeless to the ground, enveloped in the smoke of its own short circuit.
Straightening up, he made sure he was alone. He then used his hands to brush the dust off his pitch black suit, getting it as clean as before. The android was keen to look perfect and elegant, so his hair was always held together with a gorgeous amber jewel, an earth resin that he found extremely pretty.
He walked to the center of the room, scanning the area only then for clues regarding his objective.
In that factory, a signal from a Goliath weapon was detected - gigantic machines entrusted with the sole purpose of destroying everything in front of them. They had skills, intelligence and resistance much higher than common machines.
The main objective of the mission was the destruction of that specific Goliath, given directly by the Council of Humanity.
If the Command acted as a superior body for the android Units, it in turn received orders from the Council of Humanity, the architect of the entire YoRHa Project to which the androids belonged. It included the most prestigious human scientists and philosophers, and was stationed on the moon, a place where humanity found shelter from the war.
The YoRHa Project was founded a few years earlier, in 11937 CE, with the aim of reclaiming planet Earth from the machines that invaded it.
In this period of time, the survivors of the human race would have gone on to live on the moon, keeping contact with the Project and dictating the rules, while the androids fought.
As the years passed, the fight showed no signs of stopping.
Androids and machines had been fighting for centuries, way before the foundation of the Project, but neither dared to give up. The former kept the war going in the hope of saving the human race, while the latter were unable to consider any other paths.
In turn, the machines have their own creator, someone who lived long ago, of whom no trace can be found.
The Council of Humanity kept sending orders out, convinced that, if left without a master, the machines would stop fighting with the passage of time, but at the moment they were forced to grit their teeth and hope for the future.
Centuries had passed since the appearance of the machines, and now the fourteenth war was being fought, with the YoRHa Project as the protagonist.
Androids were trained to show no emotion and to blindly trust their superiors, as mere weapons. They were often prevented from snooping on the past of Humanity, as such information was deemed unnecessary for their purposes. However, wandering the Earth's soil almost daily, the discovery of books, records, ruins and artifacts belonging to past eras was not impossible, which made some of them extremely curious.
The YoRHa Units followed orders diligently, but some of them were very clever, and found a way to be rebellious, while making sure not to damage the Project in any way.
“Enemies eliminated,” the Pod’s voice confirmed the ceasing of all nearby activity.
Having now looked through the entire room, 2B considered his search for that area to be over. He headed towards a large automatic door, marked with a blue LED light above it.
Next to the large entrance was the debris scattered around by his impact, light coming in from the gap in the wall allowing him to see the clouds.
Behind his visor, his amber eyes softened.
The famous YoRHa visor prevented direct contact with the outside world, worn not as an accessory that brought inconvenience, but as a mask that allowed the androids to create an imaginary distance from the beauties of the Earth and, in particular, any intimate contact between each other.
It had an aesthetic and protective function, symbolic even, but unlike what many believe it didn’t actually deprive the androids of sight. 2B could see the light that penetrated from outside very well, hitting his face alongside a fresh breeze.
A strange feeling made him stop in his tracks.
He looked at the wall behind him with a cold, inquiring gaze, feeling the floor beneath him slightly tremble. His system went on high alert and his senses sharpened.
He drew his spear again in a swift motion, the blade shining like a star under the light of the sky.
“There’s still one left.”
A loud crash cut him off.
He leaped backwards as the wall shattered into nothing more than shards as if it were made of glass, when a huge mechanical arm burst into the room. Iron teeth spun furiously at the end of the limb, like a circular saw. Thick dust filled the air, forcing the android to cover his face as the arm retracted outward. Just like a wrecking ball, the limb had brought down the entire wall.
“Is that our target?” 2B shouted at the Pod, quickly dodging the arm that came rushing to hit him hard, leaving a deep crater in the floor.
Having avoided the damage, 2B waited for the constant rotation to stop, and quickly struck the metal teeth of the limb, so as to reduce its hostility. Burning sparks flew in all directions as the steel of the machine and the tip of his spear collided, shielding himself from the deadly rotation of the toothing that started again shortly after, sensing threat. Only a couple of them fell out.
“Negative. This enemy is unrelated to the mission,” the Pod retorted.
Despite the risk of blowing off some of his own body parts, 2B kept hitting the limb in an attempt to remove every sharp protrusion, each at least a meter wide.
The entire arm, consisting of the circular end and two other sections made of reinforced steel, was between three and six meters thick and could have belonged to an actual titan, tall enough to block out the sun.
He had never seen a machine of that size despite the years of experience he had spent fighting them.
He wondered if the impressive size and ferocity of the Goliath weapon was due to some mechanical revolution, some sort of technological progress perfected over the years by machines, also veterans of thousands of years of continuous wars.
While humans possessed intelligence and tenacity, machines were simple combat robots with no conscience nor ability to understand the world. The term "evolution" was heavy on the android’s tongue, making him hesitant to admit that certain creatures were truly capable of elevating themselves to the same level as the human race, ignoring the laws of nature and natural selection.
Yet, if androids were created in the image and likeness of man, even physically stronger, is it possible that such crude and underdeveloped creatures could have stood up to them for millennia, never putting an end to these exhausting wars?
Is it possible that machines were really unable to evolve?
Burning flames blazed around him. The deadly thrusts of the Goliath weapon produced sparks and caused the charring of many parts of the room, turning the now disintegrated wall into a bonfire, as if it were the entrance to a demonic dimension.
The android signaled the Pod to fire, aiming at the enemy now deprived of its teeth destroyed in the previous attacks, making the little robot shoot a large laser beam that penetrated the machine weapon, leaving nothing but a large hole behind. It pierced the foe from one side to the other, enough to allow the sun to penetrate through its body.
The arm retracted outward, curled up like a puppy running away with its tail between its legs. The ring of fire surrounded it like a perfect frame, giving the monster an even more menacing look, as if its size wasn’t terrifying enough.
Not that it would have fazed 2B either way. After all, he was born to fight creatures like that.
He remained calm. Fear was not an option.
The ground suddenly shaking beneath his feet sent him back on the defensive, resigned to the fact that a simple laser beam wouldn't be able to destroy it, watching as the limb was once again ready to charge towards him.
He barely took a step forward before a burst of missiles hit the Goliath square in the face, exploding it into a thousand pieces. The rotating end separated from the rest of the body, hurtling toward the android. 2B avoided it in a hurry, watching what was left of the enemy spin on itself for a few seconds, to then fall to the ground lifeless like a coin.
Intrigued, he looked up at the sky in the direction from which the missiles were coming, wondering who could have protected him in a completely abandoned factory, after his companions were squashed like flies as soon as they landed on Earth.
As the Pod confirmed the enemy’s annihilation, a YoRHa Flight Unit descended upon him like an angel.
“Next time, make sure he’s actually dead before you let your guard down.” 9S’s ginger hair swayed in the wind, a soft smile adorning his face. “That was quite dangerous, Sir.”
Inside him, all the anxiety and worry about the world evaporated like frost in the sun as he laid eyes on 2B, rejoicing at the mere sight of the android.
Even days later, Zhongli looked as beautiful as the sun.
When they first met, Childe felt his mind short-circuiting. His eyes closed as if the sunlight suddenly passed through his visor, despite Zhongli himself not shining, as if the sun had set in front of him.
He wondered if it was normal for an android to feel so vulnerable, and even though he knew the answer to his question was no, he ignored his common sense and became a slave to that light like the sunflowers he saw on Earth, always pointing towards the great star.
Childe wasn’t sure Zhongli remembered him, and his own mind felt foggy in turn, as if some links had come loose from the chains of his memories, but he didn’t care and just appreciated the android in the present.
He would be working with him today, such a wonderful surprise.
“You’re Zhongli, right? No. 2, Battler type,” the android asked, still aboard his Flight Unit. “I’m Childe, No. 9 Scanner type. I’m here to provide support.”
When Zhongli recognized his face, a deep weight on his heart made him feel uneasy. He bit the inside of his cheek, hiding behind a mask of coldness and apathy. Of all the Scanners, why him?
Conflicting emotions clouded his eyes. Fortunately, the visor prevented Childe from seeing them.
The Battler cursed himself mentally. He shouldn’t let his emotions hold him back, especially now that he had a mission to complete. For a moment, he was afraid.
“Copy that.” Maintaining a cool demeanor, he faced the Unit.
He could see Childe’s smile crumble, as if his curt response had pierced his heart like a lead arrow.
“So…” the ginger continued awkwardly, not sensing any desire to socialize from his partner, “was that old buzzsaw the Goliath you came here to take out?”
“No, just another defensive system,” Zhongli denied. An almost comical silence followed.
“Oh! Well, um… I guess we have to find our target then!” Despite the embarrassing obviousness, Childe smiled enthusiastically again at the mention of new enemies to fight, immediately savoring the taste of victory. He couldn’t wait to defeat some more machines. A little arm destroyed with just a couple of missiles wasn’t even good for a warm-up.
Although he wanted to stay by Zhongli’s side, splitting up would have made it easier to find the Goliath, leaving them free to enjoy each other’s company once the mission was going to be over. He had a feeling that, if he kept procrastinating, continuously hanging out with attractive partners and wasting Command’s time, Skirk would have come down from the Bunker to end his life with her own hands, and the thought alone made him shudder.
“I still have my Flight Unit. I’ll take a look around the perimeter from above,” he concluded.
Zhongli agreed, “I’ll work my way inside from the ground.”
Childe said nothing more, giving him one last salute before taking off, hurtling toward the sky.
After a few moments of being lost in thought, looking in the direction from which the younger android had taken off, Zhongli walked towards the wall that had collapsed as the great arm had passed.
The flames, finding no material to burn other than iron and cement, were already extinguished by the arrival of 9S, leaving a large gap that could be crossed from the outside directly onto the piers that connected the various areas of the factory.
As he stepped outside, Zhongli was immediately hit by the cool breeze, the air on his skin made him feel as light as a feather once again and lessened the weight on his heart. He enjoyed the few rays of sun that filtered through, before continuing his journey and following the path formed by the bridges.
Around him, all was desolate. Along the road, the android encountered nothing more than a couple of easily avoidable machines, preferring to concentrate on admiring the few forms of plant life that grew on the cement, some tufts of grass stood out among the gray and red of the factory that surrounded him. Zhongli found the color green particularly pleasant: it gave him a sense of tranquility, allowing him to rest his eyes every now and then every time he saw it, like a fresh summer breeze.
Although tasks often kept him busy, he appreciated making some time for himself, taking long walks among the vegetation, which had grown luxuriantly over the centuries.
He hoped that the little shoots could continue to grow despite the polluted air of the factory, as he kept moving forward.
In front of him stood a gigantic cylindrical structure, several floors tall, completely devoid of any windows or cracks that would allow him to peek inside.
Large spiral staircases surrounded its perimeter, letting him climb up.
Meanwhile, Childe monitored his position, making sure that the signal from his Black Box stayed active at all times.
At high altitudes, only a few machines equipped with flight devices - be they large fans or aerodynamic shapes - could reach him, leaving him free to concentrate on his search.
His map indicated a limited number of enemies, just the small machines that inhabited the factory, but no sign of a Goliath weapon. If Command was certain of its presence, then the machines were hiding it on purpose.
He hoped that the creature would show up soon, possibly far from Zhongli and headed towards him. He would be ready to hack it and, if worse came to worst, to get between the two to safeguard his partner.
He was aware of 2B's strength, a Battler model. Wasn't he perhaps more specialized in combat than a Scanner model like him could ever be? Of course, and he admired him a lot for that.
Still, Childe was a tough Scanner to handle, his pleasure coming from hand-to-hand combat rather than hacking. When he was on the battlefield, he could feel the adrenaline coursing through his body, and being left behind as support often bored him to death. When he was with other androids, at least.
With Zhongli, Childe wanted to be the best support, but also the best weapon.
He wanted Zhongli to get the most out of him, even if it meant being used as a simple hacker.
Scanners rarely worked with other models, often in groups of their own kind dedicated to research and exploration, and being paired with 2B of all people made him feel in awe.
He wanted the android’s admiration more than combat, and somehow Zhongli’s presence gave him more adrenaline than violence ever could.
“You know, Sir,” Childe tried to break the ice, focusing on Zhongli’s selective mutism, “I’m glad you’re here.”
A couple seconds later, the android replied, “Why?” The call carried the sound of his footsteps on steel, but no sign of any enemies. Apparently, Zhongli wasn’t finding anything interesting either.
“Scanners like me mostly work alone. Locating enemies, analyzing… and all that, you know?” The scanner smiled softly: 2B had finally spoken. Well, even if he wasn’t being very talkative at the moment. “I don’t usually get a partner. It’s kind of fun-”
“Emotions are prohibited.” Zhongli abruptly cut him off, before his monologue became exhaustively sweet.
Damn, what a fool! “S-sorry, Sir,” Childe hesitated timidly.
After a few moments, Zhongli spoke up again. “And another thing. You don’t need to call me ‘Sir.’” 2B heard a light laugh from the other end, which made him sigh.
“2B it is, then!” His tone was obviously excited. “By the way, how’s the research going? Nothing new, I suppose.”
“Still no sign of the Goliath. I’ve had a few encounters with machines in the southernmost facility, but they haven’t caused any problems,” Zhongli stated.
“Everything’s quiet here as well. I’ll keep going East then.” Childe concluded.
For Zhongli, the path inside the facility seemed endless. He climbed stairs and went through several rooms, all seemingly the same, with only a few insignificant enemies and nothing more.
In many areas the fumes were so intense that he had to cover his face: getting himself intoxicated from them would have risked getting his artificial lungs useless and his fans damaged.
On the other hand, Childe was inwardly celebrating that he could call his partner by his model's name - but that was already a step up from simple honorifics.
He wondered if Zhongli would appreciate friendly nicknames instead. From what he knew, humans often give each other friendly names, whether among friends or lovers.
As he traveled through his memories to find some nice options that the Battler would like, Zhongli called his attention, “This place is really big.” His voice sounded distant, almost as if he was talking to himself.
“The humans apparently employed it as a weapons factory,” or so the finds said, “now it’s just crawling with machines.”
“The enemy must have made some modifications to the facility to increase the production of these troublemakers,” the Scanner continued.
“If we don’t destroy it, then it will continue to increase.” Childe nodded at his partner’s words.
Mister… Comrade? It all sounded lovely, but not very ‘Zhongli’. He liked Mister, which made him sulk.
Zhongli found himself facing new groups of machines, getting closer and closer to the South area. He encountered what looked like an incinerator, moving on the upper level of the two.
As he descended, the stairs were directly above deep pools of incandescent lava, the red light illuminating the room, reflecting on his face as he looked down.
He tightly gripped the handrail, enjoying the hot steam rising from below towards his face, covering it with a light sheen of sweat. Looking out into the sea of fire, he felt no dizziness nor fear of burning, but the temperature was starting to rise and staying there for long would lead to later problems.
The android kept walking on the upper level, the walkways expanding in a serpentine way over the lava, and he wondered if the humans had designed them that way for a specific purpose or because they enjoyed lengthening such a dangerous road, for the joy of feeling fear.
Zhongli was not an expert with emotions but, according to humans, it protected them from danger.
He wondered if they really enjoyed the thrill of it. After all, if they were so indifferent towards their lives, why found the YoRHa Project?
Zhongli was just like that. He never tried to give himself answers, but he questioned everything. He admired every detail, believing in the idea that everything on Earth had a reason to exist.
Why take such a long walk through the incinerator? If a weapon had manufacturing defects, wouldn’t an automatic incineration system have been more convenient? In any case, he saw no machinery nor wires that would dictate this, only flat walls.
Maybe they wanted to examine everything manually, keeping a hint of human touch in the mass production and personally throwing away the waste… then the question stays the same. Perhaps it was to optimize the space? To use every area to the fullest, perhaps making sure that the temperature didn’t vary?
In any case, the heat of the lava should have expanded the metal and, over the years, caused the material to give way, leading to the collapse of the entire upper floor. These were physical laws studied and spread by men themselves, Zhongli doubted they did not take them into account.
The android hoped that the foundations supporting the upper floor were strong enough to avoid its collapse.
Yet he refused to give himself an answer, because the mystery fascinated him. Knowing everything would not have given any value to life, and he already knew more than he would have liked.
“̸̱̱̦̫͛̉̂T̴̗͔̰̝̾̾͛̈̕h̷̬͉͖͈͌̆̈́ȧ̸̟͓̱̃͘͠͠ǹ̸̙̓̓̿̏…̴͔͇̦͍̼̂͛u̵̖̺̱̔̈́…̷͇̱̓̿̒̋̊h̴̻͚̘̄̿̈́a̸̫̩̩̾͒r̵̩͎̓͠d̴̢͎̯͓̩̋̾̇͘͝ ̶̝̒ŵ̸͙͖̪̙̀̋̚ö̶̺̺̭̬̯́̓̀r̵̮̘̤͑͐̀͝…̸̻̼̓̅̀͝ḓ̸̠̟̹̃̔ȧ̷͇̣̮̫̆̂ͅy̵̳͈̆̆̍̆͘…̷̧̨̻̹͑̕͝d̸̲̻̥͒́̕͘o̴͈͎̔̑̋͝n̵̪̠͂e̶̛̻̜̪̿͛́́͜ͅ…̸̨͌̉͊́”̶͍̎
A muffled, robotic voice echoed in the room, breaking the silence. It spoke a human language incomprehensible to the android, as if it were an old recording.
“What is it saying?” He asked Childe, aware of how his human knowledge was more thorough than his own.
“It’s just data from the old world, but it doesn’t sound very clear from here. I can’t tell you what it’s talking about specifically, it’s probably a recording meant for humans, or worse, created by the machines.” The ginger didn’t fail to answer, more cultured than he seemed on the surface.
Zhongli, in reality, admired his intelligence. “In that case, what they do doesn’t deserve any explanation nor meaning.” Childe concluded with contempt towards the creatures’ behaviour, leaving Zhongli deep in thought.
When the Battler left the final room, he finally found himself outside, no longer above the scalding lava, but in the warm rays of the sun that reached him through the fog.
“I searched through the entire factory, but there was nothing that looked like our objective.” The Battler was standing on the perimeter of another large circular chamber, though this one was very different from the structures he previously visited.
This structure too had several floors, but it was smaller, and it seemed to be more like an elevated platform rather than a simple room. “I don’t know… Maybe they moved it somewhere else…” Childe deduced.
On the landings between the stairs, he stopped to look at the view.
The ruins of a city were visible from that side, tall buildings covered in vegetation gave a change of perspective, making him realize how high up he was.
It was like walking on the shoulders of a giant.
“Are they…” A large flock of birds emerged from the trees, rising toward the sun in a V formation, like a black blanket covering the sky.
“You mean the birds?” The other concluded. “Yes, there are more animals and plants here than there were initially. It’s probably caused by the changes in the environment.”
In fact, it looked more like a forest than a city. The ruins were barely visible beneath the thick foliage of the trees, many branches pierced the windows and emerged from the opposite side of the buildings.
He was not surprised by the amount of flora and fauna, but he had not seen the flight of birds for a very long time, utterly enchanted by their choreography.
In a world of androids and machines, he was happy to finally see some organic living beings.
“Many animals became extinct during the war, only moose and wild boars have been located in the city - besides birds. Oh! I have been told, however, of the presence of various species of fish!” Childe exclaimed with joy. “Jeez, it would be wonderful to find some free time for fishing.”
“Don’t let them become extinct too, 9S.” Since the ginger android discovered the hobby of fishing, marine species were also in danger.
“Don’t worry, 2B Xiansheng! I’ll throw them back into the sea when I’m done, it’s not like we can feed on them anyway.” Some fish had toxic proteins, he once almost got himself killed by a mackerel. The androids were equipped with working digestive systems, but food wasn’t essential, it was nothing more than a treat.
“Xian…sheng?”
“Ah! It means Mister, I read it in a human report!”
Zhongli blushed, glad that Childe wasn’t there at the moment. He should have said something, but he just stayed silent. Xiansheng sounded cute.
He mimicked the sound with a shy movement of his lips. The word was soft, as if he were tasting snow.
He found himself liking the nickname.
A little further on, the factory led to a large steel and concrete bridge jutting out over the sea, its end not in sight, like a wide landing strip. Probably used to transport massive machinery.
Zhongli stopped just before the bridge, looking around for anything that might resemble a Goliath weapon, but found only a stretch of water as a backdrop to the concrete floor. Behind him, the factory rose in all its majesty, above the clouds, feeling like prey in a dead end ready to be devoured by a predator larger than itself.
If he couldn't get anywhere on the inside, moving forward outside seemed like the only option.
He took his first steps on the platform, uncertain of his destination. Wide stairs led him towards the sea, but the area remained deserted, except for a few metal boxes probably used to transport material. In the meantime, Childe followed his position, trying to come to his aid given the lack of information from his side.
“There should be another factory on the other side of that bridge,” he began, scanning his map, “it’s a long walk, but we should take a look anyway.”
“Strange that it is so far from the coordinates they gave us,” Zhongli mused, suspicious of the simplicity of the mission.
“True. Command usually never gets a position wrong. Who knows, maybe they get the wrong information from time to time, too, huh?” Childe chuckled, as if he had received an answer to his existential questions.
Zhongli remained silent, focusing his senses on the surrounding territory.
A deathly silence overwhelmed him, only the sound of the waves was audible, as they restlessly moved.
He felt a shiver run down his spine, his synthetic skin recognized a drop in temperature, and he stopped his movements.
The air shifted, lifting his skirt upwards, strands of hair caught between his lips, and as clouds blotted out the sun entirely, the ground shook and the waves surged. He tried to listen for any sound from Childe or his Pod, waiting in case they sensed enemy movement, but neither seemed to notice the change in atmosphere. “I’m not sure.”
Zhongli turned back, tempted by the curiosity that sometimes led him to ignore his own common sense: as when you warn someone who suffers from vertigo not to look down into a ravine, he did not follow the order he had self-imposed and abandoned himself to his instincts.
From the end of the bridge, where he had been walking earlier, the shrill sound of metal scraping grew louder. He had a sense of deja vu, memories from a few moments ago, before he had run into Childe.
The latter was still a few hundred meters away from him, in flight. He secretly hoped that the android would not come closer, that he would make a second round of patrolling around the factory, or that he would return home away from danger.
He was only a Scanner, running into Goliath weapons was not his job, Zhongli would have to fight alone and he was sure of that. He was the one who had to lose his life in combat, not Childe.
When Zhongli first met him, he recognized his worth as a Scanner. Nothing escaped him, hacking was like a game to him and there was no technological tool that he couldn't tinker with masterfully: one day he was even able to fix a Pod from scratch, even though it wasn't required as a basic skill. Childe didn't participate in training because he didn't need it, he himself was convinced of that. The Command enlisted him in a mission right away, at the same time Zhongli was also called up.
Childe was an elite member, skilled in every field including combat. He was truly the best support he could ask for, the Command’s ace in the hole.
Zhongli did not doubt his strength on the battlegrounds, but he could feel his stomach turning at the mere thought of something hurting him.
From a pair of tracks on either side of the bridge, used for transporting goods, the wheels of new mechanical arms hurtled towards him at high speed.
There were two of them, wriggling furiously like lizard tails that had their bodies torn off, as if searching for their own remains. Despite the tight grip on his aching heart, Zhongli forced himself to remain calm.
The arm on his left dodged the target, ramming straight into the protective wall on either side of the bridge, knocking a piece of the fence into the water. Its twin came much closer to the android, who dodged it in time before it could throw him all the way down the road.
Zhongli prepared for another battle against not one, but two new Goliaths.
“9S-” The Scanner interrupted him, the situation made clear by the ruckus he could hear on the other end. “I’ll be with you in a few minutes, hang in there!”
The clash, this time a double one, forced him to keep his eyes wide open to launch an attack and avoid another. If his companions had survived the landing, perhaps things would have been easier to manage, but he had only himself to rely on while waiting for Childe to arrive. After all, Zhongli was excellent both in a team and individually.
When the circular saws stopped spinning, he counterattacked the only weak point that could be seen in front of him. Hitting the arm would have been the equivalent of trying to cut through a wall, a single scratch on the wall and the sword broken.
Not even the Pod's blows would stop the beasts, it was better not to waste any energy.
The bridge collapsed a little further ahead due to the impact, the android looked under his feet at the waves that crashed restlessly, stuck in a dead end when the enemy aimed at him again.
Zhongli slid under the arm, his knees scraping against the concrete scratching slightly, his boots no longer shiny due to the dust that rose from the rubble behind him. He found himself in the center of the battlefield, behind him the saw that missed him stood still, parallel to the ground as if offended for not having hit him.
The second arm rotated slower than its twin, leaning threateningly towards the android, but still unmoving.
The Battler took his spear back in hand and ran towards the target in front of him, but another rumble prevented him from continuing, making 2B lose his balance. Clearly exhausted, the arms creaked like broken bones as they rose, retreated back towards the tracks from which they had come, and hurtled back at high speed.
Right on the square where Zhongli had been standing a moment prior, the arms approached the large cylindrical structures he was walking on, lifting themselves up and anchoring themselves to the structure, all under the eyes of the android, admiring such technology.
Joints joined and hooks reconnected, as the structure slowly rose from the ground. It turned out to be nothing more than the torso of an even larger, titanic machine, the owner of the two arms.
“Enemy target located.” Every suspicion was verified by his Pod.
The Goliath weapon. He was finally facing his true target.
So tall that, of its head, only the red glow of its eyes could be seen, filtering through the fog like headlights.
Zhongli's small form appeared even tinier in front of the colossus, who leaped across the distance separating them, the ground shook again and the Goliath ended up with its lower limbs directly in the water, its entire torso still clearly visible above the bridge.
The android remained incredulous in front of the enemy. The weapon possessed a sublime charm, a majesty capable of attracting and disturbing him like the eruption of a volcano, like the stormy sea that surrounded them.
In his mind he kept asking himself ‘how?’, how could such a body support all that weight? How could this monster move so easily despite the long hibernation? How can machines produce such incredible weapons? Curiosity was rekindled in him, not only the human race triggered it, but also the machines themselves. Truly a fascinating enemy.
It was when the Goliath raised its new right arm against him that Zhongli remembered he was in the thick of battle. The android evaded its attacks in quick succession but only one fear arose in him: not pain or destruction, but Childe’s arrival.
He hadn't contacted him again, he was still flying and would have gotten there in a few minutes, and Zhongli just wanted him to go as far away from there as possible.
If Zhongli had been injured, he could have self-destructed and awakened in his warm bed in a new, safe, intact body, with a simple data transfer to the Bunker server. 2B, however, was nothing more than a Battler model, not a Scanner. He would have been able to transfer his physical and psychological data, but not the memories attached to it, he neither had time nor skills to do so.
If Childe were to intervene instead, Zhongli was sure that the young man would have tried in every way to save the older one, sacrificing much of his precious time to transfer the brunette's data instead of his own, thus risking getting hurt more than necessary. The Battler knew of the ginger's thirst for battle, and he was sure that if he hadn't gotten hurt for the first reason, the second would have been the cause.
In the end, Zhongli was simply worried. A weird thing for an exceptional android like him.
‘Our attacks do nothing but tickle it,’ he focused on his defense again, the weapon still trying to hit him with its limbs as if he were a punching bag. The umpteenth spectacle repeated itself, the machine attacked, Zhongli dodged, parried, or counterattacked with the Pod’s lasers. It was a stalemate: challenging such a colossus alone, as powerful as the Battler was, would have proved to be a mission nothing more than inconclusive.
The position was disadvantageous, a bridge in the middle of the sea and the enemy to have full control of the waters, the foggy weather obscured its movements, the slow but heavy attacks made the ground shake, destabilizing him. He did not have a minimal chance of victory. Without even a Flight Unit he would not have accomplished anything, the Bunker would never have sent one to support him.
It was when his lips surrendered and he called out for his partner’s help that Childe arrived in the blink of an eye from behind the titan, light filtering from behind his figure, bringing his body in its glow and making him shine like an angel once again.
Deep inside his heart, denying it was useless. 2B wished he was there with 9S, fighting with the risk of losing his life, even though half of him was crying and begging for him to save him.
The Scanner passed under the Goliath’s arm, facing it without any fear, face to face.
Contact between the two was reactivated, the ginger’s voice was clear and determined, a contagious courage: “Are you okay? Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine.” A bitter smile formed on the Battler's face, that boy could lie to anyone but him. The Scanner didn’t care about the mission, not when it was Zhongli himself who was in his company. Childe would have burned the entire planet, the one he loved so much, if Zhongli had asked him to.
“It’s our target, we must destroy it.” The Battler changed the topic.
Childe backed away, the stupid machine seemed to ignore him. “Sure… I’ll provide support.”
‘Damn thing, there’s just no way to distract you!’ He clicked his tongue in annoyance. It had to keep its rusty hands away from Zhongli or he would go and tear out every electrical cable with his bare hands himself.
Childe extended his right arm towards the enemy, ready to hack. Thin beams of light shot from his hand towards the weapon, in an attempt to penetrate it and capture its core, but upon contact they were bounced back by its red shell. ‘Even a defense system, how annoying can this species be?’
Feeling the hacking attempt, the Goliath finally turned its head towards the Unit in the sky.
Its red eyes glowed in challenge, its limbs stopped attacking the android on the ground who, in the meantime, had been trying to evade their incessant attacks.
Childe watched the giant disappear under his bewildered gaze, slowly sinking into the waters, carrying debris and sea foam with it. Entering the deep blue until it was invisible to the naked eye. It had let itself drown, without a single reaction of counterattack.
A dead silence filled the scene. Zhongli was catching his breath, unable to explain the reason for such an action by the enemy, but sure it hadn’t surrendered. Zhongli shot Childe questioning looks, but the Scanner couldn’t explain his behavior either.
"Where did it go?" the Battler asked.
“I have no idea. These lifeforms don’t follow a damned train of thought.” The ginger growled, the word ‘lifeform’ coming out with absolute contempt. They remained silent, trying to sense any form of movement from the sea, which had calmed down after the target’s disappearance.
“Did it feel so offended by me that it committed suicide?” The Scanner sneered, “We should-”
“Alert: Incoming enemy attack from below.” At the Pod’s warning, Zhongli saw the concrete crack open below his feet.
From beneath the sea, the Goliath heavily charged upwards to crush the only stable point on which Zhongli could fight, rising from the water like a volcano ready to erupt in a surprise attack. He could hear Childe's voice yelling at him to move away, but the noise made his ears ring.
Adrenaline allowed the android to duck just in time to avoid the impact, but the shock sent him flying a few feet ahead, sending him tumbling onto the rough ground. Zhongli gritted his teeth as he felt his uniform tear, his knees and elbows burning from the salty air blowing over his wounds.
The enemy returned to the surface, water cascading from his body, some algae getting stuck between the gears making them creak. Zhongli recognized its cunning, a blow from below was not expected, especially if it was carried out by a noisy colossus. He pondered how it had managed to hide its signal so as not to be intercepted.
He tried to push himself up with his arms, the Pod came alongside him and scanned his body from top to bottom to make sure there was no maintenance to be done, but it was only superficial damage.
“Stay in position. It’ll attack soon.” Childe tried to move closer, but Zhongli stopped him. He stood on shaky legs, the Pod giving him a gentle push on his back to help him straighten. He felt his right ankle weaken, probably twisted.
Zhongli took no direct hits, but his clothes were ruined anyway. He was tempted to dust himself off, but there was no point in doing so in the middle of a battle.
Childe stood still in front of the Goliath, inspecting Zhongli from head to toe to make sure he was okay. Not even just its electrical wires, he would have torn its entire head off its body and thrown it into the incinerator.
The Battler looked a bit as if he were limping, but that wouldn’t hinder his performance, the Scanner knew it. ‘Xiansheng is so admirable!’ Knowing himself, in his place he would have shouted at that wreck just for the fun of it. Its tin brain, if it had one, wouldn’t have understood him anyway.
A shriek from the Goliath and smoke billowing from its body caught their attention. Missiles shot out of its back, a good dozen rockets shooting at full speed at the aching Battler.
His Pod barely had time to create a defensive barrier around his body, but Childe quickly took control of the rockets, spread his arms for better control, and connected to the data of each missile like a parasite. The weapons glowed yellow, the hacking perfectly executed.
He turned the enemy’s own technology against itself, the missiles turned 180 degrees and flew straight at it, while the defenseless weapon took every attack full on. The crash caused some clouds of smoke and dust, and the Goliath retreated, three missiles landing directly at its head and two in the area where its core was located.
Its movements stopped, its head tilted as if there was no energy left to support it and its red eyes turned off.
Everything went silent again as before, perfectly still. All those breaks had become diabolically frustrating.
“Has it been defeated?” Zhongli called back, seeing Childe approach the colossus to examine it.
“It would seem so. But we can’t trust this monster, it’s completely useless,” the ginger stated. “The signals emitted by these weapons are never clear.” He was furious, those surprise missiles would have caused serious damage to the Battler, thank goodness he was reactive.
“9S,” Zhongli’s gentle voice made him calm down, anger dispersed in the air and Childe turned towards his Sun, “thank you.”
The Scanner flashed a bright smile, “I’m just your best support, Xiansheng!”
The older smiled slightly, allowing his sunflower to bathe in his rays. “Are you going to tell me where you got that name?”
Childe snorted in amusement, hands on his hips as he slowly approached the Battler, “I told you! Humans used it, in the language known as ‘Chinese’!”
Zhongli let the Pod remove their shield, watching Childe approach. “Did you find any more words?”
“Yes! You may not know this, but I always save pictures of what I find in my archives. I can show you someday, humans had an immense cultural heritage.”
The Battler took the Scanner’s offer into consideration. He wondered what kind of relics Childe found during his expeditions to Earth. “Maybe one day…”
Suddenly, a red glow from behind his Flight Unit made his heart sink into a sea of fear. “9S! Behind you-”
His voice didn’t reach him in time, the Goliath’s left arm rose upwards and hit the android with all its remaining strength before shutting down completely, as if its were one last desperate attempt to kill him.
Shocked away like an insect, Childe was thrown into the air, his Flight Unit flying in the opposite direction under the force of the blow.
Zhongli watched as the Scanner's body fell from the sky and crashed onto the platform that formed the machine's back. The android's breath got stuck in his throat and his eyes widened, but his legs moved again thanks to the rush of terror that spread through his artificial veins.
He ran towards the Goliath’s body, it was kneeling and leaning towards him unconscious, allowing him to climb onto its torso.
“9S’ Black Box signal detected,” the Pod scanned the area. “No response to communications.”
Zhongli continued his climb upwards when the structure shook and rose upwards once again, making him swear inside, ‘Does this thing never die?’. He wanted to cry in frustration, but held back. 2B should have calmed down, really, he was already risking a lot with all those emotions in his body, but Childe was injured and his biggest fear was coming true. For once, he turned a blind eye to the rules.
9S’ Black Box was still active, and he vowed to keep it that way. He wouldn’t lose him again.
“Pod, send a support request to Command!”
“Negative. Communications have been jammed.” At that moment he realized that not only were the gods against them, but the Bunker was also unreliable. That’s just great.
Command did everything but help them, they could have sent new YoRHa Units when their comrades were killed at the beginning of the mission, supporting them with new weapons or simply contacting them, but it did nothing of what he had hoped. He made one last attempt, directly calling his Operator, but there was no signal even from 6O.
They were officially alone.
He climbed one last ladder, finally getting in front of Childe's lifeless body.
Saying he was in terrible conditions was an euphemism: the boy lost his left arm and leg in the impact, from broken joints the several cables that made up his nervous and circulatory system could be seen, electric shocks running through them, the flesh lacerated as if it had been harshly torn off.
Several burns covered his body, one in particular on his right leg revealed the mechanical parts beneath the skin. If the Pod hadn’t found 9S’ signal, it would certainly have mistaken him for dead.
Zhongli felt bile rise in his throat, his heart tightening at the sight of the ginger in such a horrible state.
“I have to repair him!” The android rushed over, kneeling down and carefully lifting his head. Childe gasped for air, barely conscious. “Pod, get me staunching gel and logic-virus vaccines. Then access the server—”
“Inadvisable. The subject’s vital signs are too poor to attempt field repair.” The Pod interrupted.
“Shut up!” Zhongli shouted at it, his mask of coldness completely broken. “Just do what I say!”
His voice trembled as he caressed the android’s pale face, cool to the touch despite the burns. He watched Childe’s lips move as he panted.
The ginger tried to move his fingers, squeezing the Battler’s hand with what little strength he had left. “2B… Just go,” he coughed, his throat burning. “You shut up too!” He rested his head on the younger's chest, desperately seeking the soothing beats of his artificial heart.
Childe intertwined their fingers, licked his dry lips to moisten them. Zhongli looked at him, his eyes behind the visor wet with unshed tears. “We’re soldiers, 2B… We take pride in our… service,” he paused to cough, “please… kill this bastard, once and for all.” He forced a reassuring smile, not so convincing. Zhongli pressed his lips together tightly, swallowing his frustration.
He looked at Childe's face, silently willing to give up to their fate and finally die beside his partner, but reason forced him to fight for the greater good. 2B’s expression turned cold as he hid his anxieties.
Zhongli reluctantly untied their fingers, gently placed the Scanner's weak hand on the ground and stood up, giving Childe a silent farewell, praying that nothing would happen to him in his absence.
Childe called back to his Flight Unit, “I have already…transferred command to you…” It was ready to welcome its new Unit.
“Please.” The Scanner repeated.
As Childe watched the Battler climb into his Unit and fly away, he felt cold numbing his fingers. The Sun that until a moment before had given him the strength to live stopped shining onto the android’s body, plunging him into a glacial silence.
The fog thickened.
His body didn't respond to his commands, the exposed wires pulled his skin making him shiver, but the pain of his wounds was no greater than the pain of frustration, of coldness.
Childe cursed each of these mindless creatures, so stupid yet capable of depriving him of the only joy he truly wanted.
The vibrations of the Goliath mimicked the rocking of a cradle, he felt his eyelids heavy, longing to close them and sleep soundly. He could hear Zhongli attacking the core of the titan, finally at an advantage thanks to the Flight Unit. If he had known, Childe would have handed control of the Unit to the Battler long before he ended up in this situation.
Childe knew he was in the right hands, Zhongli was an excellent soldier even in flight. In fact, perhaps better than him in this.
He was sure that, very soon, everything would be over. Zhongli will destroy their objective according to plan, then return to the Scanner and try to help him in any possible way.
Childe smiled, a small laugh in the silence.
In his heart, he felt the affection of the older one. He was aware of how 2B hid his feelings, like a good YoRHa soldier.
Childe felt honored, fighting alongside Zhongli was really the best way to leave.
He heard his personal Pod approaching, and slowly turned his head towards the little robot, smiling at it.
“Pod, I would like to connect Zhongli’s memory data to the server…”
“Alert: Memory data from 9S has not yet been up-” Childe cut it off, not wanting to hear any unnecessary protests. “It doesn’t matter… Pod, connect Zhongli’s data.”
The Pod accepted the order, starting to perform the upload of 2B’s data.
Childe gazed at the sky in resignation, waiting for the loading to finish and for Zhongli to complete the mission.
“2%...”
“5%...”
9S wondered if up there, beyond the clouds that blocked the sun’s rays, the Bunker was watching them. He wondered if it was weak of him to abandon himself to fate like this. He wondered if his feelings had made him a disgrace to the eyes of the Command, instead of a soldier. Maybe death was what he deserved for having felt such sweet sensations in such a cruel world.
Regardless of the answer, Childe would have wanted nothing more. He will remain selfish until death.
“15%...”
“23%...”
He wasn’t ashamed of himself. In fact, loving Zhongli was worth more than anything else.
Childe knew that, once he died, he would return to the Bunker as good as new. His Black Box hadn’t been destroyed, only his body. He also knew that he had little time, just enough for Zhongli’s data to be transferred.
He didn’t care about his own.
“38%...”
He knew the consequences and couldn’t care less.
Of course, deep inside himself, he wanted to stay by Zhongli’s side forever. It wasn’t just his mind that wanted it, but his body as well.
He thanked the Command for having gifted him all five senses. It had done one good thing.
Zhongli’s scent was as delicate as a rose, his beauty had the stars visible from the Bunker green in envy, his voice was warm and soft even behind the typical coldness.
“44%...”
“57%...”
Who knows what it would have been like to touch and taste him… He was sure he would have loved it. Androids didn’t need food, it was optional to feed, but the ginger remembered the taste of the berries he found one day on an expedition. They were sweet and sour at the same time.
“2B…” he forced himself to reactivate the voice contact. “Your Pod can hack into the Goliath’s weak points.”
“I told you to shut up!” The Scanner laughed at his response, Zhongli sounding like a mad wife waiting for her husband to hurry back home.
“I spotted it earlier, inspecting its structure… It’s its arms, 2B. Hack it.”
The lack of response confirmed that the Battler would follow his advice.
“72%...”
Touching Zhongli, his face, admiring those pools of amber that he had the honor of seeing only once.
Would his tears have been bitter? What would his skin have tasted like? Would it have tasted like berries, or salty like sea water? However, of one thing he was sure: it would have been soft and smooth like silk, he could sense it with his eyes. Was he defective, or were humans able to do that as well?
Now he really wanted to caress his skin.
Time was a real bastard.
Childe admired the human race, and just like it he wanted to experience the pleasures of life and satisfy his senses.
Being a soldier was as satisfying as it was suffocating.
“99%...”
A dreamy sigh escaped his lips. The Pod then signaled the end of the loading and a loud blast resounded in the atmosphere.
Zhongli had pierced the Goliath's head with his spear, causing it to explode. Its core ended up in a thousand pieces.
"Target eliminated." They had brought it down.
The blow sent him leaping into the air, falling in pain a few meters away from Childe.
Seeing his Zhongli, the wounded android crawled towards his partner with severe difficulty, supporting himself with the help of his only remaining arm.
The Scanner arrived in front of him, helping the Battler to sit, finally facing each other. Childe wasted no time in looking at his tired face and smiling at him. “You did it, Xiansheng.”
Zhongli took deep breaths, starved of air. He was relieved that Childe was able to get up, he still had a chance to fix him. “Pod, contact Command. Request assistance-”
The Scanner placed his index finger on the other’s lips, gaze fixed on it as he slowly caressed them. “That won’t be necessary…”
The waters opened around them, new Goliath weapon signals activated, and three new giants surrounded them, as if they had come to avenge their dead comrade.
“I’ve been noticing their signals since I landed up here… I can imagine that this is not going to end well.”
Childe removed his fingers from Zhongli’s lips and brought them to his chest, a yellow light illuminating his face as he pulled the Black Box from his body.
The Black Box was glowing in his palm, the energy inside it still flowing. “Our Black Boxes…”
Zhongli looked at his hand, bewildered. “They are ready, it’s the only way to save ourselves,” the ginger continued.
The brunette pursed his lips, bit his cheek painfully to hold back any comment.
He blinked quickly to chase away the tears. Self-destruction was the only way to return to the Bunker alive and complete the mission. Two Black Boxes making contact…
“Alright…” He lowered his head, bitter resignation clearly visible on his face, and Childe hoped that a gentle awakening in his warm bed would cheer him up. “Requesting… destruction of hostile enemies via Black Box reaction.”
The Pod’s response was not long in coming, as the Goliath weapons took steps towards them.
“I’ll be fine, Zhongli,” he reassuringly smiled, “it was an honor to fight alongside you.”
A lone tear ran down the older’s cheek, but he still smiled. The younger was tempted to wipe it off his face.
For one last time, he unleashed his solar rays on Childe’s face. “The honor is mine, Childe.”
As their two cores touched, an intense light spread across the entire area. The explosion absorbed all surrounding noise, as well as the remaining enemies, flooding the bridge with its warm rays, like a supernova.
With that self-destructive action, Zhongli said goodbye to his partner and their memories, unaware that between the two, he would be the only one to keep them.
The world went silent again and their consciousnesses reconnected to the Bunker.
━━━━⊱༒︎ • ༒︎⊰━━━━
Zhongli was staring at the stars, the deep darkness embracing them and bringing them together in a large family, his face illuminated by their light.
He was sitting on the window ledge, his mind burdened with so many thoughts. The corridors of the Bunker were deserted at that hour, granting him a bit of calm before going to bed.
Zhongli remembered.
As he awoke, the realization crushed him like an immovable weight on his chest, and he suffered. He suffered the knowledge that he still possessed those precious memories, once again intact inside him.
Childe sacrificed his own memories to keep his partner’s, because there wasn’t enough time to save them both.
The mission was a success, at least for the Command. The explosion eliminated every remaining Goliath, and that soldiers lost their lives was always a secondary problem. But they survived, and no one had to mourn them.
The only one to mourn them was him.
He said goodbye to the stars and walked away from the window, into the dark corridor. In front of his room, he met Childe, who was approaching from the opposite side.
The Scanner was in perfect health, the wounds on his body were no longer there and he walked perfectly on two legs. A satisfied smile adorned his face.
“2B!” They stopped, facing each other. “Mission accomplished and blah blah blah… The Goliath weapons have been wiped out and-”
“9S?”
“Yes, Sir?” Childe straightened his back and stood at attention.
“Thank you…” the Scanner looked at him, perplexed. “For uploading my data to the Bunker, I mean.”
Silence fell, Childe’s smile fading as his gaze wandered over Zhongli’s expression.
“Oh? I did that?” He cocked his head to the side. “Sorry, 2B. I don’t remember it at all.”
‘You damn selfish…’ the Battler thought, with a hint of affection. “I probably didn’t have enough time to back up my memories as well.” Childe continued. “They are only intact up to the point just before we rendezvoused.”
Zhongli looked down at the ground, the ivory white floor mirrored the emptiness in his heart as well as the emptiness in Childe’s memory.
He was right, Childe no longer remembered. “I see.”
Childe smiled at him, raising his left hand to his heart. Fingers straight against his chest and a proud smile on his face. “Glory to Mankind.” The famous YoRHa greeting.
Zhongli thought back to their origins, to the Project, to Humanity waiting for their victory. He remembered why feelings were forbidden to androids.
Mimicking him, his left hand rose. He could feel the slow beats of his heart marking the passing seconds.
“Glory to Mankind…”
Childe advanced down the corridor, leaving Zhongli motionless behind him.
The Battler could see his back getting further and further away, until he disappeared into the darkness.
With his left hand still on his aching heart and his right hand clenching a tight fist, he hoped with all his heart that this world could give them peace, sooner or later.
He promised himself to wait for the future, no matter how painful the wait… When the Project is over, they will no longer be soldiers.
They will be able to enjoy a peaceful life and abandon the war.
The Earth will be theirs again.