Thread by @shire_zc

#ZhongChi #鍾タル where Childe gets stuck in his foul legacy form. Cw: blood,experiment

Childe knew it was dangerous using his foul legacy. That form changes him, both physically and mentally. Each time he chooses to use foul legacy, he could feel himself turning into a monster.

Childe could feel his identity slipping. Sometimes he’d forget his name, other times he’d forget what he did for a living. Usually he’d remember after getting enough rest.

It was because he knew he couldn’t control fully foul legacy which made him want to use it.

Childe wanted to gain control and become more powerful.

Using it is a test, a chance at growing and becoming stronger.

But he used it once too many and he lost control. Childe wasn’t Childe anymore. He was now Foul Legacy, a monster of the abyss who seeked nothing more than to

kill.

Naturally, the Fatui had to capture him so he didn’t injure anymore of their men. They kept him caged and chained. And they’d let him out when they needed him to fight something or cause a distraction. He was even experimented on and kept alive. Childe could feel pain,

but he could not react.

Everything felt like a haze to him. He was like a passenger in his own body, watching everything unfold before his eyes but incapable to change anything.

The day came when the Fatui released Foul Legacy in Liyue. Childe didn’t know what the plan was.

He wasn’t even capable of forming comprehensible thoughts.

Zhongli fought him. It didn’t take long for the adeptus to take him down. Foul Legacy was pinned down beneath the ex Archon, soon to be killed.

The expression on Zhongli’s face made Childe feel something.

His heart ached, knowing that the brunette hated him now. It made him so sad that he wanted to cry.

Beneath the cracked mask revealed foul legacy’s face. Childe’s face had morphed into one that belonged to the creature of abyss.

The violet eyes pooled and tears fell.

If Zhongli saw it a moment too late, he would’ve killed Childe.

Seeing the tears made him realise that perhaps the man he loved was still somewhere in there.

So Zhongli knocked him out and faked his death. The fatui believed him to be dead and didn’t do much about it. Giving

Zhongli endless amount of time to try to wake his lover up.

He tried spells, rituals, herbs and medicines, but nothing seemed to work.

It was difficult to see Childe in the state he was in. Whatever the Fatui had done to him seemed to have only caused him to be stuck in

his foul legacy form.

Zhongli could see the chemicals in his veins. It kept Childe alive, but Zhongli knew that it causes a lot of pain.

He tried his best to elevate the pain, imbuing a little of his on energy into Childe’s body.

Foul legacy seemed to become a bit more

tamed and calm.

Everyday, Zhongli would be there to care for Childe whenever he became agitated. He’d feed him whenever he was hungry and help him rest when it was time to sleep.

But one day, Zhongli returned to his domain to find foul legacy gone. Frantic, he searched around

and found a lump under what looked like foul legacy’s cape. He lifted the cloth up to find Childe back in his human body, lying in a pool of black blood.

Zhongli checked for a pulse and he couldn’t find any. It scared him like nothing ever had. Childe couldn’t be dead. Not like

that. Not when he finally returned to being himself.

The Archon did his best to revive the ginger but his efforts were futile.

Zhongli thought it was the end. He was going to give up, until he noticed a faint blue glow in Childe’s vision.

It was faint but definitely there.

But it was growing weaker with each second that passed.

There was still hope, but what exactly did Zhongli need to do? He didn’t understand. He wasn’t familiar with abyss creatures physiology.

Did Childe need the blood? Whatever that kept him alive? It was the only thing

Zhongli could think of. He gathered the blood that pooled around Childe’s body and purified it with his power. Dirt and dust that shouldn’t be there were removed before he transferred it into Childe’s arteries.

It felt wrong doing it. The black blood in on itself was already

contaminated with whatever dottore had injected into Childe. But if it kept him alive back then, it could very well do the same now.

Relief washed over Zhongli when he saw Childe’s chest rising and falling. His lover was alive and he needed to make the most out of this second

chance.

Zhongli tended to the cuts all over his body and cleaned Childe’s body.

It was weeks before Childe finally woke up. It felt as though he was reborn. It was strange to finally feel himself again.

He stood up unsteadily, looking around curiously. Where was he?

Then he saw himself in the mirror and he screamed. His skin was now pale grey with black veins sprawling all over it. His ears were like an elf’s and his teeth were sharp. And his eyes… he didn’t have a sclera or iris or pupil anymore. It was just a violet mess.

Childe looked

down at his hands to find that they had become claws.

He had become a monster.

Zhongli came rushing when he heard a scream. He held onto Childe as he panicked and cried.

“It’s okay.” Zhongli reassured as Childe started to calm down a little. His panic turned into broken sobs

as he grabbed onto Zhongli as though the world was about to end.

“What happened to me? Why am I like that?” Visions of being chained up like a beast and having vials of poison pumped into his blood flashed before his eyes. It was confusing and terrifying.

“I do not know,”

Zhongli replied quietly, “but I know that the Fatui had mistreated you. You were trapped in your foul legacy form. But it’s over now. You’re safe.”

It took a very long time for Childe to accept what he had become and fully recover. With Zhongli helping him, it was a little

easier than it would have been.

Still, the past would haunt him in his dreams, his nightmares and his everyday life.

But Zhongli would be there to remind him that he was safe, and he was loved.

And for that, he was grateful.

[END]

Lmfao I don’t even know what I’m writing. Was just thinking about monster!childe and happen to end up writing this mess. But good night y’all, I’m heading to bed.