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It was supposed to be a run of the mill bounty target.
Zhongli wanted to come along, as well as Diluc but the Traveler insisted on them staying behind in the teapot to catch a break. Plus, the target was merely a regular ruin guard, which was weak to cryo and hydro, and took more damage from catalyst wielders.
So the Traveler had brought him, Klee and the harbinger Tartaglia along with them to take care of the target.
Tartaglia, also known as Childe, who he only had the pleasure of meeting once, when the Traveler first introduced them to each other and asked for them to get along.
It should have been a piece of cake.
And then the abyss mages showed up.
Whoever posted the bounty had neglected to mention the trio of pyro, cryo and hydro abyss mages attending said ruin guard.
While the cryo one was easily dealt with thanks to Klee and the ruin guard being dispatched with ease thanks to the power of hydro and cryo combined, Kaeya had been a bit careless and found himself trapped in a hydro bubble.
"Kaeya gege!"
From inside, he was able to make out Klee's red form, trying to help in popping the bubble. Unbeknownst to her, the pyro mage lift up its staff and aim a fireball towards the young knight. Kaeya's eyes widened.
As soon as Klee popped the balloon, he reached out a hand to shield her, but he saw a gray flash.
"Look out, little one!"
In the blink of an eye, Childe stood in front of Klee, and shot a hydro tipped arrow into the air at the pyro mage's shield, the riptide effect vaporizing it and rendering the mage defenseless.
Kaeya staggered to his feet and launched a cryo strike, freezing it and going for the kill, striking the mage. He turned to look for the hydro abyss mage only to find Klee's wide smile as her extra bombs went off, the mage's loot left behind.
Kaeya breathed out a sigh of relief, walking over to the young knight.
"Good job Klee, you did well," Kaeya praised, ruffling Klee's hat. Klee's grin widened.
"It's not just me! Ajax gege helped me with that mean Mr. Fluffball!" Klee said with a wide grin.
Kaeya's eyes furrowed. "Ajax?"
Klee nodded. "Yeah, Ajax gege is great isn't he? We should thank him too!" She grabbed Kaeya's hand and led him over to where Childe, no, Ajax apparently, was.
He was leaning against a tree next to the Traveler, a small smile on his face as he saw the little knight approaching him.
Kaeya can't help but feel that it was forced.
"Hey little one, we did pretty well, didn't we?" He asked, kneeling down to Klee's level.
Klee enthusiastically nodded, her hat nearly falling from how hard she was shaking her head. "Yep! Thanks for helping me against mister Fluffball! He was being very mean to us," She said with a pout.
Ajax laughed.
"Of course! I am here to help, after all." He said with a grin, earning a laugh from Klee.
In this moment, Kaeya noticed something. He could hear how shallow his breathing was and he could make out what seemed to be a dark red mark around his stomach.
"Then is it time for us to go back? Can you go fish blasting with me and Kaeya gege later then, Ajax gege?" Klee asked, sheepishly holding her hands behind her back.
Ajax chuckled. "That seems like a lot of fun, but I don't know if Kaeya over here will let me join. How about it, mister Cavalry Captain?"
Kaeya could see his breathing getting shallower by the minute.
"Why not? The more the merrier. Plus, I've heard you're quite the fisherman yourself, Klee could use some practice," he said.
He smiled. "That would be nice."
He stood to his full height, but as if it was too much for him, his eyes fluttered closed and he started to fall forward.
Kaeya acted fast and quickly caught him in his arms. Despite his gloves, he could feel Childe burning up through the fabric.
"Ajax gege? Are you okay?"
Kaeya looked over to the Traveler, who nodded and pulled out their Teapot, and brought them into it.
When they arrived, Kaeya, along with a worried Klee, led Childe into the med bay the Traveler had set up.
Kaeya brought him over to one of the beds and laid him there as gently as he could. Childe was heating up, and he put his hand over his forehead to put some Cryo in an attempt to cool him down.
He turned to Klee. "Stay here for a bit and watch him for me okay? I'll call Jean and Barbara."
"I don't know why it's not working."
Jean and Barbara had puzzled looks on their faces, as they try to heal Childe from whatever is ailing him, but nothing has worked.
Jean turned to Kaeya. "What happened to him?"
Kaeya recalled seeing Childe jump in front of Klee as the abyss mage released the fireball.
The odd mark around Childe's stomach came to his mind and it clicked.
Could it be that it did actually hit him?
"There were some complications during the bounty. Some abyss mages showed up and I think he may have gotten hit by an attack from one of them."
Jean sighed. "So, it's abyss magic."
They both turned to look at Childe who was now shivering, despite the blankets being laid on him.
"We might have to observe him for a few days, hope that his condition doesn't worsen," Jean concluded. Kaeya nodded.
But he knew what he had to do.
Kaeya had volunteered to watch over Childe for the night, as he knew Jean had a lot on her plate, knowing that it was around the time that the Traveler ventured into the Spiral Abyss at Musk Reef.
He turned to observe the sleeping man, who looked oddly peaceful. The moment of him taking the attack for Klee played back in his mind.
Who knew a man with a reputation for being battle hungry and bloodthirsty had a soft spot for kids? So much so that he would willingly give his real name to them?
"You know, for someone apart of the Fatui, you aren't that bad, Ajax."
His face was uncharacteristically youthful, despite his reputation for bloodshed. Freckles dotted the area below his eyes and around his nose, and his cheeks were red and full. His eyelashes kissed his skin gently, as his eyebrows furrowed and let out shallow breaths.
He looked quite peaceful like this, as if he was just a normal boy, who doesn't have the eyes of someone that had been tainted by the abyss.
The abyss.
His past will always catch up to him.
Kaeya scoffed, and he got up from his chair and walked over to the bedside.
Placing one hand on the sleeping man's chest, he reached for the strap that hid his eye from the world and undid the clasp, letting the cloth fall onto the sheets.
"I guess it's time I make use of this gift of mine once more."
Kaeya closed his eyes and let out words unfamiliar yet familiar, from a language created by a people long forsaken by the gods.
As Kaeya continued, he can feel the clutches of the abyssal magic in Childe slowly fading, his body slowly cooling to a normal temperature, and his breath evened out.
He opened his eyes, and finds himself staring into deep empty blue. Where he expected relief, he only found fear.
One moment his hand was caressing the now warm cheek of the ginger man, the next he was flipped over and pinned to the bed, with a deadly Harbinger holding a newly conjured hydro blade to his throat.
"Give me one damn good reason why I shouldn't slice your throat right now."
Ajax looked crazed, staring down at him with a mix of anger hiding a tinge of fear. The grip on the hydro sword tightened and Kaeya involuntarily gulped.
"You aren't originally from Mondstadt, aren't you?"
Kaeya stared at Ajax.
"How would you know? Have you been to the Abyss yourself?" He asked, which seemed like the wrong move, as Ajax pressed his sword deeper into Kaeya's neck, causing a cut to form and trickle blood.
"You're not in the position to be asking questions here. Tell me, are you or are you not from Khaenri'ah?"
Kaeya bristled and looked away.
For a moment, there was only silence in the room. The only sounds were the two's breathing and the rippling sounds of the hydro blade.
Then a sigh.
"Yes. I am Khaenri'ahn. But that doesn't matter to me anymore."
Kaeya turned to Ajax. fully revealing his eye, with a golden four pointed star pupil against a backdrop of black.
"Why should I care for a nation long gone that left me with an impossible mission and abandoned me?"
Silence.
Then Kaeya felt the hydro blade dissipating into the air, and the other stood up.
Sitting up, he saw Ajax reaching for a box of first aid and pulling out a cloth and bandages. With his Vision, he dampened the towel.
With that, the ginger man walked back towards the bed and sat himself in front of the Khaenri'ahn. Wordlessly, he raised the towel towards him and began dabbing at the wound on Kaeya's neck, cleaning up the dried blood.
"I'm sorry for this."
Kaeya stared at the other, unable to speak. He opted for a quick nod.
Picking up the bandages, he began to wrap them around the wound, fingers gently caressing the skin so as to not irritate the cut. Tying it with a small knot at the back, he leaned back on the bed.
"It looks like we got off on the wrong foot. What do you say to having a re-do on our first meeting?" Ajax said, holding out a hand as if asking for a truce.
Kaeya blinked.
He truly was an enigma.
He took the hand.
"Kaeya Alberich, Calvary Captain of the Knights of Favonius. Are you going to be Klee's fishing instructor?"
A laugh.
"Childe, the 11th Harbinger of the Fatui. But you can call me Ajax. And yes, I do owe her that lesson."