Chapter Text
"Mr. Cyclops!!"
Aether and Lumine watch as a strange boy appears and jumps excitedly around the remains of the ruin guards they have just demolished in one of their daily commissions.
"Wow!! So many Mr. Cyclops!" The bigger kid exclaims again before turning to Aether and Lumine. "Are they all yours??! That’s amazing!!!"
The smaller babies stand awkwardly while the ginger-haired boy continues to gush about how amazing Mr. Cyclops is and compliments them for having the best taste in toys, just like him.
Mr. Cyclops?
Toys ?!
The baby travellers don't really get what's going on, but since their automatic response to anything odd is to pretend they find nothing strange about the locals’ behaviour, it doesn’t really matter. After all, Teyvat is vast and they have only travelled through two nations. Maybe there are places out there where people play with ruin guards rather than blow them to pieces. It certainly sounds like a fun activity.
"My name is Teucer. What are your names?" Teucer asks.
"I am Aether," Aether says, pausing briefly before continuing, "and that is my sister."
The elder twin points towards Lumine, who has somehow toddled a hundred metres away to clear their last daily commission. It also happens to be one of their favourites: defeating the slime balloon.
“Huh? Did you see that?” Teucer tilts his head. He could have sworn he spotted a huge object right next to the small girl when Aether was pointing to her, but now it’s gone.
“See what?” Aether asks, equally puzzled.
Teucer hasn’t yet managed to form an answer when Lumine runs back to them.
“Hi Teucer! I’m Lumine!” She greets the older boy cheerfully, and so Teucer instantly forgets about the slime balloon she obliterated in a blink of an eye.
"Hello!! I have a sister too. And I also have two brothers!" Teucer reverts to his enthusiastic talkative mood. "And I came all the way from Snezhnaya to look for my big brother in Liyue!!" Teucer continues to supply his personal information to the younger babies who never asked but listen with big curious eyes anyway.
"Snezhnaya? Wow!!!”
Teucer nods sagely. “Yes, it is far. But I really miss my brother. He always leaves home for a long, long, long~ time. And so I’ve got to look for him!”
“Ohhh~” Aether and Lumine bob their heads in understanding. Makes perfect sense to them.
“My big brother is the best toy seller in Teyvat, you know?!... So, I saw a boat that seemed like it was selling toys, and I got on it to look for him. When I got off, I just kept walking and walking… and then, I found you and Mr. Cyclops here.”
“Cool!” Aether and Lumine seem very impressed by Teucer’s great sense of direction even if he just accidentally stumbled himself into Liyue.
Aether says, “We can also help you find your brother!”
“Oh!!! Are you sure?”
“Of course!! With more people, you can find your sibling faster.” Lumine nods matter-of-factly.
“But do you have any idea how to find him?” Aether asks.
“Of course! Look what I have here!” Teucer proceeds to show the baby travellers a big pouch of mora. Even after months of eating and living rent free, the little travellers have never seen so much mora in their life. “My brother said to Find a nice person to give this to, and they will take good care of me!”
“Okay,” Aether says, “so now we just need to find a nice person!”
“With this much mora, we can probably find several.” Lumine comments brightly. “Oh, I have an idea!!”
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A few hours later, Childe is made aware of the result of what three kids with too much money can do.
“Boss, there is a wanted poster of you going around the Harbour.”
“What?” Childe laughs. Of all the news he may come back to, he never expects to hear this. “A wanted poster of me? There’s no way…”
Everyone in Liyue knows him, and of course they know how dangerous the Fatui, and especially Harbingers, are. Who would have the gall to put up such a blatant and provocative poster?
“Well, technically, it’s not a wanted poster, but a missing child– I mean, a missing person notice,” Ekaterina says hastily, putting down a badly crumpled paper in front of the Harbinger. “However, this is clearly a sketch of you.”
Childe picks up the sheet of paper and examines the drawing.
"..."
"..."
“... This is clearly me, you say?”
“There are also kites with that face floating around the harbour,” Ekaterina adds instead of answering. “We have to stop this.”
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“I still can’t believe you two know my big brother Ajax!” Teucer proclaims once again through a mouthful of rice cake.
As a matter of fact, the baby twins had recognised the Eleventh Harbinger immediately from the drawing Teucer had produced. They also belatedly realised the close resemblance between the two brothers, from their ginger hair, to their blue eyes, and right down to their willingness to pay the bills.
“Yes, we know Mister Childe. He always plays with us,” Aether confirms, munching on some expensive snacks they just bought. Lumine adds, “Mister Childe left Liyue for a while to return to his hometown though, so we haven’t seen him for a while.”
“Yess, big brother came back to visit home!! But it was not long enough. He left so quickly.” Teucer pouts. “That’s why I wanted to chase after him!!”
The twins bob their heads rigorously once again to show their sympathy with his situation.
“Later, let’s put up some posters at Wangshu Inn as well. Maybe someone there has seen him.”
“Okay!!”
The more straightforward approach would have been to go to Northland Bank and simply ask the reception if Childe has returned, but the twins don't want to risk running into other scary Harbingers, such as Lady Signora, so they decide to take the roundabout way to get to him.
Thankfully, like any time the twins aren’t dealing with a menacing Unknown Goddess, they are incredibly lucky. Merely an hour later, the three kids are flying a Childe kite at the dock (because they are slightly distracted from the hard work of making those posters) when they hear a familiar voice calling out.
“Aha I knew I couldn’t have mistaken that drawing style… TEUCER!!!”
The aforementioned Snezhnayan boy immediately turns around and beams brightly at who he sees from a distance. “BIG BROTHER!!”
The twin travellers watch with mirrored smiles as the two brothers reunite. Though just as soon as all the hugs and head ruffles stop, Childe turns on his big brother mode.
“Teucer, I’m really glad to see you here but– How have I not heard anything about this?”
“Ah– I-It’s because…” Teucer stutters as he tries to explain himself. Aether and Lumine helpfully stand beside the older boy to support him. It takes a minute, but Teucer owns up to his mistake.
“Alright.” Childe gives in with a long sigh. “But next time, you must promise never to do this again, you hear? Everyone is probably very worried back home. And I care a lot for your safety as well.”
“...Okay.” Teucer frowns, fidgeting with his hands nervously, anxious at being scolded. “I promise I won’t do it again.”
“And I hope you gave a big thank you to your new friends as well.” Childe’s expression softens into a smile as he looks over at Aether and Lumine.
“Of course!” Teucer chirps. “I always remember my ‘please’s and ‘thank you’s!”
The twins also chorus in response, “We are happy to help Teucer!”
Childe chuckles and pats the kind travellers’ heads, then reaches out to pat Teucer’s head again as well, because he is not a monster.
“Alright, since you are all here,” Childe says, standing up again, “let's go around and have some fun!”
“YAY!!!” The three kids cheer.
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They have a blast, running around the harbour, kiting, fishing, eating good food, and even explored a ‘Mr. Cyclops factory’.
The twin travellers are surprisingly quick at catching onto Childe’s story as a toy seller to Teucer and play along without question. They even helped to demolish a huge mob of ruin guards which were accidentally activated while the group was playing hide and seek. Childe makes a mental note to shower them with expensive gifts later to express his gratitude.
Back in Snezhnaya, their family and home are well protected by Fatui soldiers, so Childe’s white lie about the ruin guards to Teucer is more or less harmless. But if Teucer continues to sneak out, Childe may need to break the truth to him sooner rather than later. Thankfully, with the exception of what has happened this time, the boy is very obedient– never breaks curfew and always stays home, where it is safe.
“Teucer! Something got caught!!!”
“Quick! Quick! Pull it up!”
“Aah~ Big brother, help!”
The ginger head snaps out of his thoughts and beams as he rushes to help Teucer reel in the fish. Childe also sneakily gathers his hydro power and waits for the right moment. Just as the fishing rod is pulled up to reveal a disappointing catch, the big brother triggers his special skill and a giant hydro whale jumps up from the surface of the ocean.
“WOWW!!”
The kids squeal in delight as the water splashes onto them. They jump up and down, clapping and begging Childe to show it to them again. And he does, of course, because he is not a damn monster.
As he watches the three kids have fun playing in the water without a care in the world, their bright smiles and carefree giggles making even the sun pale in comparison, Childe is reminded yet again that this is what he wishes to protect.
The day could not be any less perfect.
Except maybe for the fact that it is also the day when Tartaglia realises how much of a tragedy it is that humans are only granted with a pair of arms and hands. There are three incredibly cute babies in front of him, all waiting to be picked up and get their little baby heads ruffled, and Childe cannot do it simultaneously with his limited count of limbs.
… Maybe he should raise this issue to Dottore at the next Harbinger meet-up.