carmine
Sighing, Childe fixed his blazer and splashed a handful of water on his face. Negotiating with the head of this company was like talking to a rock, the guy’s expression didn’t change throughout the meeting, moreover, he looked amused even. If it weren’t for the fact that he needed this deal he would’ve punched the lights out of this guy, which he was confident would knock him out for at least a couple of hours, but again this deal was needed. At least the receptionist was friendly enough to point him in the direction of the washroom and so he cooled off enough to actually function as a normal human being and not kill someone again.
He checked the time, The meeting with the head of Nomora was the last one he had for the day, but he still had a lot of paperwork to finish before he could leave for the day plus his little siblings had asked him to try and come back early, so he would have to speed run through his paperwork as fast as he can which would be a little complicated now because of the irritating piece of rock that the Head of Nomora was.
He walked out of the Men’s restroom and looked at Ekaterina who was waiting outside reading the notes she had managed to write down with the speed Childe was talking to Nomora Head, he watched her frown, a familiar frown that came over her as she has more work for him to do because of some mistake done by one of the employees or himself, and felt dread come over him. He easily guessed that he wouldn’t be able to reach home as early as he had hoped. He ruffled his hair out of the slick back that he had done for the meeting, contemplating how he would finish the extra work that was most likely waiting for him.
“Ekaterina, are you sure you don’t want to freshen up as well?” Childe asked as they had a long drive ahead of them before they reached their company building
“Ah sir no I’m good, but please let's hurry back, The Second Division has found some abnormal data in their recent reports while monitoring the atmosphere, from the summary it suggests something akin to maybe a cyclone. They aren't sure. An urgent email was sent to all those stationed close to report back to HQ to ensure the safety of the employees, if not possible then find a place which can be used to ensure safety” Ekaterina stood up properly from her leaning position on the wall
“What do you mean? Dottore of all people isn't sure about something? Huh I guess miracles do happen” Childe huffed out a laugh, he could almost imagine the frustrated look on Dottore’s face when he couldn't figure something out, it was always a delight to him whenever he could make The Doctor dumbfounded at whatever bullshit he could make up, well that's right before he starts complaining about making hiring process harder, because ‘how could they ever hire someone like Childe in this company’ or how ‘being around Childe is lowering his credibility among his peers’. How Pantalone could manage his husband whining over the littlest thing will always be a mystery to him.
“Well, I don't think it’s a good idea to go back to the city, it’s too far away, better to find a place around here and hope for the best, as much as I don't like the guy, listening to him turns out well…most of the time at least” Childe has many experiences where it didn't turn out well, those instances were significantly less than when things did turn out well. “Send some messages to the main office to secure the building and get someone to get my siblings to safety as well”
His siblings were, unfortunately, very used to handling themselves in case of emergencies and were quite good at it too. So yes although he was worried for them, he also knew that they could handle themselves.
At least for now, he had to find a shelter for Ekaterina, Vlad, and himself. Nadia had opted to stay back in the main city instead of coming here to the tiny area of Minngyue Shan. He didn’t protest he needed someone to make sure his siblings were safe from external threats and he trusted Nadia.
“Should I send Nadia to secure the children sir?” Ekaterina asked while still going through the report that had been sent.
“That's fine, I trust Nadia enough to make sure they don’t get hurt and they are also used to handling emergencies” he shrugged “For now relax, and let’s do this calmly, we need to find a safe place, it needs to be sturdy enough to handle whatever the division thinks is about to happen” he sighed “Oh and send the actual reports to my email too, I’ll go through them in the car while you can find a place for us to stay the night” Childe finger-gunned Ekaterina while grinning
“I will do that sir, but you need to do the rest of the paperwork that you have procrastinated on this past week, There is a lot left from today’s meeting too” Ekaterina watched as her boss lamented his situation and didn’t feel an ounce of regret at his crestfallen appearance at the thought of paperwork that still was left to do.
She rolled her eyes and looked towards the tablet she was holding that had all the notes from the meeting and the report she had just gotten from the atmosphere subdivision. She followed Childe as he walked out to the entrance lobby of the company and quickly compiled the report and the notes of the meeting she had managed to make, It wasn’t her best work but it was the only one she did have. She then sent all of it to Childe’s work email and made sure to mark all the important points that were in it. She sighed as she watched Childe once again get distracted by talking to the receptionist.
“Thank you Miss for pointing us towards the restroom” he smiled at her while waving his hands “We’ll be on our way now”
“Ah it’s no problem” the girl smiled back at him
He then turned towards Ekaterina just to realize she had already left to go to the car. He took out his phone to check whether or not she had sent the report and notes and huffed in amusement realizing she had sent it right after he told her too.
He walked towards the entrance of the building to leave and walked out.
Just as he stepped out and started to go towards where his car was parked his vision started to flicker, he felt this pain, which he never had felt before, all over his body. It wasn’t enough to make him collapse, no he had experienced worse, but it was the type he had never felt before. It was like a sudden pang of pain right at the center of his body which then slowly spread to his limbs and lastly his head. The head was the worst part, the headache was nearly unbearable, and his nose started bleeding as he felt something grow. He didn’t know but there was something inside his brain that he had never felt before, Why he could even feel his brain was a mystery to him but he didn’t care at the moment. His head hurt too much to care. It felt like someone was ripping his head apart to shove something inside him, he knelt on one leg and tried to find something to support his back, and he did find a wall to lean on. He clutched his head trying to keep his screams inside him and not scream out loud, too trained to let out more than a soft whimper even when he felt like death was coming sooner than expected.
The pain slowly faded away, he didn’t know how long he had been kneeling there, back supported by the wall of the Nomora Company building.
He slowly came back to his senses, The pain was still there but it was way better than before, he realized he was covered in blood. The blood dripped from his upper lip down his neck and was soaked in the black turtleneck he was wearing.
He shook his head, which proved to be a bad idea because the headache came back in full force and he clutched his head again and slowly tried to calm down.
He blearily eyed around trying to comprehend what was happening, he was freaked out and was trying to rein in the fear, the surroundings had gone dark, not pitch black but some kind of red, and it was like a dark red hue had been shaded over even the darkest of the sky. His black turtleneck now looked as if it had been soaked in red dye and had a tint of red in it, his navy blue blazer now looked as if it was a dark purple.
He wiped the blood from his upper lip and chin on the sleeve of his blazer and stood up with the support of the wall slowly. He took a deep breath and started walking towards his car when he heard it.
A scream… a scream so loud that it rattled his eardrums and a couple of seconds there was also a sound of skin being ripped apart. He took a deep breath, his eyes wide, and turned towards the entrance of the company.
He ran, he ran ignoring his pounding head. He reached the entrance as fast as he possibly could; he stumbled upon reaching the entrance and looked around to hide somewhere. His eyes narrowed at the receptionist's table, along with the receptionist also looking as if she was recovering from the same kind of pain he had felt earlier, although unfortunately for her, she was wearing lighter colors that day and so her beautiful light blue dress was stained with the blood that also came from her nose.
He walked towards the table slowly, thinking that he was safer inside than out when he heard another scream, this time coming from inside the company, he picked up his pace and jumped over the table.
He pulled down the girl, who was still clutching her head and breathing heavily, she looked exhausted at that point. The pain must’ve taken a lot out of her, he concluded.
He crowded her near him and took the chair to shield them both from any danger.
“What…what happened?” the girl mumbled, her head resting on the inside of the receptionist's table.
“I- I am not sure… everything is red and I heard people scream outside…there was also the sound of someone…no something ripping skin apart” he explained In a panic, his eyes shook trying to comprehend whatever the fuck was going on. He just wanted to be home at this point, at home with his siblings and them discussing what they would have for dinner which he would then be forced to make, if not for the health of his siblings and then because of the puppy eyes they made at him when they asked him to make food.
“R-ripping skin apart? W-what?” the girl looked at him in horror as she trembled in fear and coldness. Her breath coming out in puffs now.
“Wait first here take this, I don’t know what is going on but at least you won’t feel cold wearing this” Childe said as he took off his blazer to give it to the girl
“T-thank you” The girl's trembling hand reached out to take it from his hands.
Childe took the blazer away from her and instead of giving it to her; he wrapped her up in it properly so she wouldn’t feel that cold.
“What’s your name?” he whispered to her while looking around with caution to spot anyone dangerous coming to them, he tried to listen for anything coming towards them.
“Ganyu sir” the girl now revealed to be named Ganyu replied in a small voice, she then took a deep breath and…
“What’s going on?” she asked him again
“I’m not sure, there was a lot of screaming everywhere so I didn’t pay attention a lot while coming here” he whispered again
“What did you mean by everything is red?
Childe squeezed his eyes shut and took a deep breath “Again I’m not sure… I suddenly had this terrible headache and when it subsided, everything was shrouded in red.” he frowned clutching onto the chair more tightly.
“This feels like some kind of apocalypse from one of those novels I used to read as a child” she huffed trying to make light of the situation they had found themselves in, It didn’t help as the next thing she did was curl up in a fetal position trying to calm down from the pain from before and the sudden realization of everything that was going to have to be changed. She didn’t deal well with change and she knew it…she hoped her adopted father and brother were doing okay… she wanted to check on them but didn’t have the energy nor the bravery to even sit up from the safe place she had found herself in.
She was thankful for the man who was nice enough to help her too and not just throw her out to ensure his safety, like the ones she had read about in the novels, albeit most of them were danmei but they gave good information and she also didn’t think she had enough energy for being a main character who had good plot armor at most she was probably the side character. Although she wouldn’t be surprised if this man here was a main character, or maybe her adopted father, both of them had the looks to be a main character.
Another scream ripped through the silence they had found themselves in, both of them flinching at the skin-ripping sounds once again heard. This time the scream was a lot nearer to them, possibly from the elevator, Childe thought.
“W-would it maybe have to do with the thing you told me before? The report or something?” she gulped as her eyes shook at the next scream that once again was followed by sounds of skin ripping apart, She cringed, she never thought she would ever have to hear the awful sound of skin ripping apart.
“The report… of course the report…I don’t know for sure but maybe” Childe mumbled
Childe was very tired at this point, the pain from earlier had also taken a lot out of him but the adrenaline that rushed through him was still there. He thought quickly, he had to find something, anything to defend himself with. He looked around the table to find something that could help him fight off whatever it was that was going around. His eyes caught sight of a pen stand, full of pens that were perfect for stabbing people, maybe on the dull side but until he could get to his car it would do, He quickly went across the area and snatched it from where it was resting and made his way back to the girl as soon as he got it. The stand thankfully also had a long metal scale. He quickly thought of something that could help him maintain the distance between himself and the opponent, the opponent being whatever…or whoever, he didn’t care if he had to fight and possibly murder someone again, as long as the people he cared about were safe he would even throw himself in front of whatever it was.
“Do you have any tape somewhere here?” he asked while staring at the supplies he had managed to get
“Mhm it’s in the drawer beside you” Ganyu mumbled to him
He opened the drawer slowly to find a lot of tape and pins messily put in the drawer, he couldn’t judge though he was messier.
He quickly took the pins, pens, tape, and the metal scale and set it all down.
He then wrapped the pens to the top of the metal scale and then wrapped the pins around the pens. It was crudely made but for now, it was the best self-defense they had. He could potentially stab someone's eye out with it and he was somewhat proud of the weapon he had made, there wasn’t something to be proud of, it looked disgusting, and Ekaterina would be disappointed.
Now that that was over, his mind caught up with whatever had happened so quickly, he needed to get to Ekaterina and Vlad, he hoped they both were in the car and safe from whatever this all was.
He had some daggers in the car, he had bought them on impulse to see if his shooting training had carried on to throwing daggers (and it didn’t, the best result he got was when it hit near the target and not the wall)
So now there were two reasons why going to his car was a good idea…what about the girl – Ganyu was it? Maybe he could convince her to come with him.
He wouldn’t be offended if she didn’t, because as cramped as this place was, it was also a safe place for the time being.
The silence came back as the last scream faded out. He sighed, as his body loosened up a bit as the danger supposedly went away. Just as he was beginning to relax in a false sense of safety suddenly faint footsteps could be heard, The footsteps echoed in the silence of the building as the owner of the footsteps ran, what it was running from neither of them knew but if it was the one who was responsible for the screams of the most probably dead staff then both of them were in danger.
Maybe, just maybe it was a normal person…but the chances of that happening were very low.
Childe tensed up, his hands securely holding the scale as the footsteps became louder and clearer. He looked at the purple light, a faint figure of a being coming into view, he didn’t know whether it was the thing that was killing everyone or whether it was someone like them but he took no chances.
He held his weapon in his hand and took a deep breath. he slowly went out from under the table.