(TW!! Fighting,Violence,Guns,Graphic depictions)

Childe undoubtedly was wasted beyond any redemption. He slurred heavily on words so simple a toddler could pronounce them. Upon any attempt to stand up, he tripped over seemingly nothing. His pupils dialed, the same as that of a curious kitten. His pupils seemed to take up the space of his blue irises as they grew larger the drunker he got. Zhongli decided to give up hope on any productive conversation they may have. At this point, Zhongli was incapable of understanding Childe's garbled language. At the most, Zhongli could fathom a giggle or any other sound indicating some emotion Childe sought to express.

                                                                                                                                                                                            Zhongli was paying close attention to Childe, naturally. What else is a sober man to do with his drunken buddy than look out for him? He noticed Childe glancing off to the side to stare at another person across the bar. The boy Childe was paying so much attention to seemed significantly younger than Zhongli and Childe, possibly underage for drinking. His hair was a dark shade of indigo, some lighter streaks in his hair scattered carelessly. He wore a sleeveless turtle neck that paired well with his loose dress shirt that barely covered his arms. On top of his half bowl cut half mullet, he wore a denim-colored bucket hat. And like most boys his age, he sported a simple pair of shorts. But unlike most boys, he had leg warmers wrapped around his ankles but above his doc martens and wore tights underneath his shorts, probably to stand out. (If you imagine this outfit wrong, it will look pretty bad, but I promise the vision in my head while I wrote this looked hot. So pretend he's wearing a hot outfit.) He was sitting next to a boy who looked to be about the same age as him and had his white pair pulled back in a pony, a single red streak running through his scalp. Zhongli took a mental note of the weed he was smoking. The two seemed to be a duo, just like Zhongli and Childe. Both innocently enjoying the night , albeit, probably illegally. Childe would grimace the way of the boy with darker on and off. The repeated action concerned Zhongli greatly and activated his protective side. Childe was prone to getting into fights more than any other person Zhongli had ever known (even more so once heavily intoxicated), so Zhongli was scared that Childe might end up causing a scene. 

The boy with the ponytail happened to turn around to look at something but witnessed Childe's death stare at his acquaintance by accident. He quickly tapped on the darker-haired individual's shoulder to gain his full attention, halting him a mid-sentence, and whispered something in his ear with an unpleased look as he started right back in Childe's direction. Suddenly the darker-haired boy turned to look at the man that was borderline stalking him. Childe and the boy locked eyes, and he felt like a king lion about to get his territory stolen. Childe felt threatened. He quickly stood up from his seat and pushed the table back, and his face held a mean snarl that pierced the eyes of the boy across the bar. The force that pushed back the table left Zhongli's mobility on the weaker side, meaning that if anything serious were to occur, it'd at least take him a few seconds to untangle himself from the table pushed against him.

"Childe, look at me," Zhongli demanded, worrying that Childe was about to take matters into his own hands, which would undoubtedly result in a nasty brawl. In this case, with a young, arrogant boy.                                                                                                

 Out of the blue, Childe regained the ability to speak somewhat moderately, still slurring a few words on the larger scale. "Don't worry...I'll take care of that cocky kid...He pisses me off anyways.." Childe turned in the darker-haired boy's direction as if about to travel his way before Zhongli interrupted his voyage.

"Childe! Wait!" Zhongli shouted, his deep voice echoing through the bar and catching the attention of fellow citizens.                                                                                                                                                      Childe paid no mind to his warning and kept walking step by step to reach the short male. At this point, the boy had fully taken notice of Childe but only crossed his arms proudly and kept an eerie smile on his face.                                                                                                                                                           "Well, well, look who we have here! If it isn't Childe! Or should I say Ajax? Long time no see, buddy!" The boy shouted, finally standing up from his seat.

"Shut up Scara-bitch. You knew we'd meet again eventually. Have you been training? That was a dumb question. Of course, you have! Knocked out a ton of fuckers to prepare for this."  

"Scarabitch? That name sounds oddly familiar. Scara. Hm.Oh! That's right! Scaramouche. His family and Childe's family have a lasting rivalry. I can recall Childe ranting about this issue before. Damn it. I need to stop this before something catastrophic occurs.." Zhongli thought to himself, finally taking into account his regret in bringing Childe to a bar of all places.

                                                                                                                                                                                               "Haha! You crack me up, Childe! You? Beating myself?" Scaramouche's expression hastily mended from an easy-going easing smile to a cold and antagonistic, mingy scowl. "It is my one duty in life to kill you. I spent my entire life teaching myself how to fight, just so that one day, even if at some city bar where my rival has been drunk stupid, I could slaughter the likes of you."

"Why you little..." Childe growled before he sped up to where Scaramouche stood as he rambled on with an entitled tone. He aggressively and vilely snatched the fabric on Scaramouche's shirt and pulled it up, along with the short boy. Scaramocuhe, who rightfully felt his life was now in the hands of the hostile ginger, pulled a gun out of his back pocket and shoved it against Childe's neck without a hint of mercy or hesitancy.

Childe grinned, "Dumbing down to a killing machine, are we? Doesn't matter to me, makes the adrenaline rush through my veins all the same." "STOP THIS NONSENSE THIS VERY INSTANCE!!!" Zhongli's sharp voice bounced off the walls, the attention that previously was focused on the two enemies brawling now redirected his way.Zhongli gathered the strength to push the shockingly heavy table off him, rushing Childe's way rapidly thereupon. Childe turned his head, distracted by Zhongli's antics. "CHILDE, WHAT HAS GOTTEN INTO YOU-" 

BANG 

A shot was fired from presumably Scaramocuhe's firearm before Zhongli could finish his sentence. He peered over at Childe, glancing down at his body to where he thought a pool of blood would be forming. However, upon a squinting of his eyes, Zhongli found nothing to be out of the ordinary. That is until he felt a wave of pain fill his body to the very brim.

"ZHONGLI!" Childe howled, his throat being torn apart by how loud he sought to vocalize his concern.

"Why is Childe yelling my name..? Has he forgotten? I am the one who is supposed to be scolding him for his crude actions right now. Strange. I don't remember it being so cold. And why does my body hurt so very much? Why, I could faint-" Zhongli ponded, still the only one unbeknownst to the matter at hand.

His knees abruptly gave in, resulting in Zhongli collapsing to the ground. "DAMN IT!" Zhongli cursed as he crashed into the ground. He clutched his side desperately, digging his hands into it. A burning sensation infected him entirely. It felt like the most outrageous fire had pierced his stomach and spread to the surrounding areas, devouring anything it came in contact with, any flesh in its way.

One after another, customers and even the staff began to panic. Crying and screaming filled the dimly lit room expeditiously. Pushing through the crowd was Xiao. Never before had he reacted so hastily toward a situation like this. He quickly dived down to Zhongli's level and began bawling.

"SOMEONE CALL A DAMN AMBULANCE!!" He ordered as tears began to stream down his face and dampen his face. The drips of water tipping off of his chin mixed with the blood that oozed from Zhongli's leaking wound.

Xiao claimed his father in his bloodied arms, and held his father close as he whaled tears of anguish over Zhongli. "STAY AWAKE DAD, PLEASE!" 

"X-xiao..?" Zhongli grunted. He struggled to vocalize the words he sought to say. The ability to speak was now slowly fading away from him. "What's wrong, son?"

Xiao looked up slowly, his eyes wide and glistening. "D-dad..."

Zhongli looked down at the source of the pain, only to find a mess of blood pooling around a wound, and the shock came soon after he realized the situation.

A blonde flash was the last thing Zhongli saw before passing out from the shock.

Xiao felt a warm touch caressing his shoulder. He jerked back in tears, revealing that Aether was standing behind him. Aether was talking on the phone, presumably with 911. He glanced down at Xiao and gave him a reassuring nod that everything was okay. Once he finished talking to the person on the other end of the line, he put the phone away, whipped out a first aid kit, and began to bandage Zhongli up as best he could.

Childe on the other hand stood frozen in shock, the anger inside of him bubbling slowly until it boiled over...