Imagining Childe getting sick early on in his career in the Fatui. He’s incredibly stressed being away from home and it turns into a nasty cold. His superior throws him in an isolation room with some medicine, water, and firewood and tells him to “get over it himself”

Childe survives. He’s managed to survive months in the Abyss, he can survive this. But in his weakened state, sniffling, coughing, and shivering, he wishes for nothing but the warm embrace of his mother. He can’t tell if he’s crying or his eyes are watering because he’s sick.

Days pass, and eventually he does get better, but something in his heart has hardened. He no longer cries out for his mother. He knows she won’t come for him. He can’t rely on anyone to save him but himself.

This mindset takes him all the way to the top ranks of the Fatui. But there’s always a lingering doubt in his mind. Could he, one day, learn how to rely on others again…?