Chapter Text
The others had been right: returning to his body hurt. Actually, that was an understatement.
Nails clawing into the Eternal Throne's armrests, Ajax grit his teeth hard enough to crack his molars. His eyes were open, but he couldn't see from all the pain coursing through his body, whiting out his vision. It was a good thing that he didn't really need to breathe, or he would have suffocated to death by now with the way his lungs had seized up. Even his heart felt like it was bruising itself with each heartbeat in his chest.
Ajax had to wonder if this was payback for demanding that Phanes leave his body before Phanes had finished whatever they'd been planning. Ugh, it was getting to the point that Ajax felt nauseous, but he couldn't even vomit if he wanted to. This was arguably worse than not being in control of his body in the first place.
Eventually, the pain began to ebb — or maybe his body was just becoming numb to it. But either way, Ajax slumped back against the Throne, heaving shallow breaths as he tried to force his lungs to work again. Now if he could just get his heart to calm down, too…
Ajax twitched slightly as he noticed something: his hair had fallen into his line of sight. Sure, his hair was a bit longer than he remembered having it last, but that wasn't what bothered him. No, no — his hair was white, just like Phanes's.
Oh, hell no.
To be fair, Ajax was undoubtedly rocking the white hair because Ajax just looked amazing in anything, but his hair, his glorious, beautiful, ginger hair—
Establishing connection…
Ajax froze.
That— That wasn't Phanes's voice — the tone was too robotic. But it was the same method of how he "heard" the voice in his head.
Connection established. User identified.
What.
What the hell was this?
Updating permissions…
Ajax tried to sit up and look around, but his body was still sluggish and unresponsive for the most part. He felt both too light and too heavy at the same time. His bones ached. His nerves and muscles—while not on fire anymore—protested every movement he tried to make. His vision was clearing up, but he was pretty sure the world didn't look like that the last time he'd checked.
Was he seeing the world through elemental sight? But it was so sharp and vivid and clear.
As soon as the thought crossed his mind, his vision reverted to normal. It was odd: he could still see the chains wrapping around the Archons from before, but they looked more real now, less vague. Did that even make sense?
Oh, and his hair was still white, so it wasn't just an elemental sight thing. Dammit. Don't tell him this was permanent. Wait, what in the world was he wearing—?
<< Permissions updated. New features: unrestricted access to command consoles, uncensored confidential information in data archives, Nail Launch System available... (expand to see more) >>
Ajax blinked, somewhat taken aback, when a semi-transparent screen appeared in front of him. It was only because of Modern's memories that Ajax even knew what it was, and it was bizarre to even acknowledge its existence, especially when not even Nahida had something like this (and she had the Akasha System). At least it seemed fairly intuitive.
Ajax dismissed the screen and focused on just getting out of this damned chair. He felt ridiculous not being able to so much as stand. His arms and legs wobbled as he pushed himself off the Eternal Throne, but he eventually managed to get upright and then onto his feet. He probably looked like a newborn foal with how much he staggered and swayed as he made his way down the dais.
Lumine waited for him, sword held aloft in front her. "… Ajax?" she questioned hesitantly.
Ajax offered her a halfhearted smile. "When we first met…" he started, narrowing his eyes. "You landed on top of me because you hadn't figured out how a glider worked yet."
To her credit, Lumine didn't immediately lower her sword. "You promised we'd never talk about that again."
"No, we didn't," Ajax corrected. "You begged me not to bring it up again, and I just smiled."
The tip of her blade still didn't move so much as an inch. Ajax's jaw clenched, his teeth still aching from earlier. Phanes really had done a number on everyone while possessing Ajax, huh… He wondered how long that was going to haunt them. Ajax himself wasn't too bothered by the possession, personally (especially now that Phanes would no longer be around). He was more upset that the others had been hurt during the whole thing.
Speaking of which…
Ajax focused his gaze past Lumine to the Elemental Thrones behind her, where each of the respective Archons remained chained and kneeling. It was strange: Ajax could feel them — their presence, their lifeforce, the very connections that bound them to this place. But with the way the information came to him, they didn't feel like people.
(And that feeling was too complex to simply ignore.)
"I'm not sure what Phanes did to them," Lumine said, having followed his gaze. "They all just… stopped moving. I don't think they're fully aware at this point."
No, they definitely weren't, Ajax inwardly agreed. They were basically unconscious, but he could see that their eyes were still open — albeit glazed over. But was is something Phanes had done directly, or was it a side effect of the chains? Well, there was certainly one way to find out.
Ajax reached his hand out and yanked at the chains. They strained against his pull, but they inevitably snapped, shattering and dissipating into nothing — faint marks on their skin being the only sign that the chains had ever been there. The gods collapsed like puppets whose strings had been cut. Ajax rushed to Zhongli's side as Lumine went for whoever was closest to her.
Ajax hesitated only for the briefest moment before carefully turning Zhongli over, pulling him up into his arms. When nothing changed after a long minute, Ajax gave Zhongli a light pat on the cheek. "Come on, old man. Nap time's over…"
Thankfully, Ajax felt Zhongli stirring through their bond before whatever that other connection was. He felt no small amount of relief that the bond still took priority in some regard. That being said, Ajax didn't like the way Zhongli felt… sluggish through their bond, and the extra information from the other connection wasn't very helpful in identifying what might be causing the issue. He could only hope it was a temporary effect.
"Zhongli, Zhongli, Zhongli~ Good things must be said three times," Ajax whispered in his husband's ear.
"That is not how that saying is meant to be used," Zhongli grumbled, slowly opening his eyes, and Ajax greeted him with a bright smile.
"You'll forgive me, won't you?" Ajax replied, hating the way he relished in the surge of worry-painc-fear that pulsed through Zhongli, who struggled to sit up.
But Ajax kept a firm grasp around him. "I'm fine," he started before backtracking. "I'm not fine, but considering everything, I'm better than most would be in this situation, I guess."
For some reason, Zhongli's alarm only grew. "Ajax—"
Ajax leaned over and pressed a light kiss onto Zhongli's forehead. "Just... stay, please. You're the only thing keeping me sane at the moment."
He didn't realize how true those words were until they left his mouth.
"We have a problem."
Modern reined in a sigh. "I wouldn't call it a problem," he muttered, staring at the growing number of transparent notification screens that kept popping up in the sky of Ajax's Plane of Consciousness.
Each one contained information of one thing or another, and while that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, the sheer number of the screens was very quickly becoming an issue. This Plane of Consciousness was… delicate to say the least. It had already been tampered with before, and to see it being invaded again was rather disconcerting, even if the "invader" didn't seem to have any sort of will of its own.
Thankfully, these notification screens went away when acknowledged — just like a notification that popped up on his phone in his world. However, there were just so many of them, and it starting to become impossible to keep up with the growing amount…
"If only there was a clear all feature," Modern lamented.
Childe grunted in acknowledgement but kept his focus on clearing out the notifications on his side of the platform. And for some reason, Aivas seemed to be having the easiest time. It almost wasn't fair. Modern wondered if the "kid" was just a natural at this or if he was taking advantage of something.
"Maybe you've just gotten old," Aivas quipped.
Modern felt his eye twitch in response, and he had to remind himself that he was the responsible one out of the three of them. He also had to remind himself that as "fragments" of Ajax's consciousness, whenever one of them insulted another, they were essentially insulting themselves.
Aivas childishly stuck his tongue out at Modern.
"Can you two focus?" Childe snapped. "This is hard enough as it is."
He was right, of course. Normally, the three of them went dormant whenever Ajax wasn't here in the Plane of Consciousness, but whatever had been suppressing them was no longer functioning, and so there were technically four where there should only be one. (Whether the culprit was Phanes or Ajax himself, it didn't matter.) Modern allowed his thoughts to stray into theory: Phanes had once set out to become the sole ruler of Teyvat. Had they encountered something similar to Ajax's fragmented states of self and given their Shades physical forms to help alleviate that burden?
But Ajax's own fragments had formed due to severe trauma and the crossing of universes. Nothing Modern knew about Phanes and their Shades supported the idea of Phanes going through a similar experience… Well, at least, not the trauma part.
"Enough with the speculations. They're gone now, aren't they? What's giving them a second thought meant to do?" Childe demanded, clearly frustrated.
Modern spared him a glance. "Reviewing what we know of the very person who's been modeling Ajax after themself is bound to hold some answers—"
"And you have to do that now?!"
"It's called multitasking," Aivas drawled. "What's the point of there being three of us to help manage Ajax's consciousness if we can't even do that?"
Childe went to snarl at the "youngest" of them, but Modern stepped in first.
"First things first. We need to get these notifications under control, and then we can deal with the source of the problem," he said as if he hadn't been distracted himself.
"Alright, genius, and what exactly is this source?" Childe questioned.
Modern pointed upwards. But not at the notifications, which flowed down to them in the shape of a tree, nor at the shadow of Celestia, which loomed above them. No, Modern was pointing at the gaping hole in the sky.
The Abyss.
He assumed it had appeared when "Irminsul" and "Celestia" did. Clearly, these were representations of each component making up Teyvat. And now, they were integrated into Ajax's Plane of Consciousness.
"Um, looks like we've got another problem."
Modern made a questioning noise and looked in the direction of where Aivas was pointing, downwards. Perfect. Absolutely wonderful. Now they had something coming at them from all sides. Just great.
The most interesting part—if this wasn't an emergency situation—probably would have been the way the sky wasn't fully reflected in the water. The ocean and what resided in those deep waters had remained the same, at least. However, Aivas had noticed something else rising up from those darkened depths.
"You've got to be shitting me," Childe swore with a groan of frustration. "Please tell me those things can't possess Ajax too."
Honestly, Modern didn't feel like testing that theory. In fact, he was starting to wonder if Phanes had possessed Ajax in the first place as some kind of preventive measure. Modern recalled Phanes telling Ajax once that the Gnoses were created from the body of the Third Descender. And while Modern couldn't be sure of the exact connection there, it definitely wasn't a coincidence that Ajax had ties to not just two but three Descenders.
(Modern wouldn't be surprised if Ajax qualified to be a Descender as well after Phanes's modifications.)
"Well, they're getting closer. Are we doing something about that?" Aivas responded, the slight pitch in his voice giving away his wariness of the situation.
... Modern didn't think they could do anything about it. It might have been manageable if it was just the Gnoses, but Phanes had broken the Gnoses — or, rather, they had broken whatever energy was contained within each gnosis out of its respective shell. However, this energy was going somewhere, but at the same time, it wasn't trying to leave; so the question was… Where was it all headed?
Ajax could hear them — Childe, Modern, and Aivas. Usually, he could sometimes feel them from outside of his Plane of Consciousness, but this was a new development. He didn't hate it, though it didn't seem like they'd caught on yet. Not that he could blame them for not noticing. They were a bit busy at the moment, it seemed.
They also weren't all on the same page for some reason. Was it because of what Phanes had done to his body? Some things just felt… obvious to Ajax now.
For example, Ajax had never been particularly adept at mathematics. He could get by just fine, obviously, but anything greater, which might be required for engineering and the like, was beyond him. However, now, if he put a bit of thought to it, Ajax could calculate complex equations in his head.
(Did he really need to know the exact measurement of gravity on Teyvat? No, but he still got the answer.)
As for everything else, it was like Phanes had left a textbook of information behind in his mind. Ajax supposed it was useful in some ways, but otherwise, it was just a bunch of bloated text that had already been covered — namely Phanes using the Gnoses to repower Celestia. But that wasn't the plan anymore, not with Ajax in control. That didn't mean that Phanes hadn't left… instructions.
Phanes had already done the part that Ajax never could have done on his own: breaking the Gnoses. It was something only possible through the Eternal Throne with all Seven Archons present. It also required a physical body, and Phanes had been "syncing" themself with Ajax for years. Now, Ajax was left with the ever-so-glorious task of confronting the Abyss and ripping Teyvat free from its clutching. He wasn't exactly sure what all that entailed, but he just knew that was what he was supposed to do.
He couldn't be gone for long though. Phanes had released the powers contained within the Gnoses, but they hadn't returned to their natural state. That power was still being held by Ajax.
(He would have to return here at the end of all this.)
Opening a portal to the Abyss was actually rather simple. It could be done from anywhere, given the nature of the Abyss, and then it was a matter of having the power and intent to tear open a rift through time and space.
What awaited him on the other side… Phanes hadn't been lying when they claimed ignorance. They had ideas and hypotheses of who the Abyssal Ruler was. Either way, regardless of the Abyss Ruler's identity, Ajax wasn't looking forward to this inevitable clash. They wouldn't be the problem.
The problem was the Abyss itself.
Letting out a quiet sigh, Ajax glanced over to his friends, who—unknowingly or not—had subconsciously separated themselves from him, leaving a wide space between himself and them. He was going to have to get used to it: that intangible line which had been drawn, differentiating him from everyone else. He might not like it, but he had already accepted it. If this was what it took to ensure Teyvat's survival, then so be it.
Paimon floated over to Ajax, and Ajax stared at her, now knowing her true origins and finding no small amount of irony in them. He wondered if it was the same in every world — or at least the majority of them. Not that it mattered. This was the Paimon of this Teyvat. Still, Ajax supposed that he should find some comfort in knowing that Phanes hadn't left Ajax completely alone.
"Are you… feeling okay?" Paimon asked him, fretting over him with all due diligence.
"Better than ever," Ajax answered, ironically honest.
Now that it didn't feel like his nerves were on fire, he really did feel as if he was in peak physical condition. No aches or pains or soreness anywhere. He didn't even feel tired, let alone hungry or thirsty. He just… was.
Paimon sighed a breath of relief. "Well, that's good," she said with a little smile. "Everyone was really worried when Phanes suddenly took you over."
Ajax scoffed a laugh. "Yeah, for a while there, I thought I was a goner for sure, too."
"But Phanes let you go? Just like that?" Paimon questioned, her head tipping to the side curiously.
"There wasn't even a fight, really," Ajax confirmed with a shrug. "It was pretty anticlimactic, but in a way, it was more like a turning point for something bigger."
Paimon seemed to pause — as if she were choosing her next words carefully. "You're leaving soon, then. Alone."
Ajax stilled as well. Her words had not been a question. Yet still, he nodded. "Can you give this to Zhongli when you get back to the palace?" he asked her, manifesting a sealed envelope and handing it to her. "I don't want to hurt his feelings any more than I'm about to."
Paimon gingerly took the letter, holding it close so she wouldn't lose it. "They'll try to follow you," she told him.
"I know," Ajax replied.
With that, Ajax raised one hand, tearing open several portals that would send the Archons back to their respective nations, and pushed them through. Lumine reacted immediately, stepping away from her portal, but Ajax had been waiting for Paimon to join her before pushing them both through as well. The portals snapped shut as quickly as they'd opened, and then he was alone.
"I know," he whispered again into the empty silence.