Chapter Text
“Venti, I understand your frustrations and I’m sure you must be feeling lost but please, sit down so we can—”
“Frustrated?” Venti scoffs, “Please, frustrated doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel right now.”
Zhongli sighs, his mouth forming a thin line as he folds his hands one over the other on top of the large book, for the past hour he has been trying fruitlessly to calm Venti down. To better explain their past and how it had come to greatly affect his and others.
Zhongli had lost him the moment he’d revealed his connection to the Archon’s.
“You lied.” Venti sneers.
“I did what I had to.”
“That’s not—you can’t just—Xiao! Please, tell me you don’t actually believe this,” he turns, frantically searching for familiarity in the boy’s eyes but Xiao avoids looking at Venti. Suddenly finding an interest in the ends of Aether’s braid, trying his hardest to not make eye contact.
“Xiao.”
Xiao relents, “Venti… just—just listen to what he has to say.”
“You knew.”
“I—”
“And them? Aether and Albedo? Did they know as well?”
“I don’t know.”
He turns to the two blonde’s sitting between Beidou and Xiao, “Did you know?”
Before they can respond, Zhongli snaps, slamming the large book down on the table as all eyes are drawn to him, Venti flinches at the sudden noise but stands his ground for the most part, “That is enough Venti. I am trying to help you. Please, allow us to help you.”
Venti doesn’t respond, but Zhongli perseveres, “The most recent memory you have, that is with Xiao, yes?”
He nods, “And before that? What do you remember?”
“…Nothing.”
“There is a reason for that.”
“What did you do to me?” Venti demands, eyes narrowed as he inches away from the man, Zhongli pinches the bridge of his nose, “We didn’t do anything to you, but we can help restore your memories if there are any.”
Venti feels a cold sweat break out over his skin, “Why wouldn’t there be any?”
Sudden dread beginning to lick at wounds he hadn’t even realized were open, “Zhongli… why wouldn’t there be any memories?”
Zhongli stares inquisitively at the boy, almost humored by Venti’s question before realizing that he really did not know, “You—You don’t know.”
“Know what, Zhongli? What would I need to know?”
“I—Oh no, Venti—your family they—” Words failing him, for the first time in a long time Zhongli finds himself speechless, the revelation of Venti’s memory loss renders the guardianship confused, lost to why the boy could have been sealed away with not a single memory to hold. Pulling himself together as best as he could, Zhongli decides to simply tell him the truth.
Venti had enough centuries worth of lies to not have to worry about another one.
“Venti, your family had been part of the original Archons.”
_______
When she wakes up, Hu Tao finds herself back in her room, a glittery pen tucked in the palm of her hand, and a promise to a dead friend singing in her mind.
She gets up, mind heavy with her words as she spirals through all the ways she could let Yanfei down, all the ways she could disappoint the girl over a request that seemed simple enough but in practice, Hu Tao wasn’t sure would fare well.
She combed a shaky hand through her hair, eyes strained shut as she ran through their conversation.
The words I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry like a fresh open wound in her heart as she got dressed. There were several ways that she could let her down, mainly by not trying at all. If Yanfei was right and another student would be targeted, then the least she could was try.
Maybe even figure out a name.
_______
Tucked away between dense trees, and heavy clouds, Wuwang Hill was susceptible to haunting, or at least that’s what Xingqiu had told him on the phone.
A spirit siting.
A little girl who got lost and couldn’t find her way out of the mortal realm. A simple exorcism.
Now, if only Chongyun could move his legs again so he could throw Xingqiu off a cliff.
“There, there, little boy, it will hurt less if you keep quiet.”
Gritting his teeth, Chongyun glares at the man before him, with long hair that shone blue under the moonlight and skin that reflected light like water, he looked every bit a ghost yet Chongyun knew he wasn’t.
“A couple more minutes is all—”
Summoning a Spirit Blade, he cuts the man off, pushing down hard on his broken leg before jumping out of the way as his cryo blade pierces through the air, planting itself right where the man had been standing.
Chongyun doesn’t wait to see where he’d gone, as crewd laughter erupts through the forest, Chongyun begins to run, adrenaline masking the bursts of pain in his leg as he hobbles through the woods.
He can’t die, not yet, not when Xingqiu still hasn’t been thrown off a cliff.