Work Text:
There had always been this tiny little string that followed right behind the teal-haired yaksha. It was thin and seemingly fragile, however unbreakable. He had tried to cut it off with mere scissors, use his choice of weapon, and even go as far as using anemo to try and cut it off as it hindered with his battles. The other end of it was too far for his eyes to decipher but he knew it pointed north — Mondstadt, he assumed. And that was incredibly far.
He had no problem crossing scorching deserts and land coated in pure white snow — he wouldn’t , at least. But his duty was to protect Liyue and its people.
It wasn’t as if he could just leave the inn just to traverse through mountains and climb rocks just to see where this tiny pathetic little string leads.
He had come forth with this problem with Rex Lapis, who was no help in any way. He only smiled and vaguely told him with that same amused but also calculative expression he gave to everyone he found the least bit entertaining.
“You’ll meet them eventually.”
Who was ‘them’?
Xiao scoffed that time he heard that — he knew Morax was not underestimating his abilities, nor toying with him and his emotions. But that was honestly a much more anticipated reaction than the cryptic one the former Geo Archon gave then. The Guardian Yaksha could never fathom why he didn’t just say it outright. But he supposes even the most serious people have their own sources of joy and amusement.
“What do you mean I’ll ‘meet them eventually’?”
Zhongli smiled at him. “The one who is truly destined to save you — your soulmate.”
Xiao didn’t understand; he didn’t want to either. So instead of further humoring the taller man, the vigilante yaksha simply stood up from his seat and walked away, leaving Zhongli alone on his table sipping a cup of tea.
He counted the hours.
He counted the minutes.
He counted the seconds.
But of course, sometimes, he’d lose count. So he’d start again, and again, and again — this would happen every time a random no-good bandit pops by, or danger lurks near the Wangshu Inn.
As if the world didn’t want to grant him a moment of serenity where he could just sit around and watch the night sky, counting numbers and time until he’d fall into a slumber. Every so often, his mind would drift back to his last interaction with the tall brunette.
If there was anything he picked up from that , it was that the guardian had a feeling it would be a life-changer for him. Rex Lapis never lied to him, and he doubted he even had the capability to do so — so him saying that the person destined to truly save him from this despair with such confidence — it shocked Xiao.
Xiao almost snorts in amusement.
But it had also exhausted him.
This whole thing where he could only do nothing but wait for the other end to come to him instead.
Yet, he had grown tired of waiting; how many months have passed? How many years have passed?
Why was he even waiting?
Did he want to be saved after all?
Morax said this person would save him completely — he couldn’t have been lured in by that sweet talk, right?
It has been a little over a century, Xiao believes so. The string was yet to throb and move — a motion that people around him would’ve expected to have already heard swing around and be held into a straight line; the sign that his ‘savior’ had arrived.
But nothing happened over the century.
A century .
“... this is pointless.” Xiao sighs, pinching the string with his index finger and thumb, bringing it closer to his eyes as he observed it with an analytical gaze, wondering how to separate it from his body without hurting himself and by that, he meant chopping off his arm. There really was no guarantee either whether the string would be cut off or not even after his arm had been cut off.
He sighs, plopping on top of Wangshu Inn’s roof, watching the lanterns light up the sky. There were hundreds, perhaps thousands — he watched them all with a relaxed and contented expression.
A gentle breeze fleets by him, the feeling of the cold wind breezing by his skin tickled him a bit and he liked the feeling of peaceful moments like these — none of his karma to ruin him, no enemy to shed blood of.
Liyue was peaceful; Xiao closed his eyes — although no smile reached his face, he relished in the comfortable silence.
The tug on his pinky finger snaps him to reality. He feels a wave of slight annoyance and he pulls his hand to his chest, as if pettily reminding the string who was alpha — that this mere thread shant keep him caged for some unexplained reason.
A rumbling noise from under the roof he sat on interrupted yet again his doze. He kept his amber optics peeled for any suspicious movement, his spear already on his hand. The weight of the string on his pinky distracted him a bit but it did little to hinder his speed and strength. He jumps down to the ground with a loud thud to encounter the person who he presumed to be out to steal the inn’s money and antique while the owners and visitors were out to watch the lantern festival up close.
Whoever this stranger was that dared to steal at such a solace night — Xiao would be sure to punish them severely.
The noise continued to rustle just behind a bush. His dominant hand suddenly felt much heavier — this time, the weight was overwhelming and the teal-haired man furrows his brows, nearly doubling forward at the sudden gravity. The string no longer limped, Xiao took notice as well.
His heart raced.
The red string — vermillion and cerise — it was in a horizontal position where it connected him to whatever or whoever it was behind these bushes and the call it was singing to him, it was as if it was luring him to the other end.
He neared, he stepped forward.
Xiao pulls apart the shrubs standing in his way, his weapon long gone before standing over a young woman. His amber-colored contacts met (e/c) orbs and for a moment, silence instilled. It was as if time froze.
The red string by his pinky, it led to this (h/c)-haired woman battered on the ground who was patching herself up with gauze and bandages.
Then the thread snapped, floating away to wherever.
The girl gaped at him, a shine glossing over her eyes as she immediately dusts herself when she stands. She leaned over to see him clearly. Xiao takes a tentative step back, cautious as she gives him a wide pearly-white grin.
“You’re my soulmate !”
Xiao felt his heart burst into a flutter of emotions — he couldn’t pinpoint what it was, however.