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“I wonder where he could be…” Barbara murmured to herself as she went down the stairs of the mansion that his friend invited him to, It was different from the buildings in Mondstadt, something about being a Liyue style building. Which was fiting considering that her traveling friend got the teapot home from a Liyue citizen.
Once downstairs, she was greeted with a beautiful sight of luxurious furniture and a few cats, but no sign of Kong anywhere.
“So you’re here too?” A sudden voice spooked the poor girl making her quickly turn to see a familiar red headed man.
“M-Master Diluc! Hello, you gave me a scare..” Barbara softly slapped her cheeks as she walked closer to the man, who gave a guilty expression.
“My apologies, I suppose I should have made my presence known before saying something like that.” Diluc half-heartily apologies, which caused the girl to shake her hands a bit.
“It’s okay, really! I’m surprised to see you here, I was invited by Kong- Ah! Right, have you seen Kong?” Before the Church girl could go on a rant, she remembered to ask the important question. But unfortunately, didn’t get the answer she was hoping for.
“No, I was about to go upstairs to see if he was there, but guesting that’s where you came from, he’s not there either.”
“No, It’s weird, he told me to meet him at 3:00pm since it was my break, but I guess he’s late- AHH!”
A loud thump spooked Barbara causing the man to pull her behind him while he went in a fighting stance. But when he saw what caused it.
“KONG!” Barbara pushed pass the man as she ran towards the fallen traveler, who didn’t look good at all.
Blood, water and ice was all around him as an arrow was in the side of his shoulder blade. He looked exhausted as he laid on the floor almost lifeless.
“Kong! Kong! What happened?!” Diluc went on the other side of him, helping Barbara get him in a better position as she quickly got into her nurse mode and start taking off his accessories.
“H-hydro mage… Cryo archers, s-so many of them. Slimes c-came too much-“ Kong began to cough out water as he gasped for air.
“Kong, I’m going to have to remove the arrow before warming you up, do you have any medical equipment?” Barbara asked the traveler, but only got murmurs from him.
“I think I saw some in his storage room, I’ll go investigate” Diluc replied before standing up and making his way towards one of the three rooms of the first floor, turning on the lights his eyes scanned the room as fast as he could before seeing a box filled with a first aid kid and many other medical equipment.
Grabbing it, he went back towards the living room to see Barbara moving furniture out of the way and Kong laid on the table.
“I got it.” Placing the box on the table, Barbara quickly made her way towards it and taking what she needs before turning towards the much taller man.
“Go around the table with this cloth, when I take out the arrow, immediately press it against the wound until I tell you to.” Barbara explained, handing him a thick yet soft cloth that had a sort of liquid to it as well.
Getting to work, Barbara snapped the arrow shorter so she could take it out better and looked at Diluc nodding. “ready?”
“Ready.”
Taking it out, diluc almost slapped the cloth onto Kong’s shoulder as Barbara placed the arrow to the side and got bandages from the box.
Wrapping the bandage on top of the cloth, she looked at Kong’s expression and notice how cold he looks before he began to tremble.
“We need to warm him up, the fireplace isn’t enough.” The girl informed the man, who gave a frustrating huff before looking at her.
“What if we give him a hot bath, increasing the temperature little by little.?”
“That could work, but we need to be careful about his shoulder.”
“Right.” Diluc carried the traveler up the stairs as Barbara lead the way towards the master bathroom, which fortunately had a bath in it.
“Kong, Kong, can you Hear me?” Barbara asked making the traveler make a sound to let her know he is.
“I’m going to have to take your clothes off and put you in the bath, is that ok?” Kong nodded painfully before groaning at the sharp pain he starting to feel. His numbness was lowering so he’s starting to feel pain.
“Diluc cut his top, I’m going to take off his pants.” they felt the ice cold wetness from the articles of clothing before placing him in the bath.
Filling up the bath, they started to rise the temperature little by little so that the body can get used to it before stopping it at his chest.
Barbara place her hand near the water before closing her eyes. “Lord Barbatos, help me bless these waters to heal a fallen soldier.”
Within a second the water started to grow a faint color of green as the travelers troubled expression soften before being able to open his eyes a bit.
“Kong, are you with us?” Barbara asked which made the traveler give a faint yes in response before facing the red headed man.
“Kong, what happened?” Diluc asked with a concerned expression, underline anger was behind them as he was angry with himself for not being there to save him.
“I was c-collecting ingredients for a dish, b-but then a h-hydro mage appear and then cryo a-archers, a-and then… large cryo and hydro slimes. T-there were so m-many, I could b-barely move… I c-couldn’t feel anything, I tired to ran, but t-the slimes jumped o-on me a-and then an arrow came….I h-had my teapot I-in my bag…so I reached for it a-and was able to get away, b-but then I got dizzy… and everything started to fade…” coughing, Kong ended the story there as he could feel his head start to hurt. “Ah~”
“He’s getting a fever, my guest that he’ll start to hallucinate soon. He need to drink water and get a cold rag for his forehead.”
“No~ n-no hydro… no cryo…” Kong spoke weakly as he started to pant, feeling relieved at the hot temperatures, but pain at his fever.
“They will help you, sweetie, I promise.” Barbara spoke softly at the traveler as he turned his gaze towards her, his hand reaching out with a confuse expression.
“Y-yin..g? Is that you?” Kong couldn’t stop his brain from munching the image of Ying and Barbara together as he touch her cheek. “I-I’ve been looking for you everywhere…”
“Ying?” Barbara questioned as her cheek turn red from the affection that she was getting… well, not she she, but she at the same time?
“That’s his sister’s name.” Diluc told the other as he placed a rag on the traveler’s forehead, now getting his attention
“D-diluc,” Kong’s hand now tried to reach up, but a sharp pain stopped him. “Ah!”
“Don’t move your arms around, you’ll get hurt.”
“Hehehehe… always s-so worried,” Kong giggled before giving him a sincere smile. “D-don’t blame yourself.. you weren’t even there!”
‘that’s the problem, I wasn’t there with you.’ Diluc didn’t say anything as he reach down towards the other’s cold and wet hair before untying it. “It’s best to leave it like that to dry.”
“Ok~” Kong spoke softly as his hallucinated mind, played with him a bit.
He was quiet for a while, looking at the ceiling before softly humming.
Of course, humming turned to singing as both guest were near him, making sure he didn’t hurt himself, listening.
“Days seem sometimes as if they’ll never end…” Kong started as he closed his eyes, letting memories of his childhood play on his mind. “Sun digs it’s heels to taunt you..”
He remembered his parents. Both tall in height, his mother had long strawberry blond hair while his dad had short blond hair. They were like every romance novel, always and forever in love with each other. Their expressions were always loving, never tired of looking at one another. As if the first time seeing each other.
“But after sunlit days, one thing stays the same..” People often told him that his smile was like his mothers, sincere and beautiful. “Rises the moon~”
His sister was one tough cookie as she grew up, presenting as an alpha, her and their father started to train. Swinging swords and claymores around like it was child play, Kong didn’t understand how could they do it with such ease while he stayed at home with their mother cooking and cleaning after he presented as an Omega. must have been an alpha thing.
“Days fade into a watercolor blur, memories swim and haunt you…” he remembered when he cried after getting hurt from a cut to his hand. He was outside in the garden as a wild animal rush towards him with a terrifying expression. He yelled and covered his face as he could hear his family coming toward him in a fast pace.
His sister killed the animal with an arrow, but the damage was done and he was crying due to the pain and scare he had. His mother comforted him as his father killed the cut and his sister with a bow and arrow in hand ready to strike at any other creature that wanted to hurt him again. “But look into the lake, shimmering like smoke.. rises the moon~”
“Oh close your weary eyes, I promise you that soon the autumn comes~” Autumn is when it happened. Kong and his sister were coming back from hunting and collecting wood, Kong went towards the back to place down jars of seeds and the wood before going inside. But once inside, he was meet with silence and notice his mother’s heeled feet on the floor behind the counter, but before he could step any further, his sister came and shield his eyes. Making him not see the horrible sight of his parents.
They were killed. No one knew who did it or why, they never came back to kill the twins nor did they steal anything. After that, the twins had to learn to survive together without their parents. “To darken fading summer skies… breathe, breathe, breathe~”
He taught his sister how to cook and farm, as she thought him how to fight and hunt. Helping each other made them had a close bond, not needing anyone else but each other.
“Days pull you up just like a daffodil, Uprooted from its garden~” It’s been years since they’ve visited that world, leaving everything behind and promising to stay together always and forever. And that’s what they did, traveling, Kong helping others, Yin meeting new people and learning more ways to sharpen her skills. Together. “They’ll tell you what you owe, but know even so rises the moon~”
It seems as if thousands of years as pass since Kong last see his sister. Everything was so dull at first, gray as he used the skills that she taught him. And then came Paimon and everything else slightly better… Hope started to settle in. hope that he was going to see his sister, his alpha, his friend. She was Kong’s world, his heart reminding him of their primrose to each other. Together always and forever, never needing anymore else.
“You’ll be visited by sleep, I promise you that soon the autumn comes~” In this world, he has meet all sorts of people and helped them in all the ways he can. Never once he turned someone down, never once he stopped looking for her, never once he betrayed his promise. “To steal away each dream you keep… breathe, breathe, breathe…”
Silence soon followed in the room, the soft breathing of the traveler and the water moving around him. Before he turned to Barbara again. “Ying…?”
“Yes, Kong?” Barbara not knowing what to do, decided to play along to not stress him.
“Why did you lie?” Kong question caught the attention of the red alpha as Barbara gave a concerned expression.
“L-lie about what, Kong?” Barbara asked, feeling Kong’s eyes stare down at her soul as he spoke again.
“About our promise…” Kong soft tone had sadness to it, his expression gave away his emotions as well. “… ‘together always and forever, never needed someone else’…. You turned me away when I found you, claiming to meet again soon… yet you had someone else with you…. I search for so long and you dismissed me like it meant nothing…”
The pair stayed silence as they listened, they didn’t know that Kong got to see his sister again, but that explains a lot of his behavior. He wasn’t looking at Katherine or at the posters anymore. He went on every commission he could and always stuck around everyone more often. Doting on some of them. Most of them thought it was because of his Omega instincts, but the pair doesn’t believe it anymore.
“… You were my priority… wasn’t I the same to you?… all I wanted was to go back home with you… you left me there… alone again….” Kong softly ranted as small tears started to fall. No one knew how he truly felt about that day, not even Paimon who was oblivious, which he was grateful for. He treated Paimon like his own child, he didn’t want Paimon to know his anger and sadness that day.
“I’m sorry…” Barbara didn’t know what else to say. It was big news to her, Celestia knows what would happen if her sister did the same. She would be destroyed.
“Ne, ne…. No matter what I forgive you…. We only have each other in the end of it all… I would rather be happy for you then angry at you… besides, I have someone too… he’s really nice and cares a lot about me… sometimes even feels guilty for things he can’t control, hehehe…” Kong gave a soft smile as his eyes began to drop unable to let them open anymore.
Diluc felt flustered, knowing Kong was talking about him but he felt frustrated. Kong’s sister. what did she mean by meeting again soon? What kept her from keeping in touch with Kong? Or even telling him that she was alright in the first place..? So many questions, yet no answer. Either way, he was going to be here for Kong.
“The water is cold, take him out and dry him, I’ll prepare his bed for him.” Barbara’s voice cuts his thoughts and she stood up. She had a troubled expression, but gave a small sigh. “I’ll cook us something to eat food… we should watch him overnight, I don’t want him to get worse.”
“Right. Thank you”
“Anytime”
Both guest didn’t talk about what Kong revealed afterwards, letting the omega rest and have him bring it up or not was better. Either way, they felt different ways about what he told. But one feeling was still there.
They should spend more time with their sibling.