Chapter Text
Xiao watched with horror as the girl before him fell to her knees, a blood-curdling scream ripping from her lungs. Fingers clawed at her throat, scratching at her skin as the wails got louder.
Next to him Venti stood still, frozen in place in fear, their eyes met and Xiao swore he could see the helplessness in the pools of his eyes, “H-Hu Tao…” he whispered, their voices drowned out in the chilling screams that their friend spilled.
“Hu Tao… Please…” Venti spoke again, his voice growing louder, begging the girl to calm down, to stop the screams that were due to plague them in nights to come. “Xiao! Do something!” he yelled louder, his voice cutting through the haze Xiao had found himself in, jumping to action Xiao stumbled forward, falling to his knees in front of Hu Tao as his hands wrapped around his friend’s wrists, pulling them away from her throat while Venti frantically rushed to her side, pleading words spilling from his own lips attempting to drown out the wailing.
“Stop Hu Tao, please stop, open your eyes,” he pleaded and Xiao felt the words wash over him, the urge to follow Ventis pleading strong, finally Hu Tao calmed down, the forest growing quiet again as she slumped forward into Venti’s arms, her small figure shivering as Venti wrapped himself tightly around her frame. “What’s wrong with her Xiao!”
Before he could answer Hu Tao spoke, frail words stumbling over each other, “N-No…Ca..dis” she swallowed thickly, her voice barely above a whisper, “Dead.”
Their eyes widened, Venti’s meeting Xiao’s in desperation that he hadn’t seen in the boy since…
“Wh-who’s… Who’s dead Hu Tao?” Xiao asked weakly, every hair on his body on alert. “Hu Tao?” he called her name but there was no response from the girl, her body still against Venti’s arms.
“Is she…”
“She’s breathing,” Venti reassured, and a bit of the tension in Xiao’s shoulders eased. The pair stayed on the ground, Venti holding Hu Tao and Xiao on alert, every sense in his body paying close attention to their surroundings. The forest was cold, too cold for the mid-July heat that plagued Stone Gate during the summer months. Xiao shrugged off his jacket, handing it over to Venti before getting up.
“What’s wrong now, Xiao,” Venti sighed, exhaustion clear in his voice. A quick glance to his watch told him it was 2 in the morning, far too late for the three of them to be in the thick of the forests. Xiao shook his head, eyes darting over the trees, eyes peeled for the slightest movement.
“It’s too quiet.”
“Why’re you whispering?”
Before Xiao could respond a shrill scream erupted through the forest, instantly Xiao looked back to Hu Tao but the girl was quiet, shallow breaths the only sound she made.
Once he was sure the girl was alright he flicked his wrist, his jade spear materializing at his side. He faintly heard Venti call his name and even though he felt his gut practically yell at him not to run in the direction of the scream, his feet pattered against the forest floor, running towards the heart of the old ruins.
Stone Gate had been rumored to house a forest full of spirits, it’s ruins the past resting place of a revered Oceanid that had since passed. However, while the esteemed spirit had long since left its resting place, the ruins remained, its waterfalls now dry and the forest overwhelming but never growing close to the old stone wastes.
Xiao felt the cold grow stronger as he ran closer to the ruins, the green of the forest giving way to grey stone, the trees getting denser, he could see more of the world around him now with moonlight flooding his path. The screams were also louder, a shrill voice calling for help.
Pushing his body as fast as he could manage, Xiao broke into his sprint, the wind rushing past his ears. The wind was cold, cutting across his skin as he could hear the faint sound of the sound of gushing water, the unusual sound halting him in his place.
The waterfall… but the rivers were dry.
Hidden behind the gush of water was the voice of a man, a deep voice speaking each word as though it had been dipped in ice, a cold slew of words that sent shivers down Xiao’s spine. Reluctantly he took a step forward, willing the winds around him to rest so he could hear better.
“For a mortal, you have a lot of strength,” the deep voice spoke, somewhere in the back of his mind Xiao registered the voice, the familiarity barely cutting through the haze he found himself in. “Unfortunately mere strength has no chance against the force of the Abyss,” his eyes widened, mouth opening and closing as he felt his breath catch in his throat. The sound of a dagger slicing through the air was the last thing Xiao heard before the same shrill scream ripped through the forest.
Still, Xiao stayed still.
Move, he willed, move move move—you need to save them!
Move, dammit!
The spear at his fingers dissolved into the night air, a sudden gust of cold air blowing past him as his eyes lit up at the flash of blue and silver from the clearing up ahead.
“Xiao,” a hand came down on his shoulder and his spear reappeared, Xiao spinning around and jumping backward as he struck his spear forward, the tip mere inches away from piercing Venti’s throat. “Fucking hell, put that shit down and take a breath, it’s just me, didn’t you hear me calling your name?” A wave of familiar calm washed over him, a common occurrence in Venti’s presence, his hand slowly lowering his weapon as he took another step back, finally noticing the girl on his arms.
“Shit, Venti did you carry her all the way here?”
“You’re the one who just took off running to a probable fucking crime scene! What did you want me to do?”
“Go. Home. Obviously!” He shot back sharply, fear quickly replaced by anger at the prospect of either of his friends getting anymore caught up in the very world he tried his hardest to protect them from.
“You wanted me to go back to our dorms, with Hu Tao passed out in my arms, where your dad’s probably waiting to ask us a million fucking questions on where we fucked off to in the middle of the night?”
Xiao opened his mouth, a retort ready on the tips of his tongue but then bit down on it, Venti was right. What would he tell his dad, ‘My friend just started screaming her head off and then premonished the death of someone else in the middle of a deserted forest.’
Sparing Venti a glance, Xiao sighed, reaching forward to take the sleeping girl from his arms, seeing the way the smaller boy’s arms were shaking, “I’ll hold her, but we better leave, the…” Xiao gulped, the words getting stuck in his throat as he wrestled with telling Venti and keeping him in the dark, finally deciding that it’d be worse to lie he continued, “the Abyss was here and I can’t risk the both of you getting hurt.”
Venti nodded, then looked back to Hu Tao, worry lacing his expression, “Xiao… the way she screamed… the last time it happened her grandfather…”
“I know, Venti, I’ll—” he whipped around, facing the clearing as realization struck him, “Someone was killed there.”
When Venti remained silent, Xiao continued, “Venti. Someone is dead. Just like Hu Tao said.” Finally, the concept Xiao was grasping at seemed to dawn on Venti, the other boy’s eyes widening, his mouth hanging open as he fell to the ground on his knees.
“Holy fucking shit, holy fucking shit, holyfuckingshitXiao, she just foresaw someone’s death—do you realize how messed up that is?”
Xiao could only nod as Venti spiraled, in his arms Hu Tao stirred lightly, face sunken as dark circles plagued the space under her eyes, belatedly Xiao thought if she’d been experiencing similar episodes for a few nights now, all of them finally leading up to whatever had gone down tonight. He thought back to the tired way the girl had carried herself the past few days, her usual outgoing self dimmed over the course of the days, a drop in her personality that they had failed to notice.
He felt angry with himself for not seeing the signs sooner, his friend had been suffering and he hadn’t noticed.
“Xiao, Xiao, you’re spiraling again Xiao, we can’t both spiral, it’s my turn right now so let me have my fucking moment,” Venti said, his words on the edge of panic and fear, instilling similar feelings in Xiao as the boy rocked on the balls of his feet, his wrists wringing together nervously.
“What do we do now?”
Xiao took one last look at the clearing behind them, there was a dead body there, someone they probably knew, someone they could have saved. Then he turned back to his friends, Hu Tao passed out in his arms, and Venti practically losing his shit in front of him, it was a simple decision, one he’d make thousands of times over.
“Let’s go,” Venti’s eyes widened momentarily before, looking behind Xiao.
“Don’t you need to go enact your duties as a descendant of the Yaksha—protect Liyue and all that?”
Xiao rolled his eyes, clicking his tongue as he started walking away, “The both of you are my chief concern, stop bullshiting when you know that very well. I wouldn’t leave the both of you to go look for someone that’s already dead.”
Venti stayed silent, the words hanging between them, the only sound the soft snores leaving Hu Tao and the breeze carrying the rustling of leaves and bushes. When he did speak, his voice was soft, every word delicately chosen so as to not set Xiao off.
“You couldn’t have saved them, you should know it’s not your fault there’s someone dead tonight.”
_______
Routine was an invaluable part of Albedo’s life.
The consistency was something he was unwilling to be swayed on and regardless of the people that have complained over his borderline frustrating requirement for it, he has yet to change. Maybe that’s why he valued Aether so much. Aether hadn’t minded the freakish way the alchemist had micromanaged his life, ensuring everything that happened had been calculated to the final variable. Aether hadn’t minded when Albedo had figured out his surprise party, hadn’t minded when Albedo would cancel plans if it didn’t fit into his routine. He’d accepted him, and all his quirks as is.
Maybe be that’s why he shifted his entire life to move across the country with the boy simply because he wanted to look for the meaning behind his sister’s untimely death.
Routine was an invaluable part of Albedo’s life, but maybe, for Aether, he’d change it just a little bit.
However, neither of them could have foreseen the events that would take place after moving to Stone Gate, neither of them could have foreseen golden eyes and clipped smiles hidden behind teal-colored hair, ever have foreseen the nightmare that awaited them behind the prospect of revelations.
As they stepped into the warmly lit lecture hall, the words of the professor washed over them, freezing them in their tracks as they realized just what they’d gotten themselves into.
“Noelle Cardis, a sophomore at the Univerity has been found dead in the old ruins of Stone Gate. The officers in charge, Jean Gunnhildr along with Kaeya Alberich, have revealed it to be the works of the Abyss, and have urged students to exercise caution when leaving the school’s boundaries.”