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Xiao knows this song.
Not in the way that he would if he had heard it on the radio, or if he had heard someone singing it at school, he knows this song. He recognises it by the way it feels like it's his own skin; feels like it's the blood running through his veins.
It's a singular dizi, a hauntingly lonely sound piercing over the hubbub of university life. Despite the noise around him, all Xiao can hear is the tune being played by someone he can't see but someone he knows.
Someone he knows the same way he knows the song.
Similar to how the song feels like himself, the person is someone he just knows is closer to home than anything he grew up alongside. He wants to get closer but he can't pinpoint where the sound it coming from. It's all around, everywhere at once.
Xiao doesn't realise he's stopped walking until his friend calls out his name, muffled by the music of the dizi. He turns to look at him, but is hit by a sudden headache. He would have fallen to his knees if his friend hadn't been there to support him.
The light began to hurt his eyes, too bright for him to see. He had always been more accustomed to the dark - preferred the soft of night over the harshness of day - but this was a bit ridiculous.
When he screws his eyes tight, he can see visions of creatures, of monsters, and of beasts attacking. At him or at something else, he couldn't tell, but worst of all was how he couldn't bring himself to open his eyes.
It's all so overwhelming.
Until the dizi pierces through it all. Like a gust of wind blowing away a cover of fog, it's all clear and Xiao feels like he is part of the world again.
Opening his eyes does nothing to secure this truth in his mind.
He no longer sees the university building and the concrete pavement he had been walking along, but a grassy expanse surrounding a pool of water and mountains he couldn't see the tops of thanks to clouds that seemed softer than usual.
And there, in the distance, on a rock in the middle of the water is a person dressed in green playing the dizi. He can't see their face but the very sight of this person calms Xiao.
He feels his body go slack, relaxing involuntarily, at the sound of the song and the sight of the person, and when he blinks it's all gone.
Everything is gone. He doesn't think he's opened his eyes yet. He can't fully tell. It's black and the song has stopped and he can feel cold ground beneath him, a hand against his cheek, and his friend calling his name.
It takes a second but Xiao manages to open his eyes.
And when he does there is a person, dressed in green, smiling down at him.
And he knows.
Xiao feels his heart warming up, a flitter like the beat of butterfly wings taking place of his heartbeat.
The person had a smile worth falling in love with. Their whole being so delicate - the sky as a person. Eyes squinted into crescent moons, freckles like stars across their cheeks, and that smile that was brighter than the sun.
The song may have been what drew him to this person but this time (and last, his heart says) it is their smile that makes him stay.
Remnants of the song from before linger in Xiao's ears, and he can't help but smile.
"You're awake," the person says in that familiar voice.
"Venti..." The name is said slowly, deliberately, even though Xiao finds himself replying before he can properly register himself saying anything. The person he is speaking to stops smiling and Xiao can see their eyes for the first time again.
That same vivid turquoise. Not quite blue, not quite green, and quite definitely Venti's.
He sits himself up and rubs at his head.
"Did I dream you into existence?" He asks tentatively, just in case it isn't real, but his words just make Venti laugh.
"I'm real, I promise," Venti says, and it's said in such a way that Xiao knows it's the truth.
How long had it been since their souls left Teyvat?
"Xiao, are you alright? Xingqiu's waiting for us," Xiao's friend says.
Xiao looks at him, a decalcomanie of the young exorcist from Liyue that he met while with the traveller from another world.
"Go ahead of me. I need to..." He looks at Venti who is holding a dizi in one hand and of Xiao's own hands in the other.
When had that happened?
He couldn't bring himself to care.
They had found each other again in another world and Xiao was going to keep holding on to Venti if it was the last thing he was ever going to do. He squeezed his hand gently and when Venti squeezed his back, showing him a fond smile he now knew he had missed for longer than he had wanted to, Xiao felt at ease.
"I need to stay with Venti a little longer."