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Under the shelter of the Windrise tree, soft plucks from a lyre resounded. There, a bard sat surrounded by animals, humming to himself before pausing.
“That’s weird,” Venti mused, reaching out to pet a nearby fox. “Xiao isn’t usually this late.”
The wind is unnaturally still as well; so still, the windwheel asters won’t even turn. Worried, Venti reaches out with his powers, trying to sense Xiao‘s location, only to be interrupted by the sound of wings flapping. Upon opening his eyes, the animals ran for shelter as the sky above them darkened. A gust of wind blew to the west, nearly sweeping Venti off his feet.
Whipping his head in that direction, Venti gasped. Dark, green tinted smoke swirled above the plains of Liyue with a sharp, pulsing glow.
“Xiao!” Venti breathed. Closing his eyes, he wills the wind to take him there. He arrives some distance away from the adeptus, presumably from the chaotic winds. Immediately, he feels the difference in atmosphere. It was heavy, almost choking. Green smoke billowed all around Venti, with it condensing further ahead.
Without a single thought, he runs in. “Xiao!” he screams. The smoke gets heavier, and it’s getting harder and harder to see with each stride. His foot catches onto an obstacle, tripping him. Letting out a yelp, he felt around himself, only to come in contact with a hilichurl. Looking around himself once more, he noticed even more bodies scattered around.
He calls out again, this time, more desperate. A strangled noise sounds from his right. Following it, he emerges to the source. There, Xiao was on his knees, chest heaving and the bitter scent of corruption emanating from him. His bloodstained spear lay not far away and his mask, now fractured, was still being worn. Dark, karmic bonds held Xiao to the ground as he struggled, writhing against the grips around his wrists and ankles.
Crouching down, Venti cautiously raised his hand to his face. “What happened here, Xiao?” Venti whispered, gently caressing the mask, now glowing with anemo energy. Summoning his flute, Venti starts playing the same song that saved him all those centuries ago.
A pained cry escapes from Xiao as he jerks against the binds. Venti doesn’t stop his performance, but he carefully monitors his reactions. The playing goes on for some time until the bonds start to fray. Venti intensified his playing, the same melody repeating over and over again.
The smoke around them begins circling into a whirlwind, and with a burst of energy, Xiao breaks free, a wave of green and red pulsing out, knocking Venti off his feet. It was so quick that Venti had no time to react, his back crashing into a tree.
Dazed, he let himself crumple down, coughing from the impact. His vision spun as he righted himself, trying to shake off the dizziness. His back and shoulders screamed in agony with every movement. Slowly, he pushes himself back up to a standing position, ignoring the flaring pain in his body. He spots Xiao in the same position and limps over, approaching him once more.
“Ven-” Xiao croaks, before shaking his head. Something was still wrong. Xiao holds up a palm to his head as he curls in on himself once more. Despite being freed, remnants of corruption still rested inside, causing his eyes to flash a dark purple as smoke continued to gather around him. “Get back!” he orders Venti, pulling himself to his feet.
Venti shakes his head. “I’m not leaving you here!”
“But I might-”
“It’s okay,” Venti interrupts him, summoning his bow and rising up. Adrenaline rushes through him, numbing the pain.
Xiao looks at him in disbelief before the karma takes over again, a purple hue in his eyes now present. In response, Venti raises a barrier of wind around the area, locking them both inside and readying himself for a fight.
“I’m sorry, Xiao,” Venti gazes at him. In front of him, Xiao stares at him, circling him like a predator stalking prey.
This is the only way.
A single tear falls down as he releases the first arrow.
Venti narrowly dodges Xiao’s attack for the nth time, letting himself fly back into the sky. He's lost track of how long they’ve been fighting, only focused on keeping it going. Venti sends out a couple more shots with his bow before following up with a razor-sharp gale of wind. Xiao teleports out of the way.
Both anemo users are littered with small wounds, with Xiao looking only slightly worse, arms covered with cuts from Venti’s attacks. Venti’s cape has long since been discarded, having got in his way one too many times.
Venti presses his hand against his side, where Xiao managed to get a lucky hit in with his spear. The pain is starting to catch up to Venti as the adrenaline wears off. He needs to end this soon, or else none of them might make it out alive.
Xiao teleports in front of him and Venti pushes him back with a gust of wind before he can get a hit in. He uses this brief opening to slam him back to the ground. A loud crash sounded from the impact, and if it weren’t for the fact that Xiao is an adeptus, he surely would’ve been killed by now. His spear slides from his grasp, and Venti rains down arrows around Xiao, burying one into his sleeve, pinning him down.
Xiao attempts to rise, only to be pulled back onto one knee, panting. Venti descends to him, but keeps the barriers up. As he approaches, Xiao glares at him, yet there’s less malice in it now.
Venti reaches out to him once more, holding out his hand. “Come back to me, Xiao,” Venti pleads, his voice soft.
There's a flicker of amber, and then another.
Then, it’s purple again.
A flash of green, and all Venti can see is red.
The barrier falls, he falls to the ground, and right before he passes out, he hears a yell, a faint whimper, and then the body of a yaksha falling beside him.
A golden barrier that had gone unnoticed by both parties falls, and a figure approaches the two passed out immortals – one from exertion, and another from an arrow protruding from his chest.
Xiao wakes to the sound of conversation. Groggily opening his eyes, he immediately winces from a strong headache. The distant conversation stops, presumably from hearing his movement.
“Oh, you’ve awoken,” a deep voice sounds from his left. Xiao turns his head to meet the gaze of the speaker.
“My lord-” Xiao starts, before grunting from a sharp pain in his side, briefly shutting his eyes. “I’m sorry you have to see me in this state.”
Zhongli merely crossed his arms. “I’ve long since given up my gnosis. There’s no need for formalities.”
“With all due respect-“
“Either way, I’m just glad you’re awake now,” Zhongli interrupts the yaksha. He moves aside, revealing Venti standing behind him, hand held to his chest. “I’ll leave you two be,” Zhongli states. “There’s much to talk about.”
A click of a door, and the two anemo users are left alone. No one moves for a couple minutes. They scan over the other’s appearance, taking in all the details they can.
Eventually, Venti hesitantly approaches Xiao, sitting in a chair placed by the bed. “How are you feeling?” he starts, eyes flitting over the bandages wrapped around Xiao.
Xiao doesn’t answer, furrowing his brows. “What… happened?” he asks in response.
“That wasn’t my question,” Venti sighed. “Any aches? Any pains?” He still keeps his hands to himself, not daring to reach out.
Xiao shifts in the bed, testing his movement. “Not too much,” he replies, before turning back to the archon. “What happened?” he asks again, fixing his gaze on Venti’s.
“You lost control of your karma,” Venti quietly explained, his hands curling into fists on his lap. “You’ve been out for four days.”
Xiao fell silent, examining his injuries. “Was anyone hurt?” his voice breaks.
Venti shakes his head. “There’s some damage to the environment, but I was able to put up a barrier so no one got hurt. Morax apparently had one outside mine too, but I never noticed it.”
Xiao relaxes at that, shoulders falling in relief.
“Do you remember anything from that day?” Venti questioned him, his gaze apprehensive.
Closing his eyes, Xiao thought back for a moment. In his memories, he sees a sea of monsters, dark, billowing smoke, the faint outline of a body. He recalls the sound of wind, arrows, and a whisper of his name.
Xiao jolts upwards before immediately curling in on himself.
Venti rushes to help him sit up, grabbing a pillow to put behind his back. “Hey, take it easy! Your wounds aren’t fully healed yet!” he scolds him, fussing over his current state.
“Did I attack you?” Xiao ignored Venti’s words, praying his assumption was incorrect.
Venti freezes, his hands starting to shake.
“I did, didn’t I?” Xiao’s question sounded more like a statement. “Were you injured?” Xiao follows up with another question.
Venti falls silent before unbuttoning his dress shirt, shrugging off his right sleeve.
Xiao froze at the sight. Although most are noticeably healed, the scars still remain. A large, pale scar lies across his right side where his polearm cut into his skin. Dark purple bruises scatter his back from when he slammed into a tree. But that’s not what made him freeze.
Right under his rib cage, a round scar can be seen, the white of the newly healed wound lined with a light red. Guilt immediately floods over Xiao as fragments of that day continues to return. He remembers that moment.
He remembers the moment when he pressed into Venti’s back after teleporting behind him, driving the arrow that previously pinned him down through his back.
He tries to open his mouth to apologize, but nothing comes out.
“You weren’t in the right state of mind,” Venti responds instead, putting the shirt back on. “It’s not your fault. Besides,” Venti continues. “It’s already almost fully healed.” He forces a smile, pushing the past couple days of pain as he laid under Windrise at the back of his mind.
“It’s still my karma, and my burden to manage,” Xiao says, his voice shaking. Venti didn’t reply, only grabbing the medical supplies on the nightstand.
“Let me change your bandages,” Venti breathes, avoiding Xiao’s gaze as he recalls the battle. Xiao obliges, watching him unwrap each swath. They’ll talk more about that later.
Dark red gashes are revealed, most of them littering his arms and legs, with only one sliced along his side, yet that was the biggest one. Excess corruption prevented the wounds to heal as fast as they usually would for an adeptus.
Xiao stays quiet throughout the procedure, trying to process what has happened. His thoughts are interrupted by a whimper followed by heavy breathing. His gaze shoots to Venti, who has retreated to his previous sitting position, face hidden in his hands as sobs wrack his body. Wordlessly, Xiao opens his arms, in which Venti immediately falls into, crying into his shoulder.
“You stupid, stupid yaksha,” Venti sobs, lightly smacking his chest. “Why didn’t you tell anyone sooner? You could’ve called for me. Then maybe I wouldn’t have-” His voice cracks near the end.
Xiao tightens his hold around Venti, pulling him closer. He knows what he’s trying to say. They stay like that for a while until Venti stops shaking and his breathing normalizes.
“You did the right thing,” Xiao eventually tells Venti, pulling away so he can look at him. His eyes are now red and puffy, tears still welling up. He raises his hand to his face, softly wiping them away.
Venti covered Xiao’s hand on his face with his own. “I tried playing the flute first, but that didn’t work,” he presses small kisses along his palm. “I knew there was no other way, but still-“
“You did the right thing, Venti,” Xiao repeats. “We both hurt each other in the fight, but you were the one who let us both make it out alive. It’s okay,” he finishes, his eyes not leaving Venti’s.
Venti pushes himself back into Xiao as a new flood of tears emerge. “That arrow hurt, you know,” Venti pouted in between sniffles, attempting to crack a joke.
“And I’ll atone for that for the rest of my life,” Xiao replies solemnly, closing his eyes. Exhaustion washes over both of them.
Xiao scoots over on the bed, allowing Venti to settle in on Xiao’s less injured side.
Venti yawns, minding Xiao’s injuries as he shifts. “I’m tired again. Let’s get some rest,” he murmurs, burying his face into his neck.
Carding his fingers through his hair, Xiao turns to softly kiss Venti’s forehead. “Thank you, Venti,” Xiao quietly says as he drifts off. “And… I’m sorry.”
Two heartbeats, and then a whispered “I’m sorry too.”
For not getting there in time.
For not asking for help.
For hurting you.
For countless other reasons.
But they’re both still here. They have all the time in the world to discuss what happened.
So, for now, they’re content with laying in each other’s arms as their minds drift away to a brighter future.