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The Alcor, Guyun Stone Forest, Liyue
The stars glittered across the deep blue of the night sky, the sun having set hours before. The crew had long since retired to their quarters, exhaustion washing over them from their long journey across the rough waters of Inazuma. Well, most of the crew, at least.
Beidou stood on the bow of the ship, the majestic head of the dragon but a shadow in front of her as the moonlight reflected on the waves below. It was a quiet night.
Too quiet for her liking.
Nights like this always made her uneasy. It was as if she was constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop, for the silence to build into an explosion of noise. After all, there was always a calm before the storm.
She’d rather the turbulence be constant than to indulge in the tense “peace” in-between. To her, it was torturous. But to others, it was their preferred state of being. How they found comfort in silence, she had no idea. Beidou thrived in the chaos, and the ocean was just the kind of unpredictable environment that she loved.
Sometimes, she knew that her distrust was unfounded, that she could rest if she should choose to. But on nights like this, when there was a sinking pit in her stomach, there was no point in pretending to relax.
And Beidou always, always trusted her gut.
So, here she was, back straight, boots planted firmly, and eye trained on the dark waters before her, scanning for any threat that may come her way. The salty breeze swirled around her, carrying the sounds of the ocean, and the scent of…
Blood. Oh, shit.
Before she could even properly react, a soft thud sounded from behind her, floorboards creaking underneath the new weight. Beidou whipped around, leaping from her perch and immediately sprinting down the stairs, electricity sparking across her fingers as she prepared herself for the intruder.
The metallic odor of blood only grew stronger as she reached the main deck, and dread pooled within her. This much blood could only mean two things: that she was about to find a corpse, or that she was about to find its killer.
In the most likely case, she was about to find both.
But there was no trail. No evidence that whatever had invaded her ship had been there longer than a few seconds, or even moved more than a couple inches.
Whatever had landed here had only been injured recently.
Adrenaline pumped through her veins, and in just two more steps, the moonlight revealed her adversary.
Well, unless Beidou was about to fight a motionless lump laying in a pool of its own blood, it was less an adversary and more a hapless victim. As she approached, she kept her hand ready to summon her claymore, in case the attacker was still lurking around her ship.
Soon, she was standing over the lump, who was now clearly a very small person with clothing ripped in too many places to count. Ragged breaths shook their thin frame, too shallow for Beidou’s liking. They were coated in blood, though on second glance, some of it was too dark and dried to come from the person themself. These were battle injuries.
Whatever happened, this kid had put up a hell of a fight. And against all odds, they were still alive.
For now.
“Yinxing! Juza! Get your sorry asses out of bed and grab as many bandages as you can hold while you’re at it! Everyone else, prepare to be called if needed!” Beidou shouted as she turned the injured person on their back, carefully avoiding the large gashes across their abdomen. The glow of an anemo vision came from their arm, the light considerably dimmer than what she would consider healthy.
And their face…
Her eyes widened. She knew that face.
Oh, this was definitely worse than she thought.
If her memory served her right, this wasn’t a normal person. This was an adeptus, the one she’d first seen years ago, and the one that she’d once witnessed fighting alongside the traveler.
Xiao, yes, that was his name. Aether had mentioned him frequently, considering him a strong ally, and Ganyu had once called him a mentor in passing. This was no stranger. No, this was a friend of some of her closest allies, of honorary members of her fleet.
She inhaled sharply, steadying herself. They couldn’t afford to lose this one, and she wouldn’t let him bleed out on her ship today.
Footsteps sounded behind her as her crewmates arrived next to her. Beidou stood quickly, making room for Yinxing to fall into place next to the young man. The surgeon immediately took charge of the situation, barking out instructions to Juza as he gathered supplies for her.
“I’ll perform another sweep of the ship. I’ll be back to help transport him if necessary.”
Yinxing gave a nod, not moving her attention from her, still unconscious, patient.
Beidou clenched her fists as she walked away, once again preparing herself for a potential intruder. This time, the electricity sparking from her fingers was stronger, her vision glowing bright.
Whoever had the nerve to injure one she now considered her own had better pray that she would never find them, lest they want to experience a slow and painful death.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“Is the kid awake yet? It’s been a few days, shouldn’t he be recovering now?”
The unfamiliar voice broke through the blissful darkness he floated in, and suddenly, he could feel again, sensation slowly returning to his limbs.
“He lost a lot of blood. Even for an adeptus, these injuries aren’t easy to recover from. He should be waking soon, however. All we can do is wait.”
He heard the footsteps pacing above him.
“Yeah, yeah. I know the drill.”
Xiao’s eyes blinked open, and he shot upright at the sight of the unfamiliar room, bandages scratching his skin as the quick motion sent bolts of pain throughout his body. He was below the deck of a ship, but how would he have ended up here?
It was no small feat to capture an adeptus, and yet, he had no memory of his captors. Why would he be bandaged? Why not allow him to bleed, to die, if they hadn’t yet woken him from his slumber?
He didn’t intend to stick around for the answer.
Focusing his power, he willed himself to disappear, to let the darkness devour him for a moment so he could claw himself out far away. For a moment, it worked, but there wasn’t enough energy left in him to escape.
He landed roughly on top of the floorboards that had, seconds earlier, provided him a ceiling. Immediately, he summoned his spear into his hand, swinging it in an arc around himself.
“What the hell?” One of the voices from earlier exclaimed in surprise, matching footsteps following suit. “When you wake up, you do it with a bang, huh, kid?”
Xiao sprung up from the ground, stumbling slightly as he regained his footing, grasping his spear in a defensive position.
However, the face in front of him was familiar.
Captain Beidou held her hands up in the air, a mix of concern and mild amusement in her eyes as she backed away. “If you keep swinging that around, you’re either gonna damage my ship or my crew, and I really don’t want to have to deal with either. You nearly gave poor Yixing a heart attack when she saw how much blood you lost. And let’s just say, Juza did not enjoy having to clean it up.”
“Captain Beidou.” Xiao lowered his spear slightly, straightening his back. “I apologize for the damages. I must be going now.”
The woman raised an eyebrow. “In your condition? You’re not gonna make it very far like that.”
Xiao narrowed his eyes. “I am capable of attending to my own wounds, captain. This is not a matter that concerns you or your crew.”
“Are you really telling me to mind my own business?” Beidou chuckled, shaking her head. “Well that’s a load of bullshit. You land on my ship, you’re immediately considered my business.”
“I will leave when I please.”
The captain just shrugged in response. “Alright, go ahead. I ain’t holding you hostage. But when you jump off my ship in any direction, it's all water. Even if you made it over to that island, you’d have a hell of a time trying to find a safe place to recover. It’s crawling with abyss monsters who won’t take the hint to leave.”
Xiao didn’t respond, clenching his jaw in frustration.
“Come on, kid. It won’t kill you to let yourself heal for a bit. In fact, it’ll keep you alive, which will keep Aether from coming for me if I ever let you die. You’ve got people who care about you, and I’d rather you have the chance to see them again.”
He scoffed, but found himself lowering his spear anyway. However unfortunate the situation, the captain had a point. His injuries were severe, and if he couldn’t teleport, he wouldn’t make it far like this.
He wouldn’t stay here long.
For the benefit of himself, and the benefit of the crew he'd burdened with his presence.
But a small, unfamiliar voice in his head said that a few days of rest wouldn’t be unwelcome.
—------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A few days later…
The sun was just beginning to rise above the horizon, but her crew was already hard at work, preparing for their next voyage. Beidou wasn’t surprised to find Xiao above deck, standing at the ready as she walked up to him.
“Alright, kid, Yinxing told me that you should have more of your strength back. You’re not recovered, by any means, but this is the least amount of time she’d be comfortable letting you out of her sight.”
The adeptus furrowed his brow, a brief flash of confusion showing across his normally stoic features. “I am not a child, captain.”
Beidou laughed, rolling her eyes. “Neither is the traveler, and neither is Kazuha. But I’ve got a responsibility to take care of them when necessary, so they’re kids to me. Besides, you’ve got a hell of a baby face, there. I think I’m justified in calling you kid.”
Xiao just stared at her in silence.
She cleared her throat, hiding another chuckle. “So, you have enough energy in you to teleport yourself outta here? Or should I expect to see you on deck for a bit longer?”
“I am capable of leaving now, captain. I regained enough energy early this morning.”
“Ah.” Beidou tilted her head. “Well, I’m glad you waited to say your goodbyes. If you ever need a hand, we’ve got your back. Just maybe get here before you bleed out, next time.”
Xiao’s expression was unreadable, but he gave a small nod in response. “I am indebted to you, captain.”
“Don’t mention it, kid. I don’t do debts, you’re-”
A flash of green interrupted her, and just like that, she was talking to the air. Beidou sighed, turning around to see Jinxing walking towards her.
“What a strange young man.” She commented, squinting at the space where Xiao had stood moments before.
“Eh, we’ve seen our share of ‘em.” Beidou clapped her hand on the surgeon’s shoulder, grinning. “Come on, we’ve got places to be.”