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If Xiao were to relay that story to someone, he wouldn't quite know where to begin, he wasn't even sure about the ending.
Maybe it started at that reunion Rex Lapis brought him to. When he caught sight of the little boy, barely bigger than he was, with aquamarine eyes and glowing tips of hair, sneaking around the mountain top, overlooking the nearby ruins with awe and mischief written all over his face.
Xiao swiftly snuck under the stone table, away from Morax's eyes, and everybody else's. He waited for a few moments longer, awaiting to see if his brief disappearance will cause any alarm. Once he made sure no one realised he was gone, he looked for the opportunity to quietly slip away, hiding behind nearby trees as he went, looking back to make sure no one saw him.
The boy was nowhere to be seen, he's quick, Xiao thought, approaching the edge. Slight discomfort pooled in his stomach at the height, that was a long way down, there was no way that kid made it down so fast, was there?
Xiao took out his staff, a little too long for him to use effectively, and he dropped down slowly, landing on rocks and cliffs, strong crystals and ores. There was something off about the wind around him, getting more intense the further down he went.
He stumbled near the end, tripping over his feet as he placed the staff in the wrong position. His body weight fell forward and he barely caught himself. He sighed, a bit disappointed at his agility still not being very good. His brothers and sisters said that it was great, but he thought of himself as nothing short of clumsy.
Wiping himself off from all the dirt and dust, Xiao took a look at the ruin beside him. That's what they all called it, but it didn't seem like much of a ruin, mostly just an abandoned temple. Most of the structure was still intact after all, and the items inside were left untouched.
Xiao strained his ears a bit, nodding to himself as he confirmed the sound he heard. An arrow being fired, it was almost silent, but he could still discern the noise despite the distance. He ran towards the building, entering without looking (Rex Lapis would surely scold him for such careless behaviour).
A giant, angry looking cryo slime was in the big, and what Xiao could only assume was the main, room. Ice shards stuck out on top of it, and it kept bouncing around, leaving visible cold in its wake.
Before Xiao had the chance to charge at it, an arrow, infused with some sort of energy, struck it in the eye. The slime only brushed it off, until a second one came, and then the third; which broke the icicles, grinding them into tiny particles of elemental energy which flew around.
One, two, three, four arrows all consecutively hit their target, rendering it incapacitated. Its body turned into pure cryo, spreading around the big room and giving it that refreshing, cool feeling. Xiao only enjoyed it for a moment though, his gaze wandering to the boy who cheerfully jumped up and down at his achievement.
"Oh, Hallo!" He yelled out once he noticed Xiao standing there, staring. "Wer bist du?" The smile seemed permanently stuck to his face, and yet Xiao couldn't even find it unsettling, only endearing. His accent was similar to Istaroth's, the language he spoke sounding familiar, like he's heard it from her at some point.
"Hey..." Xiao could only reply, he wasn't well versed in any other language apart from Liyuen. Suddenly feeling awkward, he began shuffling his feet nervously, wandering around with his eyes.
Seemingly understanding the disconnect between them, the boy snapped his fingers to get Xiao's attention. "Venti," he said, pointing to himself. "Was ist dein Name?" He asked, pointing to Xiao.
He smiled to himself, happy to have some sort of way to communicate. "Xiao," he said enthusiasticly, surprising himself. "Rex Lapis," he found himself saying as well, he was curious to know if Venti had any connections to the God of time.
Venti nodded at that, "Istaroth," he replied getting closer to Xiao. He could now get a better look at the other's bow, the designs intricate, beautiful decorations lining its corners. It smelt of flowers native to the land bordering Xiao's home. It was actually quite nice.
"Xiao!"
"Venti!"
They both jumped, startled at their parents voices. They looked at each other for a moment before Venti began laughing. A look indicating trouble crossed his face. "Willst du dich vor ihnen verstecken?" Even without understanding a single word, Xiao followed Venti, despite knowing that his new found friend (Were they friends? Is this how you make friends?) Was going to land both of them into huge trouble.
They hid behind a row of tall vases, giggling quietly as their parents frantically searched around for them.
Or perhaps the story doesn't start there.
Maybe it started when Venti pulled him along, walking around Liyue wilderness, pointing at random nearby things and staying their names in Mondstadtian. Venti picked apples off of trees occasionally as they passed by one. He munched on them as he excitedly asked Xiao to repeat the words he told him today.
The Adeptus could only smile at his companion, saying each word with perfect accuracy. The only thing lacking was the accent, but Venti didn't seem to mind it in the slightest. He unconsciously spoke in only Mondstadtian to Xiao at times, rambling on and on about his day, before stopping midsentence, realising the language he was speaking.
"It's okay," Xiao would always tell him, "I like listening to your voice regardless. And you're much more comfortable with talking in your mother tongue, so you get more talkative." He raised his eyebrow in concern at Venti's red-ish face, the other only brushed him off before translating everything he said into Liyuen.
Venti was the future Anemo Archon, his mother made him learn many languages throughout the years after Xiao and Venti met for the first time. She wouldn't allow for her son to have such barriers, after all, how could he establish a good relationship with other nations if he couldn't even speak to their Archon?
And that was why Venti knew Liyuen much, much better than Xiao knew Mondstadtian. His father didn't seem all that concerned with Xiao's language skills, shrugging his shoulders and saying "You'll pick it up quickly if need be."
If Xiao secretly picked up a few more apples during their walk, then Venti would only find out afterwards, when they were sat at a cliff together, watching the sunset.
Or maybe the story started the day of his kidnapping.
They sparred that morning. Venti's Anemo energy had been becoming much stronger now that he was a fully fledged adult (In God years) and he had a lot more control over its every minor movement. He kept the bow as his weapon.
"I prefer long range," Venti told him once, when he asked, "Arrows are much easier to control with the wind. Speed, direction; much easier than a sword or spear. All you have to do is aim for the head." And Xiao nodded at his explanation, agreeing with it. After all, he had plenty of experience using Anemo with his polearm. "Was ist mit dir? Why melee?"
"I like to get up close. I don't like how long it takes to wind up a bow. I prefer the swiftness, I feel as though those couple of seconds would render me severely injured on multiple occasions." And Venti laughed, the sound making the breeze around them warm, ruffling their hair.
"Soll ich dir beweisen, dass ich schneller bin?"
And that's how the sparring began. Venti won in the end, of course, he bragged to Xiao about how a bow and arrow is the superior weapon and that long range is much more effective than close range. It was teasing of course, it all depends on your skill and enemy, but Venti still bragged about it for the whole morning.
Xiao got lost in the other's eyes, that ocean of emerald always tugged at his attention, moving it away from the important things (Like the fact that, right now, it's making him not focus on Venti's talking) and making him lose himself in them.
They didn't get to see each other very often. Both too busy with their respective duties to constantly be in each other's company. Xiao would spend night after night, laying in a tree branch, or somewhere high in the mountains, thinking about his best friend.
There was something more to them, there had to be.
But that day, as soon as the bragging as over, and Venti had to leave, Xiao fell asleep beneath a tree, oblivious to the danger lurking around near him.
He woke up in captivity.
Years and years of ruthless, endless training, slaughter and merciless killing of his "failed" fellow slaves soldiers. It turned him into a person he never imaged himself being. It turned him into something so far from him, from Xiao, something-
Something his master likes to call "Alatus."
A soulless machine with only one purpose: kill. He obeyed his master to a fault, afraid of the consequences of the alternative. "Alatus" had no more free will, barely any capability to think. He spent his days in a cell, training if he wasn't too injured, or curled up in a ball in the corner if he was.
There was only one thought that managed to seep through on those weirdly peaceful nights. A piece of "Xiao" left behind, his only anchor to sanity. Venti, and every moment they spent growing up together. Those days were few and far inbetween, but each of them carried with it some form of fondness. Nostalgia hit Xiao at every reminder of his friend.
But Alatus couldn't allow such thoughts and mentality to roam free. He suffocated his feelings of melancholy and grief, stuffing them deep, deep down. They were getting harder and harder for Xiao to dig up.
He clung so desperately onto that thought, onto those memories of childhood innocence and obliviousness. He hung on every Venti's word that he could remember, Mondstadtian or Liyuen, it didn't matter. (He never did get to become fluent in the language.)
He imagined Venti humming, he liked music a lot. He imagined him playing his lyre or flute as Xiao fell asleep next to the pain of his brutal wounds. He imagined Venti teasing him as he says that bows and arrows are better because elemental explosions wouldn't be able to reach him, and that long range would have caused him less pain.
'But less kills,' Alatus whispered somewhere.
The Archon war began some years later. And Alatus, perceived as the most powerful one, the strongest weapon of the bunch, was on the front line, leading his master's army against the Gods attacking. General Alatus... why did it sound so horrible to his ears? That's the wrong name, isn't it?
He gasped, looking at the person in front of him. His eyes, hair and whole outfit shone an ethereal aqua, giant gorgeous wings flapped, feathers falling to the ground below. Bow and arrow in hand, he stared Alatus down, ready to strike.
Xiao realised that he missed Venti, even though he was now right in front of him.
And Alatus,
He raised his spear to shield his head.