Driftwood - Genshin Impact Xiao X Reader

7 - Return to Liyue

(AN - this is a lil bit of a filler chapter, but chapter 8 should be up soon. I finished this one and didn't realise it had been a while since I last updated so enjoy)

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You didn't see Xiao for the next few days, the only confirmation that he was still at the inn came in the empty plates that were sent back to the kitchen after his daily tofu.

You tried to lure him out by delivering his food and then waiting, hidden by the door, for him to arrive. But, he was privy to what you were doing and would never show until you had left. No matter how quickly you ran up the stairs, he would be gone before you were in sight of the balcony.

As you woke from nightmares some nights you would catch glimpses of someone leaving your room. It brought you a small piece of comfort to know that he was still keeping a watch over you during the night, though you couldn't understand why he wouldn't show himself to you anymore.

You wandered down to the kitchen as normal. Smiley seemed startled when you greeted him "is everything okay?" you asked at his reaction.

"The boss lady has been looking for you all over"

"Really? is everything okay?"

He smiled "go find her, it's good news" he assured. You frowned but left the kitchen in search of Verr.

"Ah! there you are!" she called out as you stepped onto the inns main balcony, seeing the female rushing over to you. She came to a stop in front of you, panting out of breath from her search for you "we got a delivery in today" she started.

"Do you need me to help with the delivery?" you asked, watching as Verr tried to quickly get her breathing under control.

She shook her head, smiling "no, its Beidou, she's due to dock in Liyue harbour today"

You felt your heart stop, Beidou was okay. And, she was coming here. This was great news, you could finally go and rejoin her crew again and- leave the inn. 

"That's great" you smiled.

"Well go on, go get yourself ready. The merchants have agreed to take you back to Liyue with them later" she beamed, shooing you away to go get yourself ready to leave the inn and return to the only family you had.

You allowed her to shoo you off, returning to your room to clean it up and make sure you didn't leave anything that may belong to you. Not that you arrived here with much, only the clothes on your back, but since your stay you had been provided with clean clothing, a bow, and bandages; you no longer needed the bandages with your wounds now healed but they were handy to have.

After cleaning the room to how it looked before you arrived you returned back downstairs. It was about time for Xiaos food delivery.

You were late to deliver the tofu, though you had a valid excuse for your lateness. You held the plate close as you walked up the stairs, and though you had hoped to see Xiao waiting there, you were met with the empty balcony as normal.

"Xiao?" you called out.

You waited, but no responce came. You had to hope he was close by as you contiued to speak to the empty balcony.

"I asked Smiley to teach me how to make almond tofu" you placed the plate on the railing "I made this one myself. I hope you like it, I didn't realise how much work went into this dish" you laughed lightly.

Still no responce.

"Beidou is to dock at Liyue Harbour today, the merchants who delivered to the inn have agreed to take me with them to Liyue, so I'm leaving in a few hours. . . I hope that we'll meet again soon, thank you for your company while I've been here. Take care, Xiao"

You left the balcony, knowing he wasn't going to show up so you could say goodbye properly even though you had hoped that he would.

Xiao stepped onto the balcony after he heard you reach the bottom of the stairs. He took the plate of tofu, looking at the crudely cute squares of tofu. The texture looked very . . homemade. How thoughtful of you. He wanted to speak to you, he really did, but he couldn't face you . . he felt as though he had hurt you that night, and he didn't want to add your name to the long list of people he had hurt.

He watched you as you departed the inn less than an hour later, he had to look away after you started to walk away from the inn. It hurt that you really had gone, but he believed that may be for the best. You wouldn't want to live your life tied to an Adeptus who had done the things he had done, and he didn't deserve to have such light in his life, and you would finally get to go back to Beidou the one who rescued you in the first place. He didn't deserve to feel sadness over you leaving, not when you would be safe and taken care of when you returned to the crew of the Crux.

Xiao appeared later that evening as he decended into the inn from the balcony. Verr was shuffling through papers at the front desk as normal, she looked up to see the adeptus wandering towards her "good evening, Xiao" she greeted with a warm smile "is everything okay?"

"Any word of them?"

"Hm? ohh, right!" she quickly shuffled through the contents of the desk "I don't have anything here yet" she leaned over the desk, looking down into the kitchen "but if my timing is correct the merchants that bring us our meat should have arrived from Liyue, you could ask them if they have seen them on their travels?"

Xiao nodded, making his way to the bottom of the inn. The inn was quiet as the evening was setting in, most people had either retired to their rooms early, were taking leisurely strolls along the path or were tucking into a quiet evening meal. Xiao wasn't one for crowds, so the small handfuls of people he had to pass at this time of day was bareable to him.

He located the merchants with ease, seeing them unloaded the many crates filled with fresh meats onto the inns lift "hey, you there" he called out, his stern tone of voice startling the two men. One of them stumbling to catch the crate before he dropped it in his surprise.

"Uh, y-yes?" they asked with shaking voices.

"On your way here did you pass two merchants escorted somone of this height? with a geo vision at their hip? bow on their back?" he asked, using his hand as a measure for how tall you were. Though 'two merchants and someone who clearly wasn't a merchant' shouldve been enough description for them if they had passed you.

The two men looked to each other, their foreheads wrinkling in thought as they thought back on their journey here. They shook their head "we passed two merchants who were sitting at the side of the road, -looked like they had seen a ghost if you ask me, but as for a third person . . no, we only passed those two. Sorry"

Xiao nodded, worry seeping into his chest "I see"

You never made it to Liyue, he concluded. And, if the merchants that these men saw were the same ones, then he could only come to the worst possible outcomes.

He had to go to Liyue.

On the off chance that you had made it to Liyue he would go in search of you, his best bet would be to find Beidou and ask her since she was the reason you were heading there in the first place and it was hardly difficult ot find Beidou or her ship when they docked in the harbour; meaning if you had made it, you would be with her.

And, if something had happened to you on your journey there . . then, Beidou could provide valuable back-up in Xiaos search to get you back safe.

He had made a promise to keep you safe, and he wasn't breaking that promise, even if it cost him his life, he would get you back safetly.

He just hoped you had made it to Liyue. 

Though, deep down, he knew you hadn't.