Till We Realize | XiaoVen

"That Funny Feeling"

The Bard's eyes started to pull themselves open to the, much too bright, sunlight. His head was pounding and he felt slightly nauseous. It was a real shame that the body was still human.

"Urgh," Venti grumbled as he rolled over, noticing his lyre on the bed, "oh no." He thought for a moment and placed his hand over his eyes, "Don't tell me."

"That was a wonderful show you put on last night," a smooth voice responded, sounding from the corner of the room.

"Who-," Venti blinked heavily before turning to see the speaker. Much to his surprise, another Archon was there with him. "Morax!"

"Barbatos," Zhongli responded with a nod of his head, "I decided to pay a visit to Mondstat yesterday and as I stopped by the winery a bit later, some man with red hair was very confused as to where you had gone. Seeing as you were black out drunk and no one was there to see you home, I headed over here just in time for the performance."

"Perfect," Venti laughed to himself and closed his eyes, "that's just perfect."

"Well at least you aren't tone-deaf, as your nickname indicates," the tall male hummed in response.

"Whatever," the blue haired boy flipped over and started his way to the other side of the room, "by the way, thank you for helping me on the way home."

"On the-," Zhongli started with his eyebrows narrowed, "I believe you misunderstand, I was told of your abscene at the bar after you had left." He shook his head with annoyance, "Is this one of your tricks?"

"No- I uh..," The Bard rubbed his temples as he walked into the restroom.

Zhongli was left sitting in the wooden chair by Venti's desk. His mind wandered as he thought of who this person could've been. The one that took Venti home, ah yes, Morax was sure.

The Conquerer of Demons, he had been on a journey recently. And although he didn't say exactly what this was to the Geo Archon, he knew.

Xiao had developed feelings for Venti over time. At first, he didn't really know what it meant. The feelings he had, they were odd. Love was not one of the black haired male's strong suits, but slowly and surely, he came to realize the truth of it.

Zhongli stood up and went over to the bed, he took hold of the lyre and sat it on Venti's dresser. He let out a small sigh, "Barbatos, why do you resist it so?"

-

Later on in the day, Venti and Zhongli went on a walk to the Windrise statue.

"So this is your sanctuary?" The Geo Archon questioned with his hand placed on his chin.

Venti turned and nodded sincerely, "I use this place to rebuild my energy."

"It is quite lovely," Zhongli shook his head with approval. The two of them stood in a comfortable silence for a moment as birds chirped in the background. "Well," the brunette male gave a small smile, "I suppose I will be on my way."

"Stop by sometime, I'd like to see you more," The Bard smiled and waved kindly.

As the Geo Archon walked away he made a comment that left Venti in a state of shock.

"I hope your soul tries to acknowledge the truth."

"Acknowledge..," he whispered to himself before calling out to the man walking away, "what do you mean!"

But before Barbatos finished talking, Morax was long gone. With the wind, as he would say.

The male sat down on one of the tree roots. He leaned back against the trunk and let out a deep sigh.

Venti searched his soul, thousands of memories running vividly behind his eyelids.

Some made him smile, others brought anger.

Trauma was not something the gods were void of, in fact looking back and soul searching usually led to unstable situations in which they found unpleasant memories.

So when he ran into a practically horrid memory, his head began to twitch. Venti's breathing pattern picked up and his heart began to race. The winds around him swirled, leaves racing to meet the skies.

Venti threw his head to one side and then the other, trying to shake the memory and be let out reliving the disaster.

"No!" He yelled, the wind violently swirling around him and running through his hair.

Tears started to fall from his closed eyes. It was a terrible memory, one he had forced out of his mind for so long that he probably couldn't talk about it if he tried.

But even storms can be calmed. So when a pair of hands cupped around Venti's face he flinched backwards. "Come back," a medium voice spoke into The Bard's ear, "the fight is over."

Venti jerked and twisted, "No, no, no!" Then the voice came back, "It is done, you cannot blame yourself." This still did not seem to calm down the God of Wind. So the mystery voice continued, "You know who I am, come back to me."

The winds ceased its growing presence and the leaves fell as Venti's eyes opened. A large gasp escaped his mouth, his hands raced to cover the ones that were on his face. But once again, nobody was there. He was alone.

But now he understood what Morax had meant.

"Has it been you this whole time?" Venti asked into the space around himself.

No answer was given, at least not verbally. A comforting feeling fell over him and that's all he needed to know.

The sun has begun to set on Mondstat for yet another day. Peacefully, Venti fell asleep in his bed. Without a drink having ever touched his lips. Perhaps it was because of the realization he had made. Or maybe it was for all of the things he was yet to discover. Venti couldn't tell, but that didn't stop him from basking in the present happiness that filled his soul.

But something about this had to be wrong, this peace wasn't going to last long.. it never did.

A/N
I know the Morax and Barbatos relationship is a bit ooc but that's fine.