"Why? Why won't you rely on me more? All I said is you had to call my name and I'd be there....so why didn't you?"
Xiao, the last Yaksha and Lumine, a traveler not from this world whose very existence defies logic. Their encounter had happened by ch...
[A/N: Xiao has a moment of weakness and is finding himself drawn more often to Lumine. Though he's not sure how to handle these strange emotions, especially dealing with the supposed loss of Morax...oof...I'm sorry my sweet tsundere boi. Loosing somebody you're close to hurts.]
Lumine had been unable to sleep too well that night as the thunder crashed. Thankfully the storm was suppose to finally let up by morning. She sighed from where she sat watching the rain and howling sway of the branches ravaged by the wild winds. It had been hours now since she had stumbled upon Xiao returning looking worse for wear. The dim light of a lantern flickered with a dying flame near by provided very little light. Her honey amber gaze looking up from the book she had borrowed from Xingqui before this storm had hit earlier tonight.
Xiao was gone.
Lumine instantly grew worried knowing even with his insane nature healing as an adeptus he shouldn't have been moving around yet. "Ok Lumine he couldn't have gotten too far, just breath."she thought grabbing her baby blue housecoat and slippers. "Paimon! Paimon, WAKE UP!"she called urgently, stirring the fairy into the waking world.
"Paimon's awake...hmph...What's got you so loud?"Paimon asked as she yawned after appearing from her own pocket dimension. Why did she have to wake her up? She was having a dream of a lake full of mint jelly.
"Paimon I need your help. Xiao's gone and he shouldn't be moving around yet so soon, not with his wounds."pleaded Lumine, making the fairy gasp.
"Paimon will go look downstairs in the lobby and kitchen. You should look up here Lumine, he can't have gotten far."Lumine nodded at her companion and hurried out.
As swift and quietly as she could the young blonde started her search, one hand holding her housecoat closed over her shoulders. Her black silk nightgown swayed with each rushed step she made. A thought then did occur to the blonde traveler. There was one spot she hadn't looked yet and it lead her down the stairs to see the balcony doors open. Her hand coming into contact with a small streak of crimson that stained the wooden hand railing of the stairs. "He wouldn't...would he?"she whispered to herself. Eyes of honey amber grew wide in realizing he would at a flash of lightning. So with further haste she rushed back up the stairs to get dressed before rushing off in a flash of golden white light. Adeptus or not, nobody yet existed that would be able to escape her elemental sight.
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It was too much.
The ache in his heart way too familiar to him only having grown heavy and these unfamiliar emotions were so pesky and annoying. He had woken up there in her room, silently cursing that she had witnessed him in this sorry state not once but twice. His world had completely shattered and a world without Morax....it felt empty. His very purpose and contract felt empty...he felt empty. Still something else was very, very slowly starting to fill that void. He had awoken to the sight of Lumine laying quietly in her bed with a nose in a book of Liyue legends and folklore. So he had just sat there, left to his thoughts that grew darker with regret and grief by the hour. Until it had just become too much to bare and the situation more awkward.
So he had with the stealth of a tiger left the room before leaving the inn in a wisp of dark mist. Discarding the now soiled bandages rather easily as he hopped through the mountainside near Jueyan Karst. Memories of Morax racing rapidly in his mind before a jolt of pain from his wounds made him loose his footing of an old pine tree branch he had tried to leap down from. With a pain hissed he materialized his spear and used it to break his fall. He growled in frustration as this pain shouldn't have been a big deal yet why was it this one hindered and bothered him so much!? What was this phantom pain that Guizhong and the humans called it? He couldn't remember the word.
Still somehow Xiao managed to find somewhere out of the rain and wind that stung his face like millions of needles. Here in the safety of the crystalized tree's thick roots. He knew what this place was; all the adepti knew. But he had not the strength nor the will to keep moving forward. So he curled up against the giant crystalized root pulling up his legs to clutch his knees as he buried his face out of sight into them. He was not sure what it was but he could feel something hot and wet stream down from his eyes quietly.
"Xiao!"Lumine hurried over at spotting him. It had taken a lot of work but she had run into Moon Carver along the way whom had pointed her in the right direction. Her voice had caused him to tense up and turn alert as already his hand was on his polearm.
"What are you doing here!? Did you follow me?"he demanded.
"We've been worried sick! Paimon almost got blown away because we had to chase after you!"huffed Paimon.
Lumine carefully went over and sat down under the tree root beside him. "Don't mind Paimon, Moon Carver had to catch her from the wind while we were looking for you."
"Tsk that old deer probably told you where to look didn't he?"hissed Xiao in annoyance avoiding her gaze. But his golden eyes betrayed himself as they wandered right back to look at Lumine. She was soaked even with her soft blue and white Monstandst style cloak. Her golden sun kissed hair now dyed dusty brown by the heavy squall. Yet there it was again; Only kindness and concern, no care what so ever at all for her own welfare. She had put herself in a lot of danger coming out this late in this horrible storm.
"You idiot, what were you thinking going out in this storm? The mountains of Jueyan Karst are deadly for mortals like you in weather like this."snapped Xiao suddenly, startling Lumine.
"I came after you because I care about you. Why did you leave like that?"Lumine asked trying to get him to face her. But the young yaksha remained stubborn swatting away her hand with a flick and swat of his wrist. Her expression was one of confusion and hurt that stun more then he wanted to admit. But Lumine stayed beside him leaning forward so she could make eye contact with his breath taking tiger-like eyes. It was faint but she could see the tell tale signs he had been crying before she had found him. Then she realized, the puzzle clicking together so fast it would probably make Paimon's head spin.
"Xiao, is this about Rex Lapis?"Xiao instantly froze at her words as he avoided her gaze with a growl. "It is then...I thought that might be the case. I never got to meet him, but Xiao," Slowly some how Lumine got the stubborn greenette to look up at her held his cheeks firmly with her petite hands offering a gentle smile that was like a radiant star in his eyes. "I think he would be proud of you and would want you to keep moving forward proudly with a smile on your face."
Like glass everything seemed to shatter around him at her words, his eyes growing wide. The mortal girl before him was radiant like a star. A star he was now desperately reaching for in an effort to catch. It was like looking at the seraphim of Celestia, too beautiful and brilliant to stare at but he could not look away. "Xiao?"came her worried question as he felt her thumbs gently caress just under his eyes, wiping away any traces of tears. He looked so, so broken and sad to Lumine it broke her heart. Had loosing Morax effected him that severely? To a degree she could understand for she didn't know if her brother was alive or not. Xiao's pride had made him hold it in all this time.
Xiao was not sure what or why but her prescience was calming and a warmth he was desperate to grab in his hands. A warm, radiant light that was healing this ache that weighed heavy on his heart. He ended up to Lumine's flustered surprise lay down and curled up to wrap his arms around her waist as he lay his head on her lap. "I...I'm not doing this because I'm upset, it's just convenient is all. So, don't move alright? Just let me lie here for awhile."he whispered.
"I never said you did."she soothed with a fond smile, trying to calm her racing heart. With a gentle hand she started to caress his hair earning something akin to a purr. Could an adeptus actually purr? It wouldn't shock her at this point of all the things she'd seen lately. By the time the storm finally broke Lumine had fallen fast asleep. A sight that had startled Xiao when he awoke to find how he had been snuggled up to her like that all night. His face grew flustered as his heart jumped into his throat and crystalflies fluttered in his stomach. Damn what had brought that weakness on?
