Moonlit Skies [] Xiaoven

Chapter 1 - Dawn

Xiao shook his head. "I can't. I don't have time to 'socialise'. If I get distracted, something could happen and-"

"-...And if you aren't with us, something might happen to us." Zhongli interrupted. "You shouldn't worry so much. The millileth can take care of a few monsters for one day."

Xiao groaned and rubbed his eyebrows. "Fine. I'll greet him and follow you two around. For one day." 

"Thank you," The tall man smiled once more. "I think you might enjoy yourself. He's around your age and.. an interesting fellow, to be frank. But he's quite kind."

Around my age?  Xiao was a bit surprised. If he was being honest, he expected the 'friend' to be one of those mortals Zhongli so liked being around.

"Well, enough standing around. He should be arriving to Liyue in a few hours, and we agreed to meet in Minlin. We should start heading there ourselves."

And with that, Zhongli started walking into the inn, stopping for a moment. "I'll give you some time to go through your stuff to see if there's anything we can gift him. I wanted to buy something, but I forgot to bring both my wallet and Childe." He chuckled a bit and disappeared between a crowd of people in the inn.

"Wait!-" Xiao called out seconds too late. "God damn it, how the hell am I supposed to know what gifts he'll like? I don't even know the guy, or anything about him!" He groaned to himself. Whatever. I'll just grab some flowers in Minlin and give them to Zhongli once we arrive. We'll probably have to wait for his 'friend' an hour or so anyways. He decided, and closed his eyes, vanishing in a cloud of black and blue particles. When he opened his eyes again, he was in front of the bottom elevator stop, where he leaned against a wooden pole to wait for Morax- ahem, Zhongli. God, he never got his new name right. He always called him Rex Lapis or Morax.. or, well, Sir. He sighed. Why the hell'd he have to give up his gnosis..?  He asked himself, although he knew why. Hell, he understood why. He might've even done the same if he were in his position. But he couldn't help but see it as selfish. Maybe Xiao was the selfish one, but Zhongli had no idea what he'd put him through.

He hated to admit it, but Re- Zhongli- was like a father to him. And suddenly, he was dead to the world's eyes. His eyes. At first, it was just whispers. Rumours, fearful words muttered among the people at the inn. Xiao hadn't thought much of it. He thought it was just another stupid tale, another lie the humans shared for a few laughs and giggles later.

"It's just a joke haha! You should've seen the look on your face~!" Ugh. Humans and their 'jokes'.

For once, he'd actually wished it was a joke. He'd wished it so much, with all his will. There was no way Rex Lapis was... actually dead. And then the traveller appeared. The traveller appeared, and told him that Rex Lapis had indeed 'died'.  At that moment, Xiao wished he was in some sort of messed-up nightmare.

But he wasn't.

He'd felt an overwhelming sense of hollowness, of loss. But he tried to keep it in. He had to. He couldn't cry, pout, or do anything that might display weakness. So instead he acted surprised. He was, but he exaggerated the surprise in his voice to cover the grief that underlaid it.

He and the traveller spoke a while more, and then they left after Xiao told them he was going to find the other adepti to discuss who would take Rex Lapis's position. But he didn't. He couldn't, not now. That was when it all sunk in. When he was left alone, standing still on that porch. His legs seemed to fail him, and he had to grip onto the railing to avoid falling. He felt tears from in his eyes, and he fell on his knees, his hands still weakly holding onto the railing. "No. No, no. No, stop. Don't cry, you aren't weak.." He said to himself through gritted teeth. "...Stop..." His voice cracked. I failed. I-I- I could've saved him. I could've prevented his death. I should've... I... I failed. I failed to protect Liyue. I failed to protect... He'd broken into tears, right then and there. The air was filled with drowned sobs, desperate attempts to bury those feelings deep, so that that freshly reopened wound in his chest couldn't hurt him anymore. I failed him.. Just like I failed them. It's all my fault, all my fault... But he couldn't. He couldn't drown it out, he couldn't bury it under. It was too much, it was overwhelming. He tried to catch his breath, but the tears kept coming. They wouldn't stop, they never would..