The Vigilant Yaksha

Chapter 65

"Xiao? You found her! What the hell happened?!" Xiao had teleported both him and an unconscious Vena to his realm, where Aether had been staying until they were able to find her.

Worried eyes flicked across the various wounds and bruises, even to the ripped and bloodied clothing as Xiao carried her into a spare room in their house.

He didn't want to dirty her room, so the spare was often used when one of them was injured so they could clean up and rest in their own rooms later on.

Aether followed him into the room, waiting with a frantic look on his face as he hurried back out, more than likely looking for a first aid kit or Vena's various medical supplies.

Xiao quietly laid his unconscious lover down on the bed, resting his forehead down on the sheets next to her chest as he exhaled, the shame still very much there.

Aether's footsteps could be heard reentering the room, various noises following suite as he rummaged through her supplies for specific things to clean and bandage her wounds.

"What happened?" Aether's voice was significantly calmer the next time he spoke, having taken a seat by the edge of the bed so he could clean and bandage the obvious wound above her knee.

"I don't entirely know." Xiao finally spoke, raising his head but still refusing to meet Aether's gaze.

"One minute, I'm killing and cleansing demons, and the next, she pops out of nowhere and saves me from taking a nasty blow, but... she wasn't herself, Aether." Xiao's voice broke under the stress as he hid his face in his hands, swallowing back a cry that threatened to break free.

Aether had never seen Xiao like this, so he chose to just stay silent and let him talk whenever he was ready.

"Something happened out there, Aether. She was a completely different person. She was manic, almost. When she found me, she was already drenched in blood, but there wasn't a scratch on her- none of it was her's. I don't know what happened to her or if she had a mental break or what- I don't know-" Xiao cut himself off, feeling his throat tighten as tears welled up in the corner of his eyes.

There weren't words to explain how confused and frustrated he was with himself. He could have prevented all of this. He could have protected her from having to experience whatever had caused her to snap. He couldn't help but blame himself.

"I tried talking her into coming back with me and she refused, so much so that she tried fighting me- and I just-" A shaky breath cut off his sentence again, trying to recall the events as best he could.

"I couldn't let her go back out there like that, by herself. She wasn't stable and I couldn't risk it. So I tried scaring her into coming back with me, and it didn't work- so I had to-" Xiao's eyes glanced down at her bruised wrist, neck and cut leg, leading Aether to assume what had happened, and the boy simply nodded in response, drawing the conclusion together.

"You did what you had to do." Aether spoke softly, dabbing the cut on her leg gently with an antiseptic, just as Vena had taught him before.

The golden haired boy exhaled deeply after a few more moments, his brows furrowing sadly as he looked over at the sleeping face of his best friend.

"She never wanted me to tell you this, but you deserve to know." The boy had taken a wet cloth to Vena's face, gently dabbing and wiping away the last remnants of dried blood as he continued.

"I know she told you the story of her old world, but she left out a part, mainly because she didn't remember most of it... I had to fill in the blanks for her. When she returned to find her entire village slaughtered... she had what you could really only consider a psychotic break. Her mental just... snapped. It was all too much to bear, and she went on a killing spree until she'd slaughtered every last one of those bandits. It's never happened again since... until today, I guess." Finally, Xiao met Aether's eyes, the entire experience now starting to make a little more sense to him.