Falling for You

Chapter 34 - She's here

Xiao's POV

 This can't be right. Please don't let it be true.

 If what I saw just now was real, then Venti's lack of power, as well as the loss of his friend was...

 Because of me.

 The seed was planted because of me.

 Venti lost his power because of me.

 Istaroth left because of me.

 I felt my heart tighten at the revelation.

 Why would he do all this for someone who he had only seen once, for someone who doesn't even know him? Why?

 Then another thing hit me. Istaroth had said that if Venti were to use the power on the tree he would seep for at least another century!

 I can't let him do that! After staying with Venti for so long, I understood that he hate nothing more than when he needed to sleep. When he slept, he missed everything and everyone. Human life is only so long, if he fell asleep now, he would lose so many people.

 Giving up all that for me is... No, I can't let him do it! I-

 "Xiao Xiao? When did you get here?" Venti's voice sounded from above me.

 I looked up and around. I was still in the same room, only now there was no Istaroth, and Venti was wearing his casual clothes too.

 "Is something wrong? You don't look so well." He asked concerned as he picked me up.

 Of course, something is wrong! Something is very wrong, and that's your stupid plan!

 That's what I wanted to scream, but I knew that saying it like this wasn't the answer, so I just shook my head.

 "That's good then, you had me really worried there. Did you find anything interesting?"

 I nodded. I found a lot of things. As for whether it was interesting or alarming...

 "Then you had better luck than me. I still haven't found what I'm looking for. Have you seen a set of papers with a drawing of a tree by any chance?" He asked.

 I had the urge to shake my head, but I had a feeling that even without the papers he would still do something stupid, so it was better if he had them, like that, he would have at least a little knowledge of what he was doing, so I nodded.

 "Really? You're a real life save Xiao Xiao! I thought I would have to search around for the rest of the day."

 I would rather you didn't search at all and abandoned this stupid plan of yours.

 In the end, I still led Venti to the papers, and not long after finding them, we went back to Windrise.

 To our surprise, however, Jean was standing under the tree, waiting for us.

 "Something came up." She said directly.

 "Is it that urgent?"

 "The abyss is moving, quite a lot of them too." Her face was grave and hearing this Venti's face turned the same.

 He looked at Jean and then turned to look at me with a complicated expression.

 "Xiao Xiao, could you stay alone for a little while? I'll be back as soon as I can."

 Sure, sure, no problem. I need some time to think anyway.

 I nodded.

 "Will it really be alright?"

 Yes, yes, just go!

 "Wait just one moment Jean."

 "No problem."

 With that, he brought me inside his inner world.

 "I'll make sure that this place stays stable till I come back so you don't have to worry. Just be good and stay here, I'll be back."

 Before I could react, he placed a kiss on my forehead and rushed out not waiting for my reaction.

 I stared at the place where Venti had disappeared in a daze as I touched my forehead.

 That... didn't feel that bad.

I didn't have a lot of time to think about this, however, before I saw the gate leading outside open again.

 Did he leave something? But this feeling... That isn't Venti!

 This was not the first time Venti left me in his inner world for a while and went out. Most of the time it was to get food, but no matter what, I knew to recognize his energy and this wasn't his!

 Within seconds, I jumped up the tree, hiding among the branches. No matter who it was, the energy they gave off showed that they were strong, much stronger than me.

 I waited and waited, and after a few minutes, the other person finally entered.

 They were quite tall, and their face was covered by a large black cloak.

 A woman. That was what my experience told me.

 Sure enough, the next moment the intruder took off their cloak, revealing a woman clothed on withe clothes with green highlights.

 She looked rather familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. That was until she spoke.

 "Stupid Barbatos, didn't you feed that seed a little too much?"

  Istaroth! She's here!