Your eyes slowly opened to view the new cell Dottore had assigned you. You thought the original cell had been bad, so when your vision finally focused, you realized in great annoyance that this cage was meant for a literal animal. Bars replaced the entry wall and doorway, leaving you no privacy in this underground arena. Even the toilet lacked some sort of curtain to hide you from prying eyes, though you sincerely doubted anyone would bother to cause that kind of trouble with you.
You forced yourself to sit up despite the horrendous pain that shook the very bones within you. Yesterday was blurry, but the image of a not-so-kind Signora granting you rest remained prominent. That awful interrogation was no doubt going to continue today, but at least you got the rest you desperately needed. Your mind was clearer now, less weak and broken than last night. If Signora never gave Dottore the order, what would have happened? Would you have only passed out, or would you have actually died in the process? Were you one to give in on the brink of death and spill what you already know, risking Xiao's life?
A sore throat plagued you, and the cold of the country seemed to seep into the building--even as low as down here. Your puffy eyes slid to the bars that prevented your escape...Why weren't there any guards today? A blink wiped away some of the blurriness and you slowly crawled over to the cell door. A faint but unmistakable ruckus leaked through the prison's exit, and your posture straightened. It was only when the door at the end of the hall burst off its hinges that you considered the possibility of an attack.
The door wasn't the only thing that clattered to the ground. "X-Xiao?" Your voice came out more broken than intended, and your drowsiness was swept under the rug. Am I seeing things? "Xiao!"
"Ha-ha! Didn't think he'd wake up so early," a Fatui agent entered the corridor and lifted the unconscious adeptus by the nape of his neck. "Must've been some sort of reflex, he's out cold again. Pathetic. This is the might of the adepti?"
Your blood ran colder when a third figure entered. His eyes met yours as he retied Xiao's hands behind his back, half-pushing him forward to walk. A devious smile slipped across his lips as he escorted Xiao past your cell.
"I thought you'd appreciate it if I was the one to bring him in," Childe teased as he walked past you.
"Xiao!" You couldn't raise your voice as much as you wanted to, but the yaksha's eyes opened. "Xiao! What happened?!"
"...a-ambushed..." His body was too weak to lift his head.
"What the hell did you do to him?" The shriek was like music to Childe's ears as he roughly discarded the yaksha into a cell you couldn't see from where you were placed. "HEY! Don't do that!"
Childe returned to your cell and squatted down so he was level with you. "I didn't do anything to him, ojou-chan. He was like this when we found him."
"'Found?'" The cell walls seemed to constrict you, force you into maintaining eye contact. "What did you do? What happened to everyone? Where's Aether, Zhongli?"
"Don't worry your pretty little head about it, girlie," he booped your forehead and stood up. "Just remember the sight I just gave to you; you wasted your love on someone that wasn't strong enough to protect you." He passed the Fatui agent and made a face at the broken door that lay on the ground. "Fix this."
"Yes, Master Childe."
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"Ugh..." A faint groan made its way to your ears.
"Xiao?" You dragged your body to the corner of the cell so you could hear him better. "Are you okay?" The bars your hands were around seemed less cold and cruel now that a familiar presence was awake.
"This is nothing." It was an obvious lie, but you didn't press further until he yelped in pain a few seconds later.
"Xiao!"
"Sigils," he coughed. "I can't touch the walls."
"Sigils? What kind of sigils?"
"The kind that trap and seal adepti, obviously." He shuffled around the best he could so that he was situated in the exact middle of his cell.
"But I thought they didn't know where to find you..." Your eyebrows furrowed as you thought aloud. They couldn't have found him so quickly, and by the sound of it, they weren't planning on looking for him anytime soon either. It didn't add up.
"Relax. These aren't nearly enough to restrain me. I can--"
A little metal object flew across the ceiling until it landed on the newly-fixed doorframe. It was some sort of metal bird with eyes that glowed an ominous red. The beak tapped the doorframe twice, and signaled for it to open.
"I see my subjects are up and about," Dottore stuck his arm out so his little bird could perch on his sleeve. His leisure footsteps carried him to the halfway point between your and Xiao's cells so he could look at the two of you. When his eyes landed on Xiao, a manic grin spread across his lips. "Already planning on breaking out? Go ahead and give it a try. The amount of power you'd need to exert would kill her."
"Huh?" Just what exactly was Xiao doing right now? "Don't listen to him, he's trying to force submission."
"Am I? I just saved your life right now, girlie," Dottore's eyes shifted to yours, then returned to Xiao. The metal bird hopped onto the doctor's shoulder so he could rest his arm at his side. Another smile plagued his lips. "Your little savior here only just noticed the most powerful sigil right beside him. To break it would require most of his strength and this entire underground network would be collateral damage. There'd be no saving you."
Judging by the silence that emanated from Xiao's cell, he was right. "Just do it, Xiao." Your voice didn't hold any emotion, save for a longing for his safe return. "You don't have to worry about me."
Dottore let out a cackle that momentarily startled his artificial companion. "Ha! I wasn't aware adepti could be defeated so easily!"
"What're you talking about?"
"Oh, my dear, you should see the look on his face right now. Actually, I can make that happen." He nudged the bird in the direction of the door and it took off. This time it landed on the doorknob and pecked three times. After a few moments of silence, the door opened. "Since Childe has been with you two the longest, I've asked the Tsaritsa for his aid. From his reports it seems like you three had quite the companionship."
You heard Xiao scoff at the words, then your cell door opened. "Looks like we'll be stuck together for awhile longer," Childe lifted you off the ground with little effort. His nose scrunched up when he realized he did it with such ease. Is she just that broken, or just that skinny now? He shrugged the question off as he escorted you to Xiao's cell.
"When was it you stumbled upon him yesterday?" Dottore addressed his subordinate as he opened a small bag that was just handed to him by a Fatui agent. That agent, along with Childe, forced you to your knees. Xiao shifted forward, eyes widening slightly as he tried to read the situation.
"Sometime in the late evening, in Fontaine. They were heading straight for Snezhnaya." Childe pushed some of your hair out of the way and exposed the nape of your neck. "Seems like they were on their way to rescue you, ojou-chan. I only happened to stumble upon them by chance."
The way he said that made you think it wasn't at all by chance. It would explain why these symbols were already painted within Xiao's cell...Your eyes scanned Xiao's surroundings. Were those seals painted with red paint, or with blood? Maybe it was better if you didn't know the answer. At least Xiao didn't appear to be too injured.
"And you overheard them discussing Xiao's unconscious state?" Childe confirmed with a nod as his grip on you tightened. "Good. I have a theory pertaining to his current state. You see, Childe, I had been interrogating her last night as well. I think there may be yet another connection we can study--"
Your heart dropped when you peeked up to see that he was filling a syringe with a mysterious orange liquid. If that was the same liquid from yesterday-- "Please don't."
"Ha! 'Please don't?' That's the only comeback you have today?" Dottore let out another cackle and tapped the excess liquid off of the needle. "Don't worry missy, this is a smaller dosage."
"No!" The needle penetrated your skin and you immediately felt like your insides were being torched alive. Childe and the Fatui agent let you squirm in pain on the ground, while Dottore had his attention on Xiao.
Xiao hid his pain well this time around. He had dealt with it yesterday, after all. He continued to glare at Dottore, his hands subtly curling into tight fists to deal with the pain. The harbinger took it as a challenge, and he prepared another needle. It was then when the yaksha let the pain show on his face, and he tilted his head in discomfort as the pain only worsened.
Dottore's hands froze when he noticed the glowing in his eyes. "I see. It looks like we have a breakthrough already, Childe." He yanked your head up from the ground and forced you to look at him. "See how quick progress can be made when you obtain all the variables?"
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"How are you feeling?" Xiao's voice coaxed you out of the hysterical mindset the pain had put you in.
"H-How did I get in here?" You were in his cell, head still spinning and stomach still churning. Your body was slick with a cold sweat. Your fingers were still twitching uncontrollably as you lay on the ground beside him.
"I suppose you don't remember," Xiao returned his gaze forward. "They decided it would be better for us to remain in a single cell, that way the odds of you dying in an escape are high."
"Great--" A groan left your lips as you tried to prop yourself on an elbow.
"You shouldn't move." When you ignored him, he pushed you back down with a gloved hand on your shoulder. "You're pushing yourself too far. Lie down and rest."
"I'm fine!" Your protest was accompanied by another attempt to sit up, but this time he pinned you down with both hands. He hovered over you, but was careful not to be too forceful with your already-aching body.
"Your body cannot handle this much strain. You don't understand the--"
"No, you don't understand. I've been put through so much torture these past few days and you haven't seen--" Your voice caught in your throat when he pulled away. How insensitive of me; he knows more than plenty of what it's like. "...I'm sorry for snapping, I..."
"I have felt some of the pain they put you through," his gaze finally returned to yours. "That's why I'm telling you to rest. Even I could not withstand that pain. Zhongli said it was a new side effect, like how you can feel my thoughts. I can now feel your emotions and physical pains."
"That's why you were found unconscious?" It took you a moment to process the new developments. Just what emotions could he feel from you? Hopefully not your love for him...
"Have you not realized what he was injecting you with?" Your confused expression made him shake his head. "It was a synthetic solution made with your own blood."
"My own blood? But they didn't take any samples--"
"They could have when you were unconscious. Then they must have enhanced it somehow, made it more concentrated. The burning is attributed to a high amount of adeptal energy. He's effectively poisoning you."
"Then why did it hurt you? You're an adeptus."
"If they were to inject it directly into me, I wouldn't be harmed. But since it was injected into a mortal body that's linked to mine and is not fully adeptus, I would feel what your body feels."
"When did you start feeling my feelings and pain?" If he was feeling it the entire time you've been in this awful place, you were going to feel even worse for snapping at him.
"Your emotions began plaguing me a few days ago. As for your pain, only last night. I overheard Zhongli explaining his theories while I came in and out of consciousness." He absentmindedly stared at the hallway. "Regardless, we're too late. They already have the means of creating pathetic mortal versions of adepti; all that's left is to study us until they know the full powers and limitations of the bonds, and then..." We'll more than likely be slaughtered when they're through with us.
"And...what about the others? Zhongli, Aether? Did they escape?"
The unfriendly metal bird impatiently hopped along the hall's floor. Xiao watched it with a neutral expression. "No. They didn't."