authors note: sooo um. double update!! honestly i fucken looooooved the charactierization for this chapter and even though its almost 2 in the morining and i can barely type correctly anymore bc of how much ive een typing this week!!! ANYWAY!!!!!!! aging characters up/down and making characters taller/shorter my beloved <3 one day ill make like. a reference of everyone bc i have such detailed images of them in my head im sorry. if u think u know what they look like in this fic: No u Dont (or maybe ur in my brain and u do. i dont know!)
ALSO!!!!!! THERE"S SCENES W KAZUHA AND SCARA IN THIS BUT PLEAAAAAASE DONT SHIP THEM IN THIS FIC!!!!!!!
kazuha is fourteen and kuni is like, 20 in this fic so. i respect u kazuscara shippers just. this is not the place for it babes <3
cws: um abusive relationships for the rest of the fic due to this arc, uh. that's it i think, this one's kinda short LOL
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the group stares off as venti, zhongli and the unnamed redheaded man rush for the room that xiao was located in.
the expression on all their faces were the same— brows furrowed, lips drawn in as they looked to the side in worry. none of them were sure of what was happening with xiao and even if given the chance to know, none of them would take it.
"excuse me," a soft voice spoke up and everyone looked at the person the voice came from. he was short, maybe the same height as xiao, with platinum blonde hair with a bright red streak in it. he was wearing a large oversized sweater and baggy pants that didn't seem to fit him in the slightest. in his hands were bundles of rope that he was twirling around a bandaged hand of his.
"apologies but they said you have to wait over here," he says as he guides them to an empty room with a table and chairs. they probably used the room for team meetings, xinyan thinks, but at the same time they have way more people than they do so there's no telling as to what they use this room for.
as they all sit down, the boy slowly undoes the rope and immediately xinyan knows what he's going to do. he doesn't look like he wants to do it either, judging from his watery eyes and how his pupils never stay in one place, always darting back and forth.
the boy's soft and gentle hands wrap the rope around xinyan's wrists as she holds them behind the back of the chair.
"you really don't wanna do this, huh?" xinyan asks as he knots the back of the rope as he moves to the next person, xingqiu.
the boy jumps slightly as he nods, "yeah but i... i don't really have a choice."
xingqiu frowns from his response, "what do you mean by that?"
he ties xingqiu's wrists together as he walks across the table to where chongyun and qiqi sat, "well, i'm only here because they said they had information on where my mom and my stepmom are. i don't know where they are since i was in school when everything happened."
"oh, i'm sorry," xingqiu says, "chongyun and i were also in school when everything happened but we know how his aunt is doing so i can't imagine how you're feeling without them."
the boy sniffles as he moves to qiqi, "yeah, i miss them and i'm still really, really scared of everything."
xinyan sighs, "well, if you ever wanna leave with us when we go, you're free to join us."
the boy stiffens from her words, "leave?"
xinyan is about to ask him about what he means when suddenly a tall man with a hair color similar to chongyun and a large scar across his face walks in shouting, "kazuha! what are you doing?"
the boy jumps as he turns around to face the intimidating man, "they- someone told me to tie them up since-"
"who?" the man cuts him off.
"i don't- i can't remember," the boy, kazuha sniffles as the man walks around the table examining everyone's faces, "i'm sorry."
"stop crying. you know how much that pisses me off," he says as he begins to check the tightness of the rope.
kazuha says nothing and only nods. a beat of silence passes before the man speaks up as he's able to fit two fingers in between the rope and xinyan's skin, "are you joking with this? do you want them to escape?"
"no, no," kazuha shakes his head, "i'm sorry."
the man walks around the table, tightening the rope around everyone's wrists before he stops at qiqi and stares at kazuha, "you're actually fucking with me at the point. why the hell would you tie up the kid? she's like six, what's she gonna do? punch you to death with her baby sized fists?"
kazuha shrugs as he looks down at his shoes.
"look at me," the man says with a scowl as he walks to stand before the teenager.
kazuha doesn't move to look at him, his lip already trembling with tears trailing down his cheeks.
the man grips his chin as he forces the boy to look at him, "you wanna see your moms again, don't you?"
kazuha nods in his hold, "use your words, kazuha."
"yes, sir," kazuha trembles, his hands shaking as he holds them in his own grip.
"great," the older man smiles insincerely before his face turns dark with an animalistic rage in his eyes, "then fucking think for once. that's your issue. you never think, kazuha."
kazuha nods as the man leaves the room and xinyan can swear she hears the older man mutter under his breath, "fucking idiot."
"how old are you kazuha?" xinyan asks. the boy doesn't seem too old, in fact he even seems to be around chongyun's age especially with the chubby cheeks and smooth skin that they both possess.
"i'm fourteen."
xinyan's heart drops, he was too young to experience this. she's not talking about the zombies but the absolutely horrible behavior the kid had to endure from the older man who, if she's not wrong, seems to be one of the people running the whole place along with kunikuzushi. even then, she's unsure if the behavior that kunikuzushi had shown previously was even him. perhaps he was trying to earn their trust before betraying them like he'd done to xiao before years ago. but even though something in her yells that yes, that's correct, something in her also yells, maybe he's changed.
xinyan hears loud footsteps and she thinks that maybe it's that god awful man again but dark purple hair flashes in as he walks into the room and sees a sobbing kazuha.
"oh my god," kunikuzushi whispers as he takes in everything in the room— kazuha, a literal child, sobbing and kunikuzushi "guests" tied up on chairs.
kunkizushi pulls out a walkie talkie from his pants pocket as he says something quickly in japanese and puts it back in his pocket as soon as he gets a response from the other side.
"someone's coming for you guys," kunikuzushi says before going to tend to kazuha, "hey, what's wrong? what happened? talk to me."
kazuha sniffles as his tears continue and hiccups begin, "dottore- he... he came in here and... and..."
the young boy begins hiccupping as his tears continue. kunkizushi frowns as he pulls kazuha close to him, "hey, it's okay, he's an asshole. i'll try to make sure he doesn't mess with you anymore, okay?"
kazuha wraps his arms around the taller man as he rubs kazuha's back softly, "do you need ajax? he's on his way but i can have him cuddle you if you feel bad."
kazuha shakes his head as he shoves his head into the crook of kunikuzushi's neck as he continues sobbing, "i want my mama."
kunikuzushi's hand pauses as those words leave kazuha's mouth. he was still a child, he knows that. even if he tries to act older than he actually was, kunikuzushi knows yes, he's fourteen but even at that, he didn't grow up doing the normal things that other kids did. instead he had to grow up learning how to stop bleeding, how to shoot a gun, how to ration food instead of learning school subjects.
"i'm sorry." kunikuzushi whispers, "we're having people look for your moms, zuzu. i promise, they're trying hard so you can see your moms again, okay?"
as if on the worst, and most inaccurate cue ever, a tall freckled redhead walked into the room awkwardly as he stared at everyone as if they had grown an extra limb.
"oh wow," he says slowly, "yeah, this is fucked."
the man quickly begins to undo everyone's binds as the only sounds in the room is kazuha's sobbing and kunikuzushi's soothing in japanese. as soon as their binds are untied, chongyun is the first one to step on over to the young inazuman boy.
chongyun says nothing and the only thing he does is pull out a recognizable plushie from a small bag hidden underneath the hoodie he was wearing. chongyun holds the plushie out to kazuha with no words being said and it was evident on kazuha's face that he wasn't sure what the other boy was trying to say nonverbally.
"you can hold on to it," chongyun says softly, "whenever i feel sad, i like to hug it and i usually feel better afterwards."
"oh." kazuha says softly as he rubs his hand across the top of the plushie, "thank you."
chongyun nods as kunikuzushi rubs his hand across kazuha's back, "we can all calm down as the doctors finish up xiao's surgery. it should take an hour or two more, okay?"
venti and zhongli sit outside the surgical room in silence on what could be the most uncomfortable chairs that ever existed, along with the bright, fiery redhead, diluc and the other redhead, ajax.
"so..." ajax starts, "how did this happen to him?"
zhongli groans as he puts his head in his hands, "it's all my fault."
venti looks to zhongli, "it really isn't. you said you were tired so you went inside, you can't blame yourself that you weren't there for xiao."
ajax nods, "uh-huh. so the scratches, i would really like to know. not because it's for medical reasons, i'll be honest, i'm just nosy."
"oh?" zhongli asks as he combs through the long strands that lay over his shoulders, "he was just smoking, that's all. then, apparently some weird variation of a zombie had attacked him."
"he'll live through it." diluc says nonchalantly as if zhongli hadn't just mentioned zombies, you know, the thing that was killing the majority of humans.
zhongli furrows his brows, "how do you know that?"
diluc brushes his short jagged hair aside from his shoulders. zhongli doesn't ever pay attention to anyone else's hair like he does to the other man. his hair was shoulder length and it was chopped so haphazardly that it seemed like it was chopped with a dagger instead of proper scissors.
diluc sighs as he rolls up his sleeve. zhongli's eyes rested on his forearm where the remnant of teeth marks lay on his skin.
"because i've lived through a bite, zhongli."