AN: This is your warning, this is the chapter. If you need to stop reading here, I completely understand. Also, fun fact, I listened to Lonely St. on loop whilst writing this, soo.....
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He was quick to get back to the teapot, the second he had left the foot of the mountain, he was gone.
Their home was... demolished for lack of a better word. The walls of their home were blown out, pieces of broken glass and wood everywhere. He felt panic rising further up his throat, years of experience keeping him from getting sick right then and there. Kazuha was unconscious under the rubble with a cut on the back of his head that bled sluggishly.
His hands shook as he tried to remember how he used to bandage his own wounds, except that he didn't. He wasn't mortal as the samurai, he didn't need to worry over a little head wound. Now, it seemed that his hands moved too slowly for the blood that was continuing to flow into white hair. His breathing was as steady as ever even as his dearest friend bled into his hands.
Finally, he was bandaged properly, his pulse beating at least evenly now. Xiao allowed himself a brief moment before he realized what must have happened. Venti had done this once before, only definitely not to this extent.
But if he didn't remember anything, if it was only Barbatos left in there, then this reaction was almost sensible. Though his breathing was still steady, his hands seemed to be portraying everything he felt as he raked them through his own hair.
If it was only Barbatos, Venti's bare instincts and fear and nothing else, then the only logical place for him to have gone is home. Mondstadt. His heart dropped further, and he spared a glance toward his friend.
Despite his worry for all of Mondstadt, Kazuha came first. It took nary a fraction of a second for him to leave the limp Inazuman at the herbalist's in Liyue before he was to Mondstadt. He'd never traveled so fast in his life, not even before Morax, not even in all the wars he'd fought. He'd never been this afraid.
The countryside seemed peaceful, but the closer he got to town, the worse everything clearly was.
Hordes of people were hunkered in the woods, Razor and his wolves watching over them in a way Xiao couldn't say he had expected. Little Klee, her bag clutched tight to her chest, informed him that they were going on an adventure, but that her 'big brother' needed to stay behind for work.
He was sure that wasn't at all true.
The bridge came into view, and with it, the dread in his chest seemed to capsize, blooming into a new, fresh type of horror. He recognized flaming red hair, the flash of a sword and a chill coming over the area. He cursed the knights for a moment, before realizing that this wasn't even most of them. There were only two actual knights standing there, alongside golden hair that whipped as Aether dove. And Venti.
His dearest, his most beloved. He had shown Xiao his wings once, quickly, explaining after that they were more suited for a Mondstadt of the past. But now, they shimmered in the light, beating strong gusts towards the alchemist and Aether. His whole being radiated wrong.
This was something Xiao knew all too well. This was something he had killed others over, all too many times in the past.
But at the moment, he simply stood frozen, staring at his most cared for as he attacked his people. As he attacked their friends.
Venti tilted his head the tiniest bit, sending a harsh gust towards Aether, and finally Xiao could move. His mask stayed firmly at his side as he scooped him up and deposited him behind Albedo. Kaeya's eyes narrowed at him the tiniest bit before he turned back, sword raised defensively.
Venti spoke, his voice haunting, more like the wind than any actual sounds, "Leave this place. My home is not for you." He sounded afraid, confused. Angry.
Xiao looked around at the others, trying to figure out what might have happened to have even started this. They all looked a little scraped up, but there were no scorch marks on the grass, no telltale signs of the elements being used anywhere in the area.
Even now, Diluc stood slightly to the front of the alchemist, shielding his much smaller body from sight as he stayed to the back. It didn't seem as if this group had done anything thus far.
Tears began to leak from Venti's eyes, streaking opaque lines down his cheeks. Aether turned to face him in horror, dropping his guard just the smallest bit. Perhaps if Xiao was any quicker, any less worried in the moment, he would have been able to stop what happened next.
But he was neither of those things. he was merely a man, watching the one he loved forget him and all he cared for. So he didn't.
In that moment that Aether dropped his guard, Barbatos' eyes narrowed, and he sent the fastest bolt of energy Xiao had ever seen him make towards their boyfriend.
It didn't hit him.
Even as fast as the attack had been, Kaeya was faster. It glanced off his blade and he dropped to a knee for a moment.
Aether looked shocked, as if he hadn't expected his dearest to actually attack him in such a way.
Xiao called for the only God he could pray to in the moment.
Zhongli.
Morax.
Rex Lapis.
My Lord, please, help us.
His prayers were not answered, and a blast of wind covered the area, dust flurrying around them so he couldn't see a thing, could only hear the whirling.
When it dropped, dispersing little by little until he could see again, that now familiar feeling rose in his throat.
Kaeya was suspended in the air, rips in his clothing covering him, blood dripping from his fingers as he gripped his sword tightly. Barbatos, for that was who this was, no longer the man he slept beside, narrowed his eyes coldly. He lifted a hand slowly, reminding Xiao vaguely of the cats he used to watch toy with their meals outside of the Inn.
He was frozen, he'd never felt so useless.
Blood was dripping more thickly through dark fingers now, the Archon must be doing something. Aether lifted his sword, aided by Albedo pushing him from the ground, flying at the two of them, suspended in the air.
Nary a twitch of a finger and he was sent flying, hitting the ground with a crack that Xiao hoped wasn't anything important. This was starting to be too much.
Kaeya's sword clattered from his grip, fingers quickly losing color now.
Xiao stepped forward, feeling as if he was in a daze, his body not his own anymore. His mask was at his side, his strange calm the only thing keeping him from falling to his knees and crying his eyes out. He wasn't sure what he was going to say, what he could even do in this situation.
He'd been here before, and now it was all he could do to not imagine Venti in the place of all the Gods he'd had to kill. In the place of the friends he'd had to kill. He stopped. This was all too much, too similar. He hadn't felt this weak before. He couldn't even remember what he'd felt, but it couldn't have been this useless despair.
Diluc walked past him then, sword not in hand, head raised to look at the two of them. His voice trembled as he spoke, and Xiao watched his hands clench, as if his were shaking just as badly as Xiao's had been. Still were? He wasn't sure anymore.
"Venti, Barbatos, please," His voice broke, a wet sound leaving his chest, " Don't take him from me. I couldn't take it." He's pleading now, on his knees as though he's praying. Everything makes sense now, the bits and pieces of their story piecing themselves together in Xiao's head, though he can't care in the moment, can only see as the thing in the air shifts, blinking.
His head tilts, and for a fraction of a moment, it's Venti again. His eyes widen and he drops his power, hitting the ground as he releases Kaeya as well.
And Xiao knows the redhead had his friend gathered into his arms, but all sounds leave his ears and he's at his dearest's side. He's ok.
Well, maybe Xiao had been a little quick on the hope.
Someone is pulling him from his body then, and the world is frozen again. A form plunges its hand through the Anemo Archon's chest, and he hears a distant scream, familiar, but not quite reaching his ears.
Xiao moves as if underwater, his mind fuzzy still as he registered his Lord, Zhongli, blood dripping from his clawed fingers to the ground.
"You...What did you do." His voice sounded foreign, as if from someone else. The numb feeling was replaced by fury in an instant, even as he cradled Venti's neck in his arms as tenderly as he could manage.
His Lord simply shook his head, turning to Aether. Xiao focused on the gentle fingers wiping away the tears that had begun to trail down his own face. He hadn't even noticed. Venti was smiling, even as he hiccupped blood.
"We were destined love, don't cry."
As if those words, the notion that they were meant for each other would do anything to stop the pain in his chest. Words bubbled from his lips, but not the ones he meant. He was such a coward, he couldn't even force the simple phrase from his lips as his dearest died in his arms. Wind swirled around them and he heard Diluc shout, a strong arm pulling him, once again, from Venti.
Maybe this was what he deserved. His complacency had earned him this horror, this pain. He had known before this relationship that he was meant to be alone, that his mere presence killed. And yet, he'd been selfish anyways.
No.
This time, the blood was not on his hands. He turned to face Zhongli, his boyfriend's best friend, the one who'd saved him from a fate worse than death.
His hands were shaking again, but not as they had been earlier, afraid as dread curled in his chest. The dread had become a raging fire, anger he was no longer directing at himself going towards the only other one it could.
His vision blurred even as he snarled, weapon appearing in his hands.
"How dare you." Xiao had been angry before, but never had such hot, all-consuming anger enveloped him. His fury had always been cold, icy; sharp glares and quick avoidances. It seemed to catch Zhongli off guard as well, as he wiped the blood off his fingers carefully.
They were creatures of war, the both of them, but even Xiao would have never done such a thing to one that his Lord loved as he had just done.
"You killed him." He turned to look for Aether, blonde streaked with red as he sat against the bridge, knees pulled up to his chest. He didn't deserve to lose yet another person he loved, neither of them did.
This was so unfair. All Venti wanted was to live in peace, all Xiao wanted was happiness. And Aether wanted his home, his sister. His fist tightened around the staff of his weapon, wind swirling around his body. The mask formed over his face, clouding his mind further with screams of anger and pain that weren't his own.
Is happiness too much to yearn for?
Are my dreams so small?
How DARE you?!
It only took one swing. The blade of his polearm shattered in the Geo Archon's grip, his eyes sympathetic in a way Xiao thought that they didn't deserve to be. Hands of stone were gentle as they pried the blade from his fingers.
He was floating. This had to be a dream. A nightmare.
Diluc was holding Kaeya's head up, smiling at him tenderly in a way that he would never have if this was real. Paimon was always around in these situations, but even she was silent, hugging Aether as the blonde sobbed.
The stone hands were around him now. He wasn't sure he had any strength left in his body, knees giving out pretty much as soon as steady arms enveloped him.
Maybe when he woke up, they would be sleeping once more, all three of them cuddled up in Aether's plush bed. He would watch them wake up, admire the way the light hit Venti's eyes and his pretty smile.
Yes, this would be better when he woke up.