Say My Name and I'll Be There

Chapter 17

An awakening.  Was that what was witnessed?  Xiao pressed a cool cloth to your forehead before returning to his corner of the room.  The technique he had used to save you rarely worked, so there was little historical information he could gather.  He doubted the other adepti of Liyue knew it existed--the living ones, that is.

Zhongli entered the room with quiet footsteps and shut the door behind him.  "It has been several hundred years since I've seen this occurrence."

"Will it kill her?"

"No.  It is simply a side effect," the god's eyes flicked to Xiao's.  "Tell me exactly what happened."

"I gave her clean clothes, and she fell.  Then she...knew my previous name."

The god furrowed his brows and his gaze fell to the floor.  "You haven't told her, correct?"

"I would not make such a foolish decision."

He nodded, "Perhaps something triggered her to remember."

"What do you mean, 'remember?' She could not have come across that name, nor associate it with me."

"Bosacius left a treasure behind before he passed.  I am sure it contained a scripture that mentioned that name, but..."  Zhongli thought hard about this.  "She muttered something when I met you in the hallway.  Did you hear it?"

"I did not."

"I see."  He had made his theory now.  "She is reliving your memories."

"That isn't possible."

"It is if she has your blood."  Xiao returned his gaze to you when he heard this.  "It is simply a side effect of your bond with her.  It poses no danger to her wellbeing."

"My...bond?"

"Have you forgotten I am an archon?  I see all, and I see what you two hold in your hearts."

"Tch.  I don't have the faintest idea of what you're referring to."  Xiao pushed himself off the wall and peered out the window, his back facing the archon.

"I think you do.  It is not impossible for a human and an adeptus to love one another," he thought back to the half-adeptus Ganyu in the Liyue Qixing.

Xiao didn't bother to respond.  How could he when he knew Zhongli was right?  He may be correct, but I am not one for relationships.  I am a mercenary, a prisoner of war.  I do not have room for love nor do I wish to understand it.

"Ngh."  Your groggy eyes opened slightly from a pain in your temple.  An image of a kind and gentle adeptus sprung to mind.  "A...Alatus?"  Your outstretched arm reached toward the image in an attempt to get him to stay.  But instead of taking hold of the yaksha's hand, your fingertips brushed against Zhongli's suit.

"Do you remember where you are?" He knelt at your bedside and the image of the kind adeptus faded away completely.

"Rex Lapis,"  your eyes continued to hold an amber glow, and you couldn't maintain focus on the archon's face.

"Xiao, what was it you were thinking just now?"  Zhongli spoke while he observed your vacant eyes.  She does not appear to see me...

"What does that have to do with the current situation?"  The yaksha made his way over to Zhongli's side.

"It appears she's responding to your thoughts."  He placed a hand atop your head and closed his eyes.  He saw the flash of images you were seeing, visuals of a long-gone past.  The most prominent one was that of Xiao smiling and laughing, long before he was controlled by his abusive master.  "Interesting," he pulled out of your mindscape and removed his hand from your hair.  "She is responding to you."