Say My Name and I'll Be There

Chapter 22

Darkness.

What a strange feeling it is to have your senses deprived and stolen from you.  Were you still alive, or were you also nothing in this realm of nothingness? Look at you, unable to form a coherent thought or a cry for help.  Look at how you've fallen.

You've fallen too deep this time.  Was Xiao even looking for you?  Did they manage to kill Childe?  Was Aether defeated?  Did the Fatui get what they needed from you, and discard your body in the snow?  All these fears floated alongside you in this sea of darkness, but you could not discern the answers.

Just how much time passed since you were dragged into that portal?

But as soon as you found yourself in this wretched place of nothing, something began to manifest.  A single voice found you, then two.  Soon enough they were blaringly loud and obnoxious.  But eternal sleep sounded nice.  Maybe this darkness wasn't all bad.  A peaceful end to your unpeaceful demise.

"Why is she still sleeping?"  Childe sounded a bit agitated and overprotective as he glared at Signora.  "We require her to be in good health."

"Relax, Childe," Signora lent him a faint smile.  "Do you not know that archons and adepti can hear pleas for help?  This will keep the guardian you spoke of off our trail.  Later we'll use it as bait to capture him."

"It wasn't necessary to hit her so hard," he muttered.  He could still see caked blood at your hairline.

"Now that we're back, I'll inform the Tsaritsa of our achievement.  Make sure she doesn't try anything stupid."  Signora left the cell and retreated upstairs.

Childe watched her leave and returned his gaze to you.  His fingers lightly traced your jaw.  "I warned you that things would get ugly, ojou-chan.  You should have considered an early surrender."

............................................

"I can't hear her," Xiao paced the city gates while Aether and Paimon tried to reassure him.  The worry that exuded the otherwise composed yaksha was enough to put them even more on edge.  If only he had been faster, if he had pushed off the ledge harder, you wouldn't be in the Fatui's hands now.  A part of him tore himself to shreds for his lack of agility in the spur of the moment, but he quickly silenced it.  Reducing himself to a failure would only hinder his ability to rescue you when the time came.

"We know where they're headed! They'll be in Snezhnaya without a doubt!" Paimon attempted to bring optimism to her friends. 

"It won't be that easy to infiltrate their base," Aether groaned.  "We won't even know where she's being held, or if she's even there in the first place."  This comment only seemed to agitate the yaksha further.

Aether was right, and Xiao hated it.  As much as he wanted to barge into Snezhnaya the second you disappeared, acting on emotion and rage wouldn't do you any good.  The likelihood that they were using you as bait was too high.  He needed to formulate a plan, just like every other battle he's participated in.  "Quiet," Xiao ordered the two of them to shut up in a disturbingly low voice.  "I need silence."

"S-Sorry!"

The yaksha disappeared without another word, and reappeared before Zhongli in Liyue.  He was just leaving the funeral parlor after a long day.  "We have a problem," Xiao growled.

......................................

"Mmph," you slowly regained consciousness sometime the next day.  "M-my head..."  Your blurry vision slowly focused on the ground in front of you.  The amount of scum on the tile made your stomach riot, and your gaze shifted to your wrists which were chained to the ground.  "So...dizzy."