The sleeping adeptus // Xiao x reader

Slumber | 17

"Uh, traveler? Why are we at the stone gate?" You ask. Paimon looks back at you as Aether sits down to rest. "Because we're heading to mondstadt! The issue was reported there so of course we're crossing the stone gate" Paimon replied. You narrowed your eyes, confused. "You mean to tell me that you can from mondstadt, to get me, and then now we're going back. Couldn't you find someone more convenient to deal with day dreaming?" Paimon put her hands on her hips, tired of your questions. "You're underestimating the importance of this situation! We've checked with Mona, it's not a constellation thing like from before, checked with the knights of favonious to see if it's an abyss issue, and once again it's not!" She yelled at you, you throwing your hands up in defense. You had no idea who Mona was, or the knights of favonius, but you made sure to shut up. Aether slightly hit Paimon on the back of her head as he sighed, seemed like he did that a lot. "Paimon be nicer, we didn't tell her the full story anyways." He said, defending you. Paimon whined as she rubbed the back of her head.

"Speaking of which, we'll have to tell you that before we get there." He stated to you, before getting up and continuing to walk with you two. The walk wasn't that long, but felt torturous with Paimon's useless dialogue. After a bit of walking, you eventually made it there. "Oh, Honorary Knight, you're back. Who's this?" A knight in front of mondstadt asks, starting small talk with him. Paimon opens her mouth to speak, but Aether does so before her. "This is (y/n), she's an adeptus from liyue here to help with the problem." He says, Paimon tugging on his short sleeve and puffing her cheeks out in frustration. The knight looks at you surprised, you just smiling and waving in return. "An adeptus? She seems a little too casual.." he states, but shakes his head "but nevermind, I trust the honorary knight, plus it's against the knights of favonius hand book to be suspicious towards new comers" the guard tells Aether, you raising a brow in response. He's not a very polite knight, or atleast he's trying too hard to be. "Well welcome to Mondstadt (y/n), we hope you enjoy your stay" he finally says to you, a hand over his chest.

You and Aether walked through the gates of mondstadt. It seemed like you haven't been here since forever, so much has changed. It's not surprising, Venti never really guided his city, it was always the people deciding what happened for it. It seemed like a little too much freedom, but it looks like the city is doing well now. Paimon floated to a lady standing by a building, in this little circle looking thing. "Kathryn! We brought the person" she called out to her. The lady looked to you and smiled. "Thank barbatos you're here, I'm guessing you're caught up with the situation?" She asked you, you nodding in reply. "The traveler told me on the way here, do you mind leading me to the first person who was first reported? I want to see if he's the start of all of this" You requested "well, what do we have here" you heard from a chill voice, it sounded relaxed, but the tone made you shiver. You look back to a man, dressed pretty fancy, and an eye patch. "You didn't tell me you were gonna bring someone so important here, if I knew an adeptus was coming I would've gotten a gift or something" he teased the traveler. "This is Kaeya, the Calvary captain of the knights of favonius, and this is (y/n)" Paimon said, introducing you two. "So I've heard, I'm honored you decided to come and help us, it truly is a miracle" he said. It was so hard to tell if he was being sarcastic, honest, or just saying stuff that held no meaning. You laughed lightly "Please, no reason to be so formal. I'm just here to help with the problem, me being an adeptus doesn't change anything" you protested, him smiling.

"I see you're more casual then most adepti. Ah, sorry, I'll talk normally to you from now on." Kaeya laughed. Paimon put her hands on her hips, Aether doing the same "that's rich! You can't talk to anyone without teasing them, and you know it!" Paimon exclaimed, Kaeya laughing return "how rude, don't you know I try to be nice?" He said in a sarcastic tone. "See!" Paimon points at him, earning another chuckle. You laughed a little "still, adeptus or not, your help is greatly appreciated. Come, I'll take you guys to the man you wanted to speak with" kaeya offers. You and the traveler accept and follow him as he walks throughout the streets on mondstadt. You looked around at the buildings, and noticed how people are just walking about freely. The state of mondstadt is definitely better than the last time she saw it, when it was in the Lawrence clan's hands.

Eventually Kaeya makes it to a house, knocking on the door. A nice lady answers the door "sir kaeya, how can I help you?" The lady asked. "More like how we can help you, I've brought someone who can possibly help with your husband" he said, stepping aside as he gestured his hand toward you. The lady held your hands together "Really? Do you really think you can help him? He.. he's never been like this, I worry for him" she pleads to you, your expression softening as you felt sorry for her poor soul. "Yes of course, just lead him to me okay?" You tell her in a gentle tone, her nodding and bringing you inside the house. The traveler and Kaeya step in as well, closing the door behind them. The lady brings you to a man who's sitting on the side of a bed, staring off into space as he mumbles random words. "See? He's not normal (y/n), it's not like he's a day dreaming who's got no self control" Paimon lectured. You narrowed your eyes as you observed his state. You walked in front of him, placing both of your hands on each side of his face to tilt his head up to look at you. Your expression grew stern. "He's not simply day dreaming, he's in some kind of mind illusion." You stated

"What's a mind illusion?" Paimon asked as she tilted her head. "There's different types of illusions. If you're simply seeing an illusion with your eyes you still have control of yourself and your movements. The illusion he's in is in his mind, it's all he can think about and his brain can't even process any senses outside of it" you told her. "Miss, does he mumble anything related to his life? Like any people he knows, or events that happened" you ask the man's wife. She nods "he's mumbled his little sister's name every now and then, along with his mother's, but I can't understand whats happening" she told you. You thought for a moment "so the illusion is a random. It's most likely nothing evil, just a useless mind illusion clinging onto memories" paimon looked at you confused "but how does that happen?"

"I don't know. But for now I'm going to get him out of this" you wave your hand in front of his face and he snaps out of his trance. He grabs you by the shoulders with a scared look before calming down. You relaxed, trying to take his hands off your shoulders "you were having a nightmare, weren't you?" He looked at you. "How long were you in that state?" You continued to question him. He looked around, thinking for a moment as he opened his mouth to say something "I.. I don't know, it just kept looping" he said. You look at the wife, hoping she has an answer. She's staring at her husband concerned before realizing you were looking at her "oh uh, he was like that for three hours" she told you, you thinking for a moment. "(Y/n) I really do hate to interrupt, but we still have like seven other people to go to" paimon told you. You looked at her "very well, let's get going" you say. You and the others leave their house and continue to free people from their dreams.

Right before you were about to finish, Kaeya stopped you. "Wait (y/n)" he called out to you, making you halt. You look at him "what is it kaeya?" You ask him. "This person is mumbling the same thing as the others. It's all different names but the same situation" he tells you. You look at the stranger confused, listening to his words. He mumbled words like 'run' and 'don't leave me'. It was odd, but maybe this can help you figure out what's happening. "I'm going to share the illusion between me and him. Me being aware of it won't send me into shock like the others, so I'll be able to get out of it. You guys just sit here" you say. You touch your hands to his temples and close your eyes, allowing yourself to feel dizzy and light until you eventually fall asleep.

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Two chapters in one day? It's a miracle /j, but anyways, I all the sudden got super focused on making more chapters and I've been practically doing that all day, so one other chapter might come out