my freedom is you 🩷

Dreaming

Footsteps could be heard running on the ground, right to left. heavy breathing as xiao ran as fast as he could, using his emerald colored polearm to stab the enemies one by one. killing all of the hilichurls he fell onto his knees as the mask on him cracks into pieces while it's still on, he laid on the ground as he whimpered in pain. "ngh... why can't I just die... please..." xiao closed his eyes feeling the screams, the crying and the suffering from all of those victims he killed.
Zhongli appeared moments later as he slowly walked towards xiao, he looked down to see a exhausted yaksha that was breathing heavily and uncontrollably. "Conqueror of demons, get up." he spoke in a concerned voice "Have you must give up now?". Xiao who was just laying there got up afterwards and looked at zhongli with a long stare "...your right." He took off his mask as it slowly crumbled more on his hands.

giving the mask to zhongli thinking he can fix it but zhongli became confused "just a gentle reminder I don't have my gnosis anymore." Xiao just realizing this he bit his lip as he looked at his mask then back at zhongli. "Right..." zhongli giving a slight chuckle he took xiao's left arm and held it as he started walking

"uhm morax what's the meaning of this childish act??" "Nonsense nonsense xiao, I just have a friend I'd like you to meet even though I'm not really 'affiliated' with them that much." zhongli scoffed a bit as he mentioned this 'friend', xiao was confused about this person wanting to know who they are, what they are or even why their friends with morax.

"I don't wanna meet them." he said quickly

"hm, why not?" 

"I just won't that's it, now if you don't mind I'll be leaving." xiao took off zhongli's grip on his hand while his other hand still held the crumbled up mask, he ran from zhongli by running fast as he hopes that he'll lose zhongli in his sight. the tall-long ponytailed man just stood there as he sighed watching the yaksha run from him.

xiao stopped running after passing a few places he started breathing heavily as he stopped running, taking a few pants he looked around at his surroundings and knew he wasn't very much familiar with the area, not wanting to go back where liyue was and dealing with zhongli seemed like a hassle so he decided to explore the place for awhile.

suddenly a beautiful tune came from a flute, xiao heard the melody from a distance wanting to know who's playing the flute, eager for that warmth he's feeling inside. he ran as fast as he could toward the sound and hid inside a nearby bush.

he saw a boy who's not quite tall but also not short, the boy wore a green/turquoise cape which was wrapped around him and a hat the holds a Cecilia as a accessory to match the clothes. Xiao immediately fell in love, his gaze soften as he closed his eyes feeling the sound go through his ears, forgetting the suffering. the nightmares. the pain.

"this seems like a dream...am I really witnessing such a beautiful sound? I feel as though I don't deserve this." Xiao whispered under his breath.

a couple of minutes have passed and the boy eventually stopped playing the flute as he set it down. "mmmmmmmmnn" as he hummed a song with his legs moving back and forth on the cliff he was sitting at.  [why did he stopped playing...?] xiao wondered as he slowly walked out of the bush and went toward the boy silently.

"I know you're there." the boy said calmly "you can come out now, I acknowledged your existence so there's no need to hide from me."

Xiao froze from hearing that, he slowly went backwards unsure on how to disappear from sight knowing that he's been caught, he knew it was pointless from running away but causing a distraction could work on the boy. "....fine." he suddenly had his guard up as he walked toward him.

"ehe~ !! nice to meet you Xiao. Ah I can finally introduce myself...as you may recall you might've heard me be mentioned by your dear friend 'morax' or as he likes to be called zhongli nowadays...so yeah I'm venti the one and only !!"

"Venti?" xiao said out loudly, he repeated the name many times in his head [venti. venti. venti...wait a second-] Xiao quickly pulled out his polearm and pointed it at venti "aren't you a threat to morax?"
venti blinked a few times not knowing what xiao meant by that until he understood the concept just by staring at the teal-black hair colored yaksha. "PFFFFFFT!!!" he bursted out laughing then eventually falling onto the ground with a few tears on his face by laughing hard. "What's so funny? don't you wanna live? why aren't you begging for mercy..? is this a way of disrespecting an adepti???" venti tried speaking to xiao but his words were interrupted by many giggles and chuckles. "HEY! THIS IS NO WAY TO TREAT AN ADEPTUS." Xiao has his polearm aimed right at ventis chest, he fiercely glared at venti.

"AHAHAHA....o-okay I'll stop....HEY DON'T KILL ME?!" venti pushed the polearm beside and got up as he went to pick up his flute which was just on the floor. "hmph!! I can't believe you did that..if you wanted to know if I am threat to him well I'm
not !! AND don't get me wrong I do have respect for you adepti whether you believe me or not I do."

"how absurd it literally sounded like you didn't give a care for us adepti or even acknowledge our high standards that the mortals look up to." Xiao scoffed in an annoyed tone.

"well jokes on you I do. Anyways why are YOU here? it seems as if you don't belong here." venti had his hands on his hips as he gave a sassy aura.

"why should I tell you?? I don't need to tell a person who I just met about where I came from or why I'm here, How foolish."

Venti just rolled his eyes at xiao's response and smiled brightly. "I just had an idea !! ⭐️ oooo I bet you're going to love this~" looking at the way venti was dancing like some kid who recicved cookies xiao couldn't help but just stare at venti in awe, knowing it was awfully rude to stare at purpose he stopped immediately and said in a calm, collected tone "alright ."

"uhhh I didn't actually expected an 'alright' coming out of your mouth....thing is I just said that to see how you would respond ehe-" Xiao suddenly feeling embarrassed he hissed at venti giving a glare at him. "Hmph."

Xiao sighed as he stood by venti who was suddenly sitting down on the grass. [why am I here exactly? oh that's right the tune...this exact tune led me to meeting some brat who goes by the name venti and knows morax...just who is this guy exactly??] many questions  entered his head and soon he blurted out a question expecting an answer, "who are you exactly...besides just venti, it just doesn't add up...I demand to know."

"oh....fine I guess it wouldn't hurt to tell you, I'm the anemo archon Barbatos." hearing those words made xiao burst into tears quickly as he held on venti TIGHTLY, he wrapped his arms around him so venti couldn't escape from his grasp.

"H-HEY?! W-what are you exactly doing!!!" venti was shocked by the sudden reaction. "please free me....I don't wanna suffer anymore....let this nightmare end, I just want this to be over...." the yaksha's tears were filled with such suffering and sorrow as venti felt these upsetting tears knowing how hard it must've been for poor xiao. smiling softly he gave a response by wrapping his arms on xiao and comforting him.

[I'm finally with the one person who can save me from this hellhole, someone who can be by my side....SOMEONE who knows the answers to my questions......please let this not be a dream, I hope what I'm witnessing is reality.] "Hey...am I dreaming?" waiting for a reply venti spoke, "no you're not, what you're experiencing right now is real....your safe now."

A/N: I can already see my mistakes 😭👌