The sleeping adeptus // Xiao x reader

Locked up | 22

You glared at the fatui men who had their backs turned, laughing at jokes they made in their conversation. you found the key, but it was way out of your reach, on a box. You sighed at the predicament you were in. How were you gonna get out? And more importantly, what was the fatui planning to do with you? The whole question made you a nervous reck.

You had just gotten your full abilities back, whether it had hurt you a little or not, and to be stuck in such a vulnerable situation is humiliating. The only thing you could do was sit in the cage hoping that you can find an opportunity to escape. You stared more at your surroundings, hoping to take any weak point you can. You spot a weird little crystal contraption, that was glowing. And then other than that you noticed that the people that were 'guarding' you weren't really good at their job. They wouldnt even look in your direction, look around or anything. It was more than obvious that they were more into their conversation.

"Hey" they turned around to you, hearing you speak out. "You guys aren't strong fatui right? You're at rock bottom, at the end of the food chain almost" you asked, they looked confused. "You think we're weak trainees or something? We aren't weak, and if the harbinger let us have our way, you'd be fried meat" one of the men spoke, making the others laugh. "Sounds like to me that your harbinger doesn't want to keep you from doing harm, but rather getting in the way and becoming an easy target, no?" they started getting irritated. "Watch it little girl, just cause we can't pick a fight with you doesn't mean we're weak" you just smiled through their replies. "Little girl? Oh I'm far older than you. Do you really think an adeptus can't tell the difference in power status?"

The Pyro looking one came up and hit the cage with the back of his rifle. "Enough! No more questions." he put the end of his rifle in the cage and tilted your head up with it. "Youre only talking cause you know you're on death row, so weak and helpless. A disgrace of an adeptus" he told you in a sweet but fake tone. You narrowed your eyes as you grabbed the rifle, pulling it towards yourself then pushing it at the guy with force. You would've hit him in the eye but it just knocked on his eye protection. You did enough force to push him back, throwing his rifle back at him. "Why you little-" he was cut off by the sound of his hurt comrades. He turned around to see nothing but them laying on the ground, as if they'd been beaten up. He looked around, getting off the floor. "What the hell happened" he mumbled to himself. He then saw a flash of green before falling to the floor. It was as if he was hit from a high speed.

A moment of silence fell as you just stared at the knocked out fatui men, looking up to see Xiao at the front of the cage. Even as you were helpless in this situation, in what felt like a cringy damsel in distress moment in a book, you couldn't help but smile big and finally seeing his face. So much happened without him, and because of that it felt like there was no meaning. Nothing but long training days, and hanging out with the other adepti. You didn't understand why he brought you so much more happiness than the other adepti. "The key. Where is it" he asked, crossing his arms. You pointed to the key, still with the biggest smile plattered on your face. He took the key off the box and putting it into the lock, turning it. "How do you even get yourself in these situations, you're suppose to be training" Xiao complained. He reached his hand out to you as you just laughed

Before you could grab his hand,  Xiao was pushed into the cage with you by one of the fatui men that woke up. The guy closed the door before Xiao could get out. Xiao was trapped with you now, with him being on top of you, a little too close for comfort. He growled, looking back "that prick" he said, your eyes widening "wait Xiao don't-" before you could warn him that you can't use your abilities in the cage, he tried to disappear out of the cage, resulting in the both of you getting shocked. He groaned "what was that.." he huffed. You sighed, in pain "this cage cancels anything we do to it" you explained, Xiao scoffing. This was a really bad, and honestly weird, situation. You two were stuck in an odd position, and both of you were about to be at a harbinger.

It was almost as if Xiao couldn't even say anything, he just sat there, staring away from you. "Xiao you can just move, you know" he looked at you, only for a split second before instantly looking away. "I cannot, I might tip us over" his rejection to getting more comfortable brought you an idea. "Xiao, look" you pointed to the rock that was located not to far from you. "That's the thing keeping us from getting out. If we swing in the right direction, we can knock it off it's power source" you told him. He looked at the rock then back at you, sighing "fine. But, if we don't succeed, we will look like greater fools." he stated. You just smiled, nodding. You both counting down to one, moving back then towards the corner of the cage. Eventually, the cage got enough momentum to fall over, knocking the rock down. It stopped glowing and your heart practically filled up with joy.

The fatui men looked in the direction of the sound, not seeing a cage, a rock, not even you or Xiao. They looked around confused, rage filling them. The cyro fatui guy shot his cyro gun, a purple fog appearing and revealing an empty cage and a knocked over crystal. A good couple of miles away from there, Xiao appears on the floor, with you next to him. Xiao walked forward, looking back at you "I recommend you get back to cloud retainer, whether you want to tell her what happened or not is your decision." he said, stopping in his tracks when he heard you exclaim out "wait!" He turned around slightly, barely giving you a glance. "Please, we need to talk. You can't just leave like this" you pleaded. Silence fell before he walked back to you. "Fine, we shall talk."

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The fatui men sat there, in defeat. They had just failed the job they were given, and a harbinger was already on the way to retrieve the adeptus. "So what are we gonna do now?" the hydro man asked. "Uh.. I don't know, I guess wait" the cyro one spoke. "What. The. HELL." the men heard the cicin mage yell, her standing there in a pose that looked similar to when a child was about to throw a tantrum. "Uh well you see-" the Pyro one started explaining "I don't even wanna hear it at this point, Lord scaramouche will be here any second! This was a perfectly executed plan, one that was guaranteed no failing, made by the harbinger himself, and you failed it." she exclaimed, panic getting to her.

"What happened here." a calm but chilling voice called out, the cicin mage instantly turning around and getting down on her knee. The fatui men were next to get on one knee, not daring to make eye contact with the harbinger. He had purplish blue hair, almost in a bowl like cut. He had a large hat, and attire that looked like from inazuma. "Are you guys deaf? I asked what happened." he demanded. The cicin mage opened her mouth, still looking at the ground "we captured the adeptus, and I left them in the hands of these diplomats, as instructed. When I came back, the target was gone." she explained. The harbinger simply sighed and looked out into the distance "so you weren't the one who did this correct? You shouldn't have opened your mouth if you had nothing to explain. You, men. You've already messed up here, so please, explain yourself." his voice sounded so empty but somehow aggressive at the same time.

"W-we got distracted and someone came to save her." the cyro diplomat spoke. Scaramouche quirked a brow "that someone being?"
"Another adeptus, sir" the Pyro diplomat answered. Scaramouche sighed, as the men got struck with a huge electro shock, they yelling out in pain. Once the shock stopped, they fell to the ground. "This is a simple job. I was tasked by the Tsaritsa to kill a powerless adeptus, and I did it flawlessly. The problem was the idiots I were assigned with." he stated, the cicin mage looking up at him "but sir, she's getting her abilities back!" she spoke, scaramouche reaching out and grabbing her by the collar, pulling her up to his face.

"Then get the job done quickly. If we aren't able to kill her, I'll make sure anyone who failed the Tsaritsa along the way gets the punishment in her place. Now rise, those who can still stand." he turned away from them. The cicin mage instantly standing up, with the hydro diplomat the only one able to stand yet. Scaramouche narrowed his eyes "Leave the other ones, it's time to report your failings."