𝐌𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐢𝐚

-Going In-

Before the tragedy

"Please, bring me to him," Venti begged her, and without hesitation, the lady nodded and pulled Venti to where Zhongli was. Amidst the noisy crowd, the chaotic crowd, the lady was able to bring Venti to the Funeral Parlor within a few minutes.

"He, he's in there," the lady said as she continuously panted, pointing at the door. Venti nodded, gulped, and smiled at this lady. "Thank you very much, what is your name?" Venti asked her, holding her head. The lady looked up and gave her a wide smile, "Hutao is my name!"

As Venti saw Hutao's smile, it made his heart heavy. Her smile reminded him of young Xiao, the Xiao that called him "beautiful."

Venti took a deep sigh and nodded, "I see, thank you again, Hutao." Hutao nodded then she started to walk away, leaving Venti all on his own. As Venti waved goodbye, he looked back at the Parlor and took a deep breath.

Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale. Morax, no, Zhongli will be in there.

He walked forward and talked to the woman guarding the door. "Hello, is Zhongli inside?" He asked, smiling, glimmering with hope. The woman nodded with a small smile. "Yes, he is inside. Is there anything you need?" She asked, holding the doorknob.

"May I...talk to him?" He answered, looking down, feeling scared as he played with his fingers.

"Certainly," the woman answered as she opened the door, gesturing to Venti to go inside.

With a deep breath, Venti walked inside the spacious Funeral Parlor. It was golden inside, it looked majestic with all the flowery patterns embedded on the walls. The floor tiles were colored in red, this time it was patterned with vines. There were a lot of coffins displayed in the parlor, some were blue, others were white. There were big and small coffins as well.

"Wow," Venti said in awe as he looked around. "Magnificent, isn't it?" A deep voice said, shocking Venti as he looked back. "Why look who it is, is that my old friend?"

Venti was on the verge of tears as he ran to this old man with whom he cherished a lot of memories. He hugged him and said, "Morax, long time no see."

He hugged back and said, "I go by Zhongli now, Barbatos."

"And I go by Venti now," Venti replied with a glare as he looked up.

Zhongli chuckled and pulled Venti away then asked, "How did you know I am now Zhongli?"

Venti laughed and replied, "First, by a traveler named Lumine. Lumine told me about Liyue and that it was ruled by the Geo Archon and of course, Morax is the Geo Archon. So I went here. Second, by the inn."

Zhongli was confused when Venti answered the second point. "Wangshu? How so?"

"Your people love you, they love Morax. They put posters and drawings of Morax but you as a dragon. Then as I was roaming around Wangshu Inn, I overheard chatter about Zhongli. You're a fool, Morax. You never changed your appearance, you still looked the same during the archon war. You can't fool your close friend," Venti answered as he took a deep sigh.

"I see, maybe, my people just saw my dragon form but you saw me," Zhongli said with a smile.

Zhongli held Venti's hand as he pulled him towards a table. On top of it, a used tea set was there. "Sit," Zhongli told him, gesturing him to sit on a chair in front of him.

Venti sighed and nodded, sitting on the chair.

"Do you need anything?" Zhongli asked him, pouring tea on Venti's teacup.