Falling for You

Chapter 17 - Wings

 When we arrived at the foot of Dragonspine, Klee asked to be put down. The moment her feet reached the ground she ran straight up the mountain without another word.

 "Klee wait a moment...!" Ugh, damn it. She's gone already.

 I ran after her and after a few minutes, I found her squatting next to a hole.

 "Please don't ever do that again Klee. Jean will kill me if I lose you."

 "I just went to find this, though." She turned around, not understanding the severity of her actions.

 After another look, I found what she was referring to. In her hand was a small cage with a warming seelie trapped inside. 

 "Klee, even if you only ran off to get that, you shouldn't do it anymore. Dragonspine is a dangerous place. Even if you don't freeze to death, you might be attacked by something before you know it." I tried explaining.

 "Oh, I'm sorry. I won't do it again, but please don't tell Jean. She'll put me in the confinement room again." She pleaded.

 "Fine, but let me carry you, for now, it will be safer like that." Damn it. I really can't go against children. 

 "Okay!" Klee happily jumped back into my arms, handing me the cage with the seelie.

 "So which way are we going?"

 "That way!" She pointed in one direction.

 We walked for quite a long time and it was getting colder the farther up we got even with the warming seelie. Just when I was about to tell Klee that we should head back, I heard her speak before I even had the chance to open my mouth.

 "There it is!" She pointed at a small source of light beyond the turn.

3rd person POV

 Xiao, carrying Klee, walked into the campsite, only to be greeted by a very surprising site.

 The scene was pretty much as Klee had described it earlier. Venti was almost completely naked, only wearing his underwear, his back turned in the newcomers' direction.

 What shocked Xiao the most however was the pair of white wings on Venti's back, that Albedo was currently touching.

 Hearing their footsteps, both Venti and Albedo turned around instantly, only to be faced with two shocked faces.

 "Wow! Wings!" Klee was the first to speak, jumping out of Xiao's arms and running up to Venti.

  The next to react was Albedo, shocked by the two's appearance but still reacted fast and picked up Klee before she could touch the archon's wings.

 "Xiao? What are you two doing here?" Venti questioned in shock.

 There was no answer from Xiao, however. Instead Venti just saw the adeptus' face go completely red within seconds before he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

 "What...?" Venti was left behind even more shocked than before.

 "You might want to go after him. Dragonspine is not the best place to be alone." Albedo warned, completely forgetting that he pretty much lived alone on Dragonspine.

 "Oh yeah. But, what about..." He nodded in Klee's direction.

 "I'll handle it."

 "Okay, that I'll be back in a second," Venti said, concealing his wings and putting his clothes back on, before running after Xiao, leaving Albedo alone with Klee.

 "So, what should I do with you?"

 Albedo looked at the young child, thinking how he can solve this without making an even bigger mess.

 Xiao's POV

 Oh dear archons!

 The moment I saw Venti turn around, his wings spread behind his back, I was reminded of a certain scene.

 It was at the time, the archon war was reaching its end. As a last resort, a few of the remaining gods banded together and a big fight broke out in the place which is currently the border of Liyue and Mondstadt. Morax had to come personly and so did the strongest god in Mondstadt's territory.

 That was Venti, then the future anemo archon, Barbatos.

 At that time he and Morax had fought side by side to defeat the enemy gods. Now that I think about it, this might have been what Venti was talking about when he said we met during the archon war, but that wasn't the point for me now.

 The worst part for me was not remembering the bloody war, nor was it the great battle that took place. It was remembering the clothes Venti wore in his archon form, which covered a lot less than they probably should have.

 After I remembered this, I couldn't help imagining it as I looked at Venti. For the first time in my life, I became completely flustered, and the next thing I knew was that I had teleported away before even realizing it.

 At the same time, without me realizing it, an annoyance started bubbling inside me from the sight of Albedo touching Venti's wings. From what I heard from Morax and the other adepti, wings, no matter what kind of creature they were, were one of the most private parts of the body.

 I was really unhappy and I didn't even realize it, resulting in the following scene.

 "Xiao! Xiao, where are you?" I heard Venti's voice coming closer.

 I really wasn't ready to meet him, so instead of answering, I turned around, walking in the opposite direction.

 I had only taken a few steps when I heard a loud crack below my feet.

 'Not good!' I thought, but it was too late.

 The ice hidden in the snow under me broke and I fell right down into a large cavern. I tried teleporting but for some reason, it just wouldn't work. As a last resort, I activated Bane of All Evil in an attempt to find a way to cushion the fall. Or so I thought. The moment I tried activating it, much like teleporting, didn't work.

 Damn it! There's no way I would survive this!

 Just seconds before I hit the ground, I felt a pull on my arm and the next second I was enveloped in a hug from behind. I felt the world turn as I was forced to switch places with the one holding me so I was above them. The last thing I saw was something white surrounding me like a shield, as we hit the ground with a loud crash.