Read to me ~ Xingyun

35

Tw// kidnapping, mentions of abuse, slight gore, mention of death

Xingqiu POV:

I slowly opened my eyes and sat up, where was I? As I looked around I saw nothing but rocks, I seemed to be in some sort of ruin..? I tried to stand up but I felt a sharp pain in my leg and fell over almost straight away, I looked down at where the pain was and saw a large cut.

What?

I adjusted myself to a more comfortable position and suddenly heard a voice, a familiar voice, and then I remembered, the man on the street, the voice and then.. nothing?

"So, you're Xingqiu right?" The voice spoke, a shadowy figure came up towards the bars, they had a large hat on and purple hair and eyes,

"Uh- yeah.. who are you and.. where am I?" I asked shakily,

"Don't worry kid I'm not gonna hurt you.. Well any more.. I'm just doing a job for your father! He really wanted you back! So much that he even reached out to the fatui!" The person informed,

"W-what? My father.. but hes in jail... how.."

"I got him our of jail and now you're going back to him."

"N-no you can't... you can't send me back to him! Please!" I begged, almost tearing up,

"Calm down, you're so ungrateful!" They yelled, now angry.

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT I WOULD DO FOR MY MOTHER TO WANT ME BACK SO MUCH THAT SHE-" they cut themself off,

"Nevermind. Just shut up and let me do my job...... you're gonna be ok." They finished off, sounding calmer now,

I didnt say anymore, they were scary when they yelled,

I sat for a while just trying to stop the bleeding in my leg but it wouldn't stop, I was starting to get light headed...

Suddenly I saw the person from earlier walk by,

"Uh.. excuse me.." I called, they turned to look,

"What?"

"My leg won't stop bleeding.. can you help me..?" I asked, hoping they would be nice enough to help,

They looked for a moment and then saw the puddle of blood expanding, their face suddenly became alarmed and they opened the bars, coming in,

"Shit, why didn't you tell me how much it was bleeding earlier?!" They didn't yell but they seemed very worried,

"I.. didn't want to make you angrier." I whispered,

"Look I only got angry because- forget it, I'm just here to deliver you to your father, I'm not here to hurt you!"

"Ok.." I muttered quietly, afraid to speak up,

"Do you know what happened to my leg?" I asked,

"Well I electrocuted you so that you would pass out but when I was carrying you here your leg got cut on a tree, I cleaned it out but I didn't realise it was bleeding this much so I didn't bandage it." They responded,

"Oh.. who are you?" I questioned,

"You ask alot of questions don't you kid. I'm scaramouche. Or the balladeer probably sounds more familiar, don't freak out though I'm not going to kill you, You're just a kid after all."

"You're the balladeer? I thought you'd be taller." I spoke before thinking,

"You better watch your mouth kid." He spoke through gritted teeth,

"Sorry." I apoligised quickly,

He finished bandaging my leg and for some reason didn't leave the cell,

"So why are you so afraid of going back to your dad? Aren't you happy that he wants you so much?" He asked, his voice now sounding a lot less scary,

"Beacuse I know what's going to happen when he gets me back.." I replied,

"And what's that?"

I hesitated for a moment,

"He's.. he's going to hurt me.. and he's never going to let me see my boyfriend again.. he's probably going to make me marry some rich girl."

Something in scaramouches eyes seemed to change,

"Hold on he's going to hurt you?"

"Yeah. And I bet its going to be way worse than any of the times he's hurt me before."

"What? He's hurt you before?"

"Only when he's angry. But he won't stop at anything to get what he wants."

"But you're just a kid.. how can anyone hurt a kid?"

"I mean you hurt me didn't you? And surely you knew he was a bad person because he reached out to a wanted criminal to get me back."

"I only electrocuted you enough for you to pass out, and it was painless! Plus the cut on your leg was an accident and... I thought... maybe he was in jail for being framed or something.. and he wanted you back because he missed you.." he seemed sad now and a little tense,

"He was in jail because he broke into my Boyfriends house and smashed a vase over his head after I ran away because he wanted to marry me off to some rich girl." I informed, gripping the dirt on the floor, just thinking about what he did made me angry,

Scaramouche seemed to think for a moment but then suddenly stood up and helped me up,

"Look kid, I'm not going to let you yo back to your father if he's going to hurt you, but I cant really let you go either.. I mean you'd tell the police and I'd get caught immediately."

I didnt respond,

"But I guess.. you want to go home.. I bet you're scared right now huh. Being taken by the fatui just to be sent back to the thing that scares you the most."

He looked a lot sadder than before, like he related to me somehow, it made me curious.. I mean nobody is bad for nor eason right? He must have some sort of reason to be the way he is... but.. it felt illegal to feel bad for him.. like everyone spoke of him as if he was some sort of unhinged maniac without any feelings, and I guess that would be believable considering the things he has done but... he hasn't hurt me at all since I got here.. and just looking at him I can see that he has feelings... I can tell he's sad, someone has hurt him and made him this way, or maybe I'm jumping to conclusions. Am I allowed to feel sympathy for my kidnapper?

"Why are you a criminal? I asked,

"Hm? Why am I a criminal..?" He thought for a moment before responding,

"I guess I had a plan, something I wanted to do really badly and I went about it wrong and.. now here I am. A member of the fatui. Kidnapping random kids to send them back to their abusers.." as he finished his sentence it seemed like he was cursing himself,

"What did you want to do?"

"I wanted.. I wanted to get revenge on my mother.. she threw me out and I think I really just wanted her to want me back but..." he suddenly realised what he was saying,

"Forget it. Forget everything I just said. If you repeat any of that to anyone I'll kill you!" He spoke, sounding scary again,

"I won't!" I replied, tensing up, I seemed to only just remember where I was and who I was talking to,

"Ok kid, I'm going to send you back to where I found you, You're going to tell nobody about what you heard or that I took you, and everything will be normal again ok?" He commanded,

"Ok." I agreed,

He raises his hand and suddenly everything went black, and next time I woke up.. I was on the street outside of Chongyuns house..?

That was like a fever dream.

A/N:

This whole chapter was based of the HC that scara has a soft dot for kids... and that he needs therapy.