Abyss Aether × Xiao || You can try to escape ||

Injured

(Xiaos POV)

I return to the Inn late at night. There were more monsters than I had expected so it took a bit longer to finish the job. As I enter my room, I noticed that Aether was no where to be seen. I continue to look around the room, thinking that he was maybe just hiding somewhere, but when I can't find him I immediately rush out of the Inn and towards the city.

"Dammit, why did I trust him to not run away" I curse to myself, feeling stupid for actually believing in Aether. As I reach the city, a familiar voice calls out to me.

"XIAO!!!!!"

I look down and see the Traveler screaming up at me. I drop down next to her and stand face to face with her.

"What is it?" I ask, wondering what she could want.

"It's Aether..." she mumbles, voice slightly shaking.

"You know he's missing?" I question.

She looks up at me, her eyes red like she's about to cry.

"Aether and I have this special connection, like most twins do. We can feel how the other is doing, and right now...." she pauses, trying to calm down.

"He's wha-"

"HES SERIOUSLY INJURED!" she screams, interrupting me. I just look at her before my heart rate picks up.

'Is that why he hasn't returned to the Inn. Is he too hurt to come back on his own. Does that mean he didn't run away'. All of these thoughts continue to circle through my mind, before I realize the situation and immediately rush away to find him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"WHERE ARE YOU!!!" I scream, hoping that he'll miraculously respond to me. I continue to jump around, looking all over Liyue for him. He still wasn't healed from his stomach injury and now he's gotten injuried again. When I find him, I'm gonna have to keep him under constant surveillance so that he doesn't get hurt again before he's healed.

I continue looking until I spot something down below me. I stop mid-air and drop down. When I get closer I realize that's it's a trail of what looks like blood. I immediately assume that it belongs to Aether. I can't tell which way the trail is going so I have a 50/50 chance of guessing correctly. I make up my mind and go down the left side of the path, hoping to find him as soon as possible.

As I continue down the path I see something up ahead of me and speed up to make it there quicker. As I reach the location, my heart stops. Aethers lying at the end of the trail in a puddle of blood. I reach down and flip him over onto his back. I put my head to his chest and try to listen for any sign of life, whether it be his heart beat or breathing, just anything to tell me he was still here. I focus in on my hearing as much as possible until I hear the faint sound of a light heart beat.

I immediately scoop Aether up into my arms and used all my strength to teleport both of us to Bubu Pharmacy. As soon as I teleport into the room, Qiqi noticed us and runs off to go get Baizhu. He comes back into the room and takes Aether from me and rushes off somewhere to the back. All I can do is sit there and wait for an update on how he's doing.

After a little bit, Lumine comes running into the pharmacy, fear and worry written all over her face. She walks over to me, out of breath from I'm assuming, running here.

"I-is he okay? He's okay, right?" she stuttered, looking into my eyes for reassurance. I look into her eyes as well before answering, giving her my honest opinion.

"No, he looked pretty dead when I found him. I mean he barely even had a pulse or heart beat".

As soon as I finished that sentence, rivers of water began gushing from her eyes. She fell down to her knees. I wanted to comfort her, but I'm not the best at that so I just sit there and look at her.

After about an hour passed, Baizhu came out from the back and over to us.

"HOWS MY BROTHER?" she interrogated. Baizhu looked at her before a soft smile formed on his face.

"He's gonna be okay," Baizhu assures, "Hes very lucky. Had he been brought to me even a minute later, I don't think he would have made it".

"Thank you so much Baizhu. Thank you so much Qiqi, and thank you so much Xiao" Lumine thanked. I looked at her with confusion.

"Why are you thanking me?" I questioned. She smiled at me.

"Thanks to you finding Aether in time, he's going be to okay" she cheers.

'He's gonna be okay because of me"

My heart flutters at the thought of me being the reason Aethers gonna be okay. I walk off to the back after Baizhu said it was okay to go and see him.

As I'm walking pass Baizhu I ask him a question.

"Is it okay if I take Aether back to the Inn" I whisper.

He contemplates it for a second before answering.

"Yes, just make sure you take care of him"

I nod, before continuing back. As soon as I enter the room I see Aether asleep in the bed. Bandages wrapped all over his body. I walk over and stand above him.

"Guess I'm gonna have to become your personal nurse, you're lucky" I blush.

I reach my arms down and lift Aether up into the air and teleport out. When we make it to my room, I put him down on my bed instead of the couch since he's injured. I pull up a chair and sit next to the bed. I rest my head next to Aether and wait for him to open up his golden eyes.

"Please wake up soon..." I mumble, hoping I'll be answered by the Archons, "When I open my eyes again, let me see those golden eyes"