Little Wind Sprite (Xiaoven)

VIII

Xiao led him all the way around the main building — where the prison and holding cells were — and brought him to a separate building that seemed to belong to the same compound. It was considerably smaller, and less detailed and complicated than the main building. By the apartment-like way it was structured, Venti guessed it to be the living quarters of the long-term guards that work here.

Xiao brought him inside and into a room devoid of any decoration, only holding the basic necessities of a bed, a desk, and a chair. Only the window provided any life to the room, the weak rays of dawn casting upon the dull furniture.

The moment Venti was brought inside, Xiao immediately locked the door behind him. Venti figured it was to prevent him from getting out if he turned out to be "infected".

But he didn't quite know what Xiao wanted to do, so he just stood there and watched as the other crossed the room, ruffled through the desk's drawers until he drew out a roll of bandage from it.

"Venti," Xiao called out to him, and Venti jolted. This was the first time Xiao ever called his name, despite the many encounters they had before. It felt...quite odd, to hear his name come from his mouth.

And Venti never remembered introducing himself to him, so how does he...

"How do you know my name?" Venti blurted.

"I paid attention," Xiao explained, then paused, a frown taking over his face, as if something sounded wrong. But the expression was gone in the next second as he continued, "Take the bandage." Then he held the roll of bandage out to Venti and nodded at his right arm.

Venti instinctively followed Xiao's gaze and glanced at his own right arm, only to realise that it was bleeding, red seeping through a long cut that somehow he hadn't felt on the way up to the surface. Blood cascaded down his arm, the vibrant scarlet in startling contrast to his pale skin.

He slowly walked over to Xiao's side and plucked the roll out of his hand, then started bandaging himself — except, he has no idea how to.

Carmen never really needed first aid skills, so there was no hint on how to bandage a wound in his memory too.

So all Venti could do was struggle as he tried to tear a piece of the white fabric and sloppily wrap it around his arm. He couldn't help but wince a little as it touched the open wound — the pain was starting to stab a little at his mind now.

It wasn't long before he heard a disapproving sigh from his right.

"I'll do it," Xiao gave up watching the poor boy struggle. Without warning, he pulled Venti closer until the bandage was within reach. Venti was expecting to slightly hurt as Xiao grabbed hold of the bandage and started wrapping it around his arm tightly, but surprisingly, he was gentle yet efficient, his fingers quickly cleaning up Venti's sloppy work.

It didn't take him long to finish up with a knot.

"Thank you," Venti muttered. All Xiao did was stare mutely at him and didn't reply.

Suddenly, a loud, distant explosion resonated through the air, seemingly coming from the direction of the main building. Out of curiosity, Venti peeked out of the window, trying to catch whatever was going on at the main building.

All he could spot were soldiers storming in and out of the building, going underground to retrieve the remaining prisoners they could find while still bombing up the insides of the building. The repeating explosions ringing in Venti's ears were a sign of their determination to wipe out the infecteds and the hostile elemental beings beneath the ground.

Suddenly, he felt a presence beside him, and he almost jumped back in surprise. Xiao had approached the window so silently that Venti didn't notice him.