𓊔 ࣪ ˖ The Hope of a Yaksha ੭ ׅ ۫ ⑅
Ⳋৎ ֢Xiao (Alatus) 𓏵 Reader𔓘 ₊⊹ . 𖦹
˚ֶָ֢ ‧࿔ Genshin Impact Oneshot ~ 🌸.. 𓏸 𝅄
— ऀ ᵔ ﻌ ᵔ ऀ ꒱ !
The image was blurry, like a distant memory. Preserved by grief, corroded by time.
"Alatus.."
"Alatus? Have you ever imagined what our lives would be like after the war ends?" asked his sister-in-arms. The dark-blue-haired Yaksha, with long horns protruding from her head, inquired in a curious tone. Wondering about the thoughts of the young, taciturn Yaksha.
The other Yakshas also stared at him inquisitively. At that moment, Alatus was merely trying to rest after a long battle, sitting quietly on a flat stone in the Guili Plains, which was still blanketed by a beautiful expanse of Glaze Lilies.
Alatus found himself looking back at his brothers and sisters with a skeptical gaze. Never once had he thought of a beautiful future where he could live peacefully without the karmic debt and blood on his hands.
"I... have never thought about the future that far ahead. Just surviving this endless war is enough for me," Alatus replied, his golden eyes gazing at the distant twilight sky. Hearing Alatus's answer, the Yakshas fell silent for a moment.
Before long, Bosacius, sensing the tension, tried to break the ice. Laughing loudly yet awkwardly, he patted Alatus on the back. Then, Indrias, the red-haired Yaksha, chimed in:
"Alatus.. even though we made a contract with Morax, it doesn't mean our lives will always be about war and karma." The red-haired woman said. Bonanus then continued:
"Yes, Alatus! I am sure that one day you will meet someone so special to you that you'll want to spend the rest of your life with them," she added, making the other Yakshas shake their heads while chuckling softly. Bonanus seemed to have listened to too many romance stories told by human storytellers in the city.
"Someone to spend my life with... Is that so?" Alatus whispered more to himself as he watched Bosacius laugh at Bonanus's words, causing the girl to pout in annoyance at the Yaksha leader.
Meanwhile, Alatus found himself imagining being with someone in the distant future.
A companion, someone capable of walking by his side. And sharing a lifetime with him.
"It is a foolish illusion" , he told himself as he let out a faint scoff. It was impossible for anyone to want to be with him, who stained with blood and suffocated by karmic debt.
Yet, deep down in his heart, he hoped.
A fragile and fleeting hope.
That maybe, just maybe... one day someone would see him as more than just a monster with a mask on his face and a spear in his hand.
That one day he could perform his dance in a beautiful field of glaze lilies, under a twilight that illuminated his lovely companion.
That one day he could find a meaning to his existence other than to repay his debt to Morax, who had saved him.
To.... Ah, never mind. This could never happen. Daydreaming only bred expectation, and hope would only make him weak in battle.
He was not even sure if he could survive until tomorrow.
Therefore, Alatus buried that hope deep within his heart, casting it far from his busy mind.
He had no time for such things.
... There was never a worthy hope to be yearned for by a creature like him.
...
..
.
"Xiao.." A familiar voice called out to him from afar, disturbing his slumber.
"Xiao... Xiao!!" The source of the voice shouted, abruptly waking him from his brief afternoon nap in a tree on the Guili Plains, which today was nothing but ruins, boulders, and memories of the past. Xiao snorted in annoyance and looked down to see who dared disturb his rest. He found that it was you.
"Oh- it's you," Xiao said as he leaped down from the tree and took a few steps closer to you, who were looking at him with utter excitement. He was already guessing what you wanted to do with him this time.
But as Xiao drew closer and found his golden eyes locking onto yours beaming with joy just from seeing him it reminded him of what Bonanus had said to him in the dream he had just experienced.
"...I am sure that one day you will meet someone so special to you that you'll want to spend the rest of your life with them."
A fragment of a sentence that lingered in his head longer than he cared to admit.
"What do you want?" the Yaksha asked, crossing his arms and looking unimpressed, which only made you chuckle softly.
"Nothing, Xiao. I just wanted to give you this, look-" you replied, holding out a flute.
"This is for you! I found it in the city and it reminded me of you," you continued enthusiastically, looking at him as if expecting him to show the same excitement.
Xiao stared at the flute for a moment before taking it from your grasp.
"...You shouldn't have bothered," he replied. Even though you knew he wanted to say more, it was enough to make a wide smile spread across your face, as if he had just given you the sun, when all he did was accept your gift.
That made him pause for a moment. Once again, remembering that fragment of a dream he deemed unimportant.
A fragile and fleeting hope.
The hope of a monster.
The hope... of a Yaksha.
"....one day you will meet someone so special to you that you'll want to spend the rest of your life with them."
The sentence replayed yet again in his troubled mind.
Xiao found himself gripping the flute tightly. Surprisingly, it did not snap, considering how hard he was clutching it.
His golden eyes gazed at you intensely, his pupils dilating. It was as if he were searching for a reason. Just one reason to consider you that 'very special person.'
Yet, he could find nothing extraordinarily grand about you. Your hair color was not the most striking, and your eyes were not the most dazzling.
No part of your appearance was so magnificent that it could be used as a justification to deem you a 'special person.'
"Xiao?" you asked, seeing him space out for so long just staring at your face. But instead of answering, his ears twitched slightly at the sound of your voice. Which, again, to him, was quite plain. There were still many theater singers at Liyue Harbor with voices far more melodious than yours.
Once more, it could not be used as a reason.
Yet, somehow- no matter how unremarkable it seemed to him, Xiao found himself unconsciously drawn toward you. He wondered if you possessed some sort of allure that could pull him in, but he was too proud to ask.
Your hair was simple, yet he found himself mesmerized watching your locks sway gently in the evening wind. Xiao found himself captivated by how your hair shimmered beneath the setting sun.
Your eyes were unassuming, or so he thought. Yet again, he found himself lost in those beautiful irises staring back at him with pure curiosity.
As if you did not know that standing before you was a bloodthirsty beast with karmic debt choking his throat.
As if you did not see how blood stained the tip of his spear and marred his clothes.
As if..... Ah-
Your voice was.. ordinary. But Xiao, once more, found himself wanting to hear you speak again. Even if it was just to utter his name.
Your voice was not the finest he had ever heard, yet he found his chest throbbing whenever you praised him and called his name with such fervor, as if his name had never been cursed by ancient gods.
Ah... Xiao could never understand. Could it be... Could it be that what 'special' meant was not about what others saw and compared? But about how it made him feel.
And he felt special being near you. Just as you were special to him. It was hard for Xiao to admit, but he always found his face flushing hot, his head spinning, his heart pounding, and his legs turning almost to jelly.
Could this feeling he harbored for you be the very reason he could look at you as his 'special person'? Xiao did not know. But he found himself wanting deeply wanting you to be that special one.
"Xiao! Earth to Xiao! What's wrong with you? Why do you keep spacing out?" you called out with concern, patting his shoulder to rouse him from his afternoon reverie.
Xiao snapped out of it, startled. "Ah- nothing, it's nothing," he answered.
"Liar! You're definitely hiding something," you countered with a pout, making Xiao restrain himself from reaching out to pinch your cheek.
Staring at you for a long moment, Xiao then looked at the surrounding Guili ruins. He imagined the lush fields of Glaze Lilies that once thrived here when the Lord of Dust still reigned beside Morax.
There was... a strange stimulation from a primal instinct he had suppressed for a long time..
An urge to return your kindness...
An urge to show you how special you were to him, a warm feeling that made him want you to look only at him.
With that, he spoke your name.
"Would you play this flute for me?" he suddenly asked. It caught you off guard, but you took the flute back from his hand.
"What's brought this on, Xiao?" you asked once more, as he walked toward an empty patch of grass among the Guili ruins. He knew you would follow him.
"Play the melody you like, the one you keep playing." he requested, sounding more like a command. You then sat upon a flat stone, watching curiously as he summoned his spear and his mask.
You were confused by this sudden whim, but you complied as you began to play the melody you always chimed whenever you were with him.
Slowly but surely, as the gentle melody reached Xiao's ears under the bright twilight with the moon beginning to peek from the distance Xiao found his grip trembling.
No... he was going to do it. For himself. For you.
But before he could move you stopped your flute.
"W-what are you doing?! Don't stop," Xiao urged, his cheeks flushed with crimson, prompting you to resume your playing.
And as you continued, Xiao felt the wind caress his mask, the falling leaves weaving through the melody that flowed like water in a tranquil silence. Xiao regained that courage and the will in his heart.
The mask rested in the palm of his hand. The very mask he always donned when fighting karmic debts and abyssal monsters.
But this time, he raised it close to his face.
Not as a symbol of his karmic burden.
But as a form of devotion.
With that Xiao took a step forward, and he danced.
Each step felt lighter than the last; movements that were once sharp for battle now turned soft, precise like falling stardust. The surrounding grass bowed along with him. The twilight enveloped them like a shared secret.
He danced only for you.
For him, who turned warfare into a dance.
For you, whose flute taught the Conqueror of Demons how to be gentle.
Beneath the setting sun, amid scattered leaves and stars being born between twilight and night, Xiao was no longer fighting.
For once, he was free.
You were stunned. You found yourself unable to tear your eyes away from his exquisite form. He was practically glowing.
A gentle gust of Anemo- which, for the first time, was not followed by the dark aura of karmic debt danced alongside him. You could see how the Anemo power formed soft wings and feathers, fluttering along with Xiao's movements.
So beautiful, you almost forgot how to breathe as you tried to maintain the rhythm of the flute with his footsteps.
Xiao moved entirely on instinct.
With the way his shoulders turned as he moved, his head tilting slightly to the side following the rhythm of your flute. And then... a faint pride that even you could feel radiating from him.
Because he danced, wielding his spear and tossing it into the air effortlessly not for war, not for honor.
It was for you.
Every movement, every step, and every breath he took behind that mask said what he could never voice.
"Look at me."
"Choose me."
"... Stay."
And right where you sat on the flat stone with the flute to your lips, he executed one final movement.
As your music came to an end, Xiao leaped before landing gracefully right in front of you.
Not breathless.
Not prideful.
But simply staring at you.
Waiting.
Even though the mask still concealed his face
You could feel his gaze, as if he were yearning for you to say something.
Anything.
Because even a Conqueror of Demons like him wanted to be admired.
Wanted to feel like he was enough.
And beneath that twilight glow, he was not a weapon.
He was merely an Illuminated Beast, showcasing his beauty for the one he deemed precious, special... loved.
You sat in silence, staring at him as if you had just witnessed an Archon before your eyes.
Time moved so agonizingly slow for Xiao, even though you were just about to open your mouth;
"It was beautiful."
You whispered amidst your gasp of awe at him.
Simple. Not dramatic.
Yet honest.
That was all Xiao needed to know that you chose him.
For a moment, he did not move. He had fought gods, endured karmic debt, walked for hundreds of years with blood on his hands without ever trembling... but a compliment? A compliment meant solely for him?
Ah... Xiao found himself looking away, and though you could not see it behind the mask, you noticed his ears turning bright red. His grip on the spear tightened, as if he were searching for something to ground himself.
"Th-thank you.." he whispered, barely louder than a passing breeze. But it was enough, enough for you to hear.
Then Xiao walked closer to you, the spear in his hand and the mask on his face slowly dissolving into specks of dust as he reached his hand out to you. Grasping your hand not tightly, but firmly.
Gently, Xiao called your name.
"If... If you really like it.." he said haltingly, his voice softer than the wind. His eyes looked everywhere but at you.
"I can do it again."
And it was for nothing else.
But for hearing your voice call him beautiful once more.
─┅──ׅ֟╾ׄ─┅──ׅ֟╾ׄ─┅──ׅ֟╾ׄ─┅──ׅ֟╾ׄ─┅──ׅ֟╾ׄ─
ㅤㅤㅤ𝂅ㅤㅤㅤㅤ𝂅ㅤㅤㅤㅤׁㅤ ㅤㅤ𝂅ㅤㅤ۫۫۫۫۫۫ㅤㅤׅㅤㅤ
He was forged for warfare, shaped by karma and silence.
Yet beneath the twilight breeze, he moved like a bird in love.
For once, even the Conqueror of Demons only hoped to be adored.
ㅤㅤׁ𓂂ㅤㅤ࿙࿚ׁ࿙ᮬ࿚ׅ࿙࿚ׁ࿙ᮬ࿚ㅤㅤ𓂂ㅤׁ