Bounded by Freedom
Summary:
Freedom: the right to act, speak, or think as one wants / the state of not being imprisoned or enslaved
Bound: place within certain limits, restriction
or
"Well- I mean…y'know…I've never got to check out Lantern Rite before! And I've heard from the Traveller that Lantern Rite was really interesting, so I just wanted to- oh forget it, you already know don't you." Venti attempted and failed to produce a response that wouldn't give away his true reason behind his sudden interest in Lantern Rite.
"I do not know what you're talking about. Please, enlighten me." Zhongli said, opting to feign innocence.
Feel free to read from ao3 instead! Because this is my first time posting a fanfic here and I do n o t know how tumblr works aAaa I need to use this app more often
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
"Boo!"
Zhongli almost dropped his cup of osmanthus wine. Almost. Whether it's simply his misfortune or a blessing in disguise, Hu Tao shared Barbatos's love for jumpscaring him. Fortunately, after some time (and a lot of wasted osmanthus wine), he had learnt to not get startled as easily anymore thanks to Hu Tao's unpredictable jumpscares. "Barbatos." he greeted, keeping a neutral expression on his face so Barbatos won't get to have the pleasure of getting a reaction from him.
Speaking of Barbatos, the (questionable) archon in question was currently whining. "Moraaxx…when did you become immune to my jumpscares?? Also, I go by Venti now." He flopped the upper half of his body onto half of the entire table, and Zhongli calmly saves his osmanthus wine just in time before it really gets spilled because of Bar- Venti's rather childish actions. He pouted at his actions. "You're no fun."
Zhongli takes a sip, "I simply see no need for such childish acts, especially if it ends in the wastage of fine wine."
Venti made a face, "Dandelion wine tastes much better," he then had the audacity to <em>sit</em> on the table, swinging his now dangling legs as he finally got to the point for only one of his many (and more to come) spontaneous visits that, for half the time, were for absolutely no reason other than because he either couldn't find Xiao and came to him for help (Zhongli still has yet to figure out the nature of their relationship, he didn't even know they knew each other up till a couple of months ago), or because he was bored and felt like annoying him.
"Anyways, I heard Lantern Rite's coming soon, so I decided to come pay you a visit! Since I'm such a great friend and all, after all~"
"You're just here for Lantern Rite aren't you." Zhongli stated. It wasn't even a question despite being phrased as one.
He at least had the decency to look sheepish. Zhongli inquired further, "Isn't Windblume immediately after Lantern Rite? If I recall correctly, that is the reason why you've never visited Liyue for Lantern Rite before, yes? What brought about this sudden change?" he has his suspicions on why - or rather, who - Venti was actually here for already, especially considering the number of times he's caught Venti in Liyue picking qingxin flowers - which he knows is Xiao's favourite flower, but he doesn't know if Venti knows this as well or not - for no apparent reason, as well as the times he had went to Wangshu Inn with the intentions of giving Xiao his medication only to accidentally intrude on him and Barbatos- oops, Venti - settled on Wangshu Inn's roof very suspiciously close to one another.
And that said a lot, considering how Xiao doesn't <em>do</em> physical contact at all, if possible. Yet there Venti was, snuggled with Xiao on Wangshu Inn's roof, humming a tune as Xiao let him doze off on his shoulder. Zhongli had tried to make a pattern of how often this happens, but as with all things related to Venti, the visits were random, unplanned, and overall, impossible to predict. Sometimes Xiao also wouldn't be in Wangshu Inn, and they likely met elsewhere instead. Somewhere where Zhongli couldn't keep an eye on Venti.
And despite knowing Venti would never intentionally hurt Xiao, Zhongli was much more paranoid about not knowing where the two were off to whenever they were alone together somewhere that isn't Wangshu Inn than he'd like to admit.
He was glad, if anything, for Xiao. He definitely deserved to have someone be to him what Guizhong had been to Zhongli, especially since he knows he himself can't be that person for Xiao. He just wished Xiao had better tastes, however…it's not that Zhongli disapproves of his (somehow) friend, no, but…Barbatos was, well, Barbatos. Oh well, he'd support them if anything more ever blooms between them, but if Bar- Venti. If Venti ever hurts the adeptus…well, Xiao is one of his, and he's pretty sure Venti still remembers his meteorites.
"Well- I mean…y'know…I've never got to check out Lantern Rite before! And I've heard from the Traveller that Lantern Rite was really interesting, so I just wanted to- oh forget it, you already know don't you." Venti attempted and failed to produce a response that wouldn't give away his true reason behind his sudden interest in Lantern Rite.
"I do not know what you're talking about. Please, enlighten me." Zhongli said, opting to feign innocence. Call him childish but it was one way to get back at Venti for all the pranks he's pulled at him for the past couple millennia. It's also an attempt to have Venti elaborate on the nature of his and Xiao's relationship.
Venti stared at him skeptically, "...Sure. Anyways, yeah, you caught me. I actually came for Xiao. I heard that the Traveller had successfully brought the festival to him since he didn't want to go to Liyue Harbour last year, but this year they're away in Inazuma right now, and I don't think they'll make it back in time for Lantern Rite even with Baal having abolished her lame and boring decrees. So I appointed myself to be in charge of this year's Operation bring-Lantern-Rite-to-Xiao!~ Which is, uh, why I'm here. I couldn't find Xiao, and I'm hoping you'd know where he is. Ehe."
Zhongli briefly considers if he should reveal Xiao's whereabouts to Venti. Being the prime of the adepti as well as the former geo archon, he can easily track down the location of every adepti that has ever signed a contract with him at any given time, and Xiao is no exception. However, Zhongli doesn't really use this power out of respect for their privacy; he'll only use it should a threat to Liyue's safety be serious enough to require the adepti's interference or help ever presents itself.
On one hand, Xiao definitely deserves some rest from his duties as Liyue's protector. Zhongli has told him before several times that he can (and should) take breaks if he wants to, and he made sure that Xiao knew he didn't say that as an order. Though, whether the yaksha actually took time for himself without any outside interference from others or not, Zhongli thinks it unlikely. And taking the newfound revelation that Xiao also listens to Venti (to an extent) without feeling obliged to do so because of his title as an archon or anything, Venti can definitely help ease Xiao's burdens where Zhongli could not.
On the other hand, though, Zhongli doesn't want to disturb Xiao, especially not if the yaksha currently didn't want to be found by others. It goes without saying that Venti must've had already tried summoning Xiao by calling him, and given that Xiao didn't respond…it's likely he currently doesn't want to have to deal with social interactions with anyone.
And so, Zhongli purses his lips in contemplation. Before he could make up his mind on anything, though, Venti suddenly pushes himself off the table and lands back on the ground, dusting himself off. "You know what? Nevermind! By the time I've gotten an answer from you, at least a decade's worth of Lantern Rites would've long passed! I'm gonna go Xiao-hunting myself instead."
When the meaning of Venti's words had clicked, Zhongli opened his mouth, about to protest against what the bard implied he would do. Unfortunately, he'd been a moment too late to do so, for by the time he's turned around to face Venti again, where the former wind sprite was standing moments prior now had only traces of anemo left as Venti turned into one with the wind and fled. <h6></h6>
Now where else would Xiao usually be if not at Wangshu Inn..? Venti pondered over likely locations Xiao would frequent briefly. He went to Morax looking for help more or less expecting to get none on the yaksha’s location, if he was being honest. But hey, a little wishful thinking and hoping maybe things are different from what he expected from an old man never hurt anyone, right?
Back to the matter at hand, though, Venti knows that Xiao <em>hates</em> crowds. Or being around too many people at once, which Venti is proud to declare of being one of the few people of which the most antisocial adeptus of the adepti is willing to tolerate the presence of, at the very least.
So, Liyue Harbour itself - or any areas that are even just the tiniest bit populated - are out of the question. So…where could Xiao be? Venti had gone to Wangshu Inn earlier, looking for Xiao, and after Verr Goldet had noticed him just kind of hovering around the place and recognized who he was (Venti doesn’t think he actually visits that often that others part of the inn would be able to recognize him…right?), she had let him know that Xiao hadn't been anywhere near the inn for quite a while now. Apparently, the last time she had even seen the yaksha had been at least about 3 nights ago.
So, no Xiao there. Venti thinks he has a rough idea on Xiao's sudden disappearance: his karmic debt was likely rearing its ugly head and flaring up again, so in order to protect the people of Wangshu Inn from being affected by it, or accidentally affecting anyone who should be unlucky enough to just happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time (mentally, Venti makes a note to personally accompany Bennett himself should the teen ever feel like visiting Liyue, just in case), Xiao had went incognito.
The issue right now Venti was facing is finding out <em>where</em>, exactly, Xiao had decided to flee to. Actually, now that he thinks about it, Xiao shouldn't have to always deal with it himself, doesn't he? He's told him before that while his mask grants him a huge boost and eliminates all demons and monsters much more effectively and in a shorter period of time, it's also where the karma is most prominent. To think that Xiao has been…Venti stopped that train of thought. Negativity won't do him any good here, and the best he could do right now is to find Xiao as fast as possible.
Hm, he doesn't seem to be anywhere in Dihua Marsh. Venti deflated, and the air around him rippled as it shifted to accommodate the sudden change in density caused. He was actually hoping that's where Xiao would be, considering how that was where they first met, technically, back then. Venti doesn’t think Xiao is aware of that, though. <h6></h6>
<em>Venti was in a mood again. He knows he's been getting moody a lot lately, but he finds that he doesn't really care about that enough to want to do anything about it. What was the point anyway? It wouldn't change things that already happened. Being his normal, cheerful self - the him everyone thinks he is, <strong>expects</strong> him to be - wouldn't suddenly solve all the problems in the world.
It wouldn't bring the <strong>real</strong> 'Venti' back.
He wasn't some sort of god, he just happened to be at certain places at the wrong (right? Ah, who cares) time. He wasn't 'Barbatos the Anemo Archon' that the people of Mondstadt thought of him as. He was simply 'Barbatos', a simple wind sprite. One who just happened to ascend to godhood due to circumstances and meeting the right people. He didn't even want this role, he just wanted freedom for the people of the old Mondstadt. It was what he'd have wanted.
It was what he died for.
Venti had left Mondstadt as Barbatos immediately after liberating its people. As Venti, post-revolution, he had helped with cleaning up the aftermath of the battle against Decarabian. <h6></h6>
He didn't exactly understand what emotions were, back then, to process what he was feeling. He just knew that one moment he was with his friend; and the next, the young bard who would play beautiful tunes for him, who had shared his apples with the wind sprite, protected him from being swept away by the harsh winds when necessary, was still and unmoving. Oh, and there were arrows stuck inside his chest. Are they supposed to be there? Venti doesn’t really know anything about humans, no, but he didn’t think his friend liked having arrows in him.
His friend still isn’t moving.
Which was weird, because for the past several months that the sprite had known this boy, he had never stayed completely still for any longer than a few seconds: even while asleep he had moved about quite frequently, shifting from one position to another every few minutes to get more comfortable.
Gently, he nudged his friend's shoulder with his head. Still, no response. He was confused: hadn't they succeeded in taking down Decarabian? They achieved their goal, didn't they? Mondstadt's people are free now, they can watch the birds in flight together now, just like how he's always wanted. They can explore the world together now, and his friends can tag along too. Look, the red haired one is already approaching them. Venti paid him no mind even as he lowered himself down to the ground where his friend lay and propped him up against his arms.
What's wrong with him? Is he sleeping? Why won't he respond? The boy always responded to his nudges. He always seemed to know what Venti wanted. So why doesn't he know what Venti wants now is a response from him? Finally, Venti gave up, instead opting to fly up to the bard's face. Huh, turns out he wasn't asleep after all. His eyes were wide open. So why is he still ignoring him?
Now that Venti was hovering directly in front of his friend's face, he noticed how his eyes looked…different. Different in a creepy way. Venti didn't like it - it didn't look right, those eyes didn't suit his friend at all. They seemed hollowed out, and his pupils were lacking in their usual glimmer. His eyes felt lifeless. Seemed lifeless. As if their owner wasn't using them anymore, and never will again.
At that moment, waves upon waves of feelings that the little wind sprite never knew about came crashing down on him, uncaring of if he could cope with all these new, foreign emotions all at once or not as what happened to the bard finally registered for him.
Time seemed to freeze as the first and only world that the little wisp of wind had known shattered into millions of irreparable fragments of what it once was, never to be whole again.
Venti stared at what he now knows is the lifeless body that was once occupied by his friend.
He stared and stared, as if that would suddenly bring him back. No, they had won! He can’t be…there’s no way he’s…
He started nudging his friend’s shoulder again, this time more aggressively. He refused to accept this. It wasn’t possible. No, the bard can’t be dead. He isn’t dead. He <strong>isn’t</strong> dead.
Venti had all but forgotten about their red haired friend’s presence, but he had remembered he was also there when he saw him gently close the bard’s eyes for him, never to be reopened again. Venti had been shaking his head as much as a sprite could, then. He could feel something around his eyes as his vision got blurry. That’s strange, why is there…is that hydro? Why is there water on his face? He thought he only possessed anemo powers, and even that was limited, so that is rather strange. Anyway, the unwelcomed hydro he had somehow created on his face is kind of annoying. He wants it off his face, because it’s blurring his vision, making it hard to see.
He looked up at the red haired warrior’s face, accusatory. Why did he close their friend’s eyes? He needs them to see! They’re going to explore the world together now, and his sight was necessary for that to happen.
Oh, the red haired warrior seemed to also have hydro in his eyes. What was it called again? He remembered the bard explaining to him what emotions were. This was…crying, right? Something people do when they’re sad and their body knows they’re sad.
Oh, he was crying. He didn’t know he could do that.
The red haired warrior was now shaking his head at him, as if to tell him the bard was…was…dead. No, there was no way. He can’t be…
Except, Venti already knew, he had known for some time already, that the bard was dead. He just refused to accept it.
And then, suddenly, he wasn’t looking at his friend’s body anymore. No, he felt…bigger. He found that the red haired warrior was now suddenly above him, not in front of him. His friend had disappeared from his view. He felt…heavier, like he was sitting on the ground. Weird. He tried to fly upwards to hover again, only to find that…he couldn’t. Huh.
Finally, he looked down at himself. Since when was his body so big? And humanoid? Are those…hands? He has hands now! And legs, too. The clothes he’s wearing look strangely familiar, where had he seen them before? Oh yeah, these were his friend’s clothes.
Venti stiffened, and he could feel the body he was occupying stiffening as well. Did he…?
Looking for confirmation, he looked up at the red haired warrior once again. His face was twisting and contorting every few seconds, as if he couldn’t decide on what to feel. First, shock, surprise. Then, next, confusion, when the fact that someone who was supposedly dead had suddenly come back to life. And then, anger, when he had realised that Venti had disappeared, and that the bard’s sky-blue eyes were now replaced with emerald green, with just hints of blue, albeit darker than the blue the bard’s eyes were, and his hair’s ends now tinged blue, glowing blue, actually.
Before either could react, however, Venti had then been teleported to Celestia. Well, he hadn’t known it was Celestia, then. He also hadn’t known he would leave Celestia as the new anemo archon.<h6></h6>
Venti shook his head. The past was the past, no one can change it, not even the god of time themselves. Venti would know; he’s friends with them. Well, no, it’s actually possible to alter the past by going into the past <strong>of</strong> the past, but normally the consequences of doing so may screw with the flow of time itself and end up creating some loop or time paradox that’s more trouble than it’s worth. Still, it doesn’t really stop Venti’s mind from coming up with impossible what-ifs that could’ve happened, but now never will. Hey, he may now be a god, but he was just a tiny elemental being first.
He knows Vanessa was worried about him. He thinks she shouldn’t be; the lives of humans are already too short, even if they had died of natural causes, like old age. And yet, it was so easy to kill a human being by any number of other causes, cutting their already short lifespan even shorter. Like what happened with <strong>him</strong>.
No, he should stop thinking about that. He needed- he needed to get away from everything, even if it was just for a while. Everything was too much right now. He wanted out. Where to, though? Liyue? But he didn’t want Morax to be worried about him as well. He liked to annoy the older archon, yes, but he knew Morax would instantly pick up that something’s wrong with him even if he were to be annoying and try to piss him off enough to have a meteor thrown at him again.
Venti didn’t want their pity. He didn’t want anyone to feel obligated to feel bad for him or force themselves to share his burden pretending they were fine with it just because they didn’t want to hurt his feelings. He hated their sugary words, he hated the way they’d treat him differently if he wasn’t his usual self. The him they knew anyway.
Despite that reasoning, he still found himself drawn to Liyue. For some reason, the wind was calling out to him, begging that he follow. And so, follow he did; if anything, it would be a good distraction to his thoughts, however temporary. He just had to avoid getting anywhere near wherever Morax currently was, no biggie; he’s had to hide from a raging, feral Morax who had been intent on obliterating him in Liyue, his own nation, Inazuma, and even Sumeru, once, before.
The wind led him to Dihua Marsh. He found the Dihua flute just lying there, half submerged in the murky waters of some lake. Frowning, he picked it up and used anemo to dry off the mud and water on it. How did it end up here? Morax sure was getting careless with his age, to leave one of his precious objects just lying around in some lake.
He glanced around. The wind had led him here, but he couldn’t really see why. There wasn’t anything unique about his surroundings. Maybe it just wanted him to find this flute? That’s…strange, but not the strangest thing that the wind had ever requested from him. Perhaps it wanted a tune? Well, he isn’t one to turn down a request from anyone for music of any kind.
Venti scanned his surroundings again, this time looking for a place to sit and play the instrument. Ah, there was a huge rock, just gutting out of the lake right there, its top a smooth enough surface such that if one sat on it, it wouldn’t really be that uncomfortable. It was as if the rock had existed just for his use. Perfect.
He trudged through the lake he now realised was rather shallow, letting out an involuntary shudder at the sudden contact between his legs and the cool water. His socks were now wet, but it’s nothing he can’t fix within seconds.
Settling down on the rock with the Dihua flute in hand, Venti absentmindedly summoned a gust of wind to dry off his legs and socks, letting out a contented sigh as he felt the uncomfortable feel of wet socks leave him. There, much better.
Positioning himself, he began playing the flute, letting himself get lost in the music. Doing this won’t bring the bard back, it won’t suddenly give him answers to his questions, to why or how he even ended up being qualified to be, and then subsequently</em> did <em>become, the anemo archon. It won’t tell him why his friend had to die just as they finally succeeded, how unfair it was that he finally had his dream within reach but unable to ever actually make it come true, how he lived long enough to <strong>know</strong> they had succeeded, but to also know he won’t ever get to reap the rewards.
He knows all this, but still, he played. He played and played, until night came. Even then, he continued playing the flute, finding himself now unable to stop. He didn’t even know what he was playing anymore, now; if he was being honest, he kind of disassociated at some point.
His hands and mouth were acting on their own, mind and body disconnected from each other as his thoughts ran wild while his hands relied solely on muscle memory to press on the right holes, producing the right melody.
Slowly, he forced his consciousness to return to reality. Instantly he recognized the tune. It was the same tune his friend had played for him, all that time ago. The tune that had attracted him to the bard. The bard had tried to teach him the song, then, but he couldn’t exactly play it; well, now he could, he supposed.
Except, now was way too late. It may be his body that Venti’s occupying, but his soul has long left this plane of existence, and he likely already reincarnated as someone else, somewhere else, possibly not even anywhere in Teyvat anymore, but instead another universe, as something else, too.
At that moment, he could sense another presence had joined him in his solitary performance meant for no one but himself and the wind from behind. He didn’t falter or stop his now-performance for his unknown guest, however; Venti didn’t want to scare them away. If they turned out to be a foe, it was better to let them think they have the upper hand, after all, trick them into believing he was unaware.
He could sense lots of dark, negative emotions within his audience of one. And karma. Lots of it. Venti never really bothered enough to find out much about the adepti of Liyue, but he knew even immortals of godly statuses like him and Morax would struggle to not succumb to the karma he could feel emanating from the individual even though they were some distance apart from one another, so he highly doubts an adeptus could handle it.
Briefly, he tried to recall the names of every adeptus to exist. He knew about Morax, obviously. And then there was Guizhong, who was sometimes there as well when he visited Morax.
There was that half qilin, half human adeptus too, he now recalls. She had been there a few times, mostly when Cloud Retainer was around. What was her name again? Hanyu? Ganyi? Ah, right, Ganyu. Huh, it’s not like him to not remember people’s names. In his defense, he’s never really seen her except for the few times she tagged along with Cloud Retainer when he and Morax met up. And Cloud Retainer herself didn’t exactly come to their little meetings that often the few times they had them, either.
There’s no way the adeptus behind him was her, Venti is skeptical of the way Cloud Retainer raises her children when she picks one up, yes, but he knows and believes whole-heartedly that the bird adeptus would never intentionally harm her children, let alone leave them by themselves long enough to have the chance of accumulating that much karma.
Hands never stilling, song never stopping, Venti continued pondering over who the person behind him might be. Ah, that’s right! Morax had a bunch of yakshas as well, didn’t he? They’re also adepti, probably.
Oh, wait. Nevermind. They’re dead, Venti remembers being there when Morax had been grieving over their deaths; there were 5 of them, 2 of them more or less killed each other, one of them succumbed to the darkness, all having been overwhelmed by madness and despair. He’s not entirely sure what happened to the remaining 2 yakshas, but he kind of assumed they died, too. He felt sorry for them, angry at the world, angry at Celestia. It wasn’t fair to the yakshas. He never knew them personally, but what happened to them wasn’t fair the same way Venti’s friend’s demise also wasn’t fair. Maybe, though, just maybe, one of them is still alive; maybe the adeptus behind him right now was the last yaksha, it’d certainly explain the karmic debt thing.
Well, if the person behind Venti really was the last yaksha, he’s definitely going to give him a performance they’ll never forget; it’s the least he could do for them, anyway. They’ve suffered for so long, they deserved to have at least this bit of respite.
It was now nearing dawn. Venti was still playing the flute. The karmic debt he could feel had somewhat lessened - still too much for one person to be bearing, yaksha or not, and definitely still not as much as Venti would’ve liked for the yaksha to bear - but it had lessened considerably.
Suddenly, Venti realised what likely would’ve happened had he not been there today, and emotions he didn’t recognize flooded his entire being. He recognized the relief he felt, yes, but the rest were foreign to him. He did know, though, that he wanted the yaksha to be free. He couldn’t quite figure out his emotions yet, but he opted to ignore them for now; the yaksha was his main priority. He couldn’t explain the urge to protect the yaksha as if they were one of his own even if someone held a sword against his neck and demanded he do so. He just felt…protective of them. If they hadn’t already signed a contract with Morax, Venti would’ve happily invited the yaksha to migrate over to Mondstadt, in fact.
Well, Venti was also really worried about the yaksha. What if the karmic debt overflowed again? Became too much for them to bear? Only, by then, Venti may not make it in time to rescue the yaksha with his music again?
He refused to think about what might happen, because he’s going to make sure it never gets to that point.
He’s noticed the yaksha still hasn’t gotten a vision of their own yet; he couldn’t detect any traces of elemental energy on them if they did anyway. But it’s likely the yaksha didn’t have a vision yet. Well, that’s about to change.
As dawn approached, Venti slowly, silently stopped his music-playing, drawing out the last note. Gently, softly, he turned around, finally looking at his audience of one for the first time. The yaksha had blood splattered all over him, his hair was matted with it, his face and attire smudged with lots of it; even his legs weren’t spared from their fate. He was asleep, somehow having fallen asleep half-lying, half-standing at some point. He was still holding on to his polearm, though his grip on it was loose.
Even with all the blood and dirt and filth on the yaksha, though, Venti thought he looked quite stunning.
As quietly as he could, he trudged through the shallow lake once again, crossing over to where the yaksha was all while trying his best to not wake the sleeping yaksha; Venti suspected the adeptus doesn’t really sleep. Yes, they were immortals, and technically, they didn’t really need to sleep, but mentally it was good for them to rest as well from time to time, and no one was an exception to it. The yaksha was clearly fatigued <strong>beyond</strong> the point of exhaustion, but obviously never let himself rest much before.
Gently, he cupped his hand around the yaksha’s face. Venti could tell that, without all the blood on it, his face would look beautiful. It already did, even with the blood. Venti couldn’t see his eyes, but he had no doubt that they were as beautiful as his face. He frowned at the injuries he could see just from a brief glance at the yaksha. He’d have to do something about that.
The yaksha was covered with multitudes of wounds of all kinds - shallow ones, deep ones, they were all there. There were also what appeared to look like scratches on his forearms. And Venti didn’t like the implications of it one bit. He didn’t like any of them at all.
He called upon a breeze of anemo, with the intent to heal. He felt the soothing wind as it flew past him and landed on the yaksha’s body, closing up the worst of his injuries and healing as much as they could. Some of the wounds were too deep, though, to be healed fully. They were going to scar, and while Venti had tried to heal as much as he could, it still wasn’t enough.
After he was as satisfied as he could get (which, in his opinion, still wasn’t enough anyhow), he gently shifted the yaksha’s body such that he was laying on the ground completely, rather than in that awkward position he had been in before. There, now he won’t wake up feeling all sore on one side.
Now, Venti was about to break some of Celestia’s rules. He shot a nervous glance towards the sky. To his luck, Celestia was more or less turned away from Liyue’s direction right now, facing Mondstadt instead.
He called upon anemo once more; only this time it responded with more power, much more strength. It swirled around him, lifting his braids, which were now glowing from his excessive usage of anemo, as it materialized itself into a solid, round glass orb. There, a newly formed, anemo vision, created by yours truly. Oh, yeah, he almost forgot to change the Mondstadt carrier plates to Liyue’s visions’ carrier plates’ design instead. Alright, there. Perfectly, newly formed anemo vision.
Proudly, he placed it next to the yaksha, right beside his face. That way, there was no way he’d miss it when he woke up. He patted himself on the shoulder for his hard work. He’d made it pretty well, and it looked close enough to being one made by the higher ups at Celestia themselves too.
Alright, time to head back to Mondstadt, he supposes. For Vanessa, he had probably been gone for about an entire day and a half, by now. And she was still worried about him. Venti didn’t really want to leave the yaksha all alone here, however. He knew he was capable of protecting himself, but still…
Ah well, whatever. He spared one last glance at the sleeping adeptus before he transformed back into wind, and headed back to Mondstadt. <h6></h6>
</em>Venti turned back into his human form with a huff. No Xiao anywhere in Liyue. He’s either doing a really good job avoiding anyone and everyone, and even Venti was included, or <em>he’s</em> doing a really terrible job at finding people. Specifically, at finding an antisocial adeptus.
He racked his brain for a place in Liyue he’s yet to check. Hmm…Ah! That’s right, why hadn’t he thought of Stone Gate sooner? It was unlikely that Xiao would stay there, considering how it’s the borders separating Liyue and Mondstadt, and how he thought he shouldn’t leave Liyue, ever. He’s pretty sure Morax told him it’s fine already. Ah, whatever, they’ll cross that bridge when they get to it.
Humming satisfactorily, Venti changed his wind trajectory and within moments was landing in Stone Gate. He looked around at his surroundings to get a general idea on which part of the place, exactly, he had landed in. Behind him, he could see the blurry figure of Dawn Winery. It was really far away, and technically, he shouldn’t be able to even see anything more than a blurry unrecognizable dot from this distance, but he was cheating a little with the wind~
Now that he has a general grasp on his location, he refocused on searching for traces of anemo of any sort. Theoretically speaking, since Xiao was the only anemo wielder in the entirety of Liyue, it shouldn’t really be that hard for the <em>anemo</em> archon to find him, but hey, Venti <em>sometimes</em> respect people’s privacy!
Okay, maybe not as often as some people would’ve wanted him to, especially a certain blockhead, but he certainly doesn’t keep tabs on his vision wielders some other archons do. He’s definitely doing a much better job than Baal right now, anyway; what even made her think confiscating people’s visions was a good way to achieve her ideal of ‘eternity’? She’s abolished the thing, now, but still; lives were lost. Innocent ones. An entire, meaningless war even took place because of it!
Bingo! He’s finally hit jackpot; the anemo traces here were much, much stronger, more prominent. He continued following it, and sure enough, there the Conqueror of Demons was, in all his glory. He felt his mouth split into a grin, and before he could register what his legs were doing, he was already dashing towards Xiao, closing that last gap of space between them as he flung himself at the yaksha without any warning.
“Xiaoo!~ There you are!” Xiao would’ve lost his balance and fell from the sudden tackle if not for the fact that Venti was, because he’s technically a wind sprite first before an archon, literally weightless.
“Venti. I’m covered in blood. You’re going to dirty your clothes.”
“Ouch, I’m hurt! Is that any way to greet your beloved? Besides, I haven’t seen you for like, 2 entire days! And I just spent the last couple hours looking for you. Now I know this was where you’ve been hiding!”
“I wasn’t hiding, though. And I’ve been busy, sorry.”
Finally, Venti removed himself from Xiao, but didn’t completely let go. He looked at him. He could see splatters of bloodstains on his face, and that cursed mask wasn’t hanging by his waist, but instead, grasped in his hand. They kind of just stayed like that for a while, Venti still holding Xiao in a half-hug, Xiao just standing there, emerald green eyes with a hue of blue and bright, sharp golden yellow ones staring into one another, neither speaking, neither wanting to be the first to break away contact.
Finally, Xiao looked away. “I’m covered in blood,” he repeated.
Venti pouted, “Soo? I still wanna hug you.”
“You’ll dirty your clothes.”
“These old things? I have, like, hundreds of the same outfit stored away somewhere. Besides, I can always just wash it off. I don’t care about dirtying them.” Venti dismissed.
“But I don’t want to inconvenience you.” Xiao tried arguing back fruitlessly, already having realized this wasn’t a battle he was going to win.
“You’re not inconveniencing me. I kind of need to wash these things soon, anyway, so might as well get it dirtier now than later, after I’ve gotten them cleaned, right?” Venti smiled triumphantly, knowing that he’d won this little…debate? What even was this? Oh well, who cares.
“Anyway, Lantern Rite is coming up,” Venti redirected, “And I was thinking that maybe we can watch the lanterns together this year? I’ve never had the chance to be around during Lantern Rite before, had been too busy preparing for Windblume, you see, ehe.” that technically wasn’t a lie, though he missed both events for a couple of centuries straight simply because he had been sleeping, but Xiao doesn’t need to know that.
Xiao sighed, “Venti, you know I don’t like these mortal festivals. And the remnants of the ancient gods from the Archon War tend to be stronger during Lantern Rite especially. I won’t postpone my duties for some pointless celebration.”
“Fiinee…then, what about Windblume? There aren't any demons or anything in Mondstadt! And don’t even think about giving me that ‘duty’ talk; Morax- well, Zhongli now, I suppose - isn’t the geo archon anymore, so you technically no longer have to devote <em>all</em> your time to protecting Liyue. You never had to from the start anyway. If that blockhead ever says otherwise I’ll let <em>him</em> be on the receiving end of ‘order’.” Venti wasn’t giving up. Besides, he kind of came without really expecting to succeed in getting Xiao to join him and attend Lantern Rite together, anyway: his true goal had been to get Xiao to visit Mondstadt during Windblume.
Sometimes, pretending your goal was something else and having your true goal seem to be of lesser value was the go-to tactic in getting exactly what you wanted. Hey, Venti never said he was a good person. If Xiao’s considered a sinner for bearing the burdens no one wanted to carry and doing the ugly jobs of purging evil no one wanted to do, then Venti was worse, far less of a saint than any abyssal creature would ever dream of being as well.
Xiao seemed to be considering his words, thinking it over. Slowly, he said, “...I’ll consider it.”
Venti grinned, “That’s as good as a yes for me!” He clasped his hands together and let them hover above his chest.
…Oh yeah, they’re still just standing around at the borders between Mondstadt and Liyue. Venti had kind of forgotten that already. It seemed Xiao had, too, if his abandoned polearm was any indication. It, as well as the adeptus himself and now Venti, all had blood stained on them. As well as Xiao’s mask. Which reminded Venti…
“Xiao, what did Mo- Zhongli and I tell you about willingly letting yourself get hurt in any way, even if it was for the sake of Liyue’s safety?” Venti wasn’t mad, and he was pretty sure Xiao knew that already, but he told him that anyway, just in case. The last thing he wanted was for Xiao to start thinking even less than he already did of himself. Well, they’d solve the issue with time, until then, Venti had plenty of love and affection to give to Xiao as a replacement, instead.
Sure enough, the yaksha was soon averting his eyes from Venti’s, acting not too dissimilar to that of a child who had been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Venti sighed. Xiao’s wellbeing shouldn’t be something he only cared about for others’ sake, but something he actively cares about for his own only.
“It’s fine, we have all the time in the world to work on your sense of self-worth,” Venti reassured him with a smile, “right now, though, what say you that we take care of your injuries?” Xiao opened his mouth to protest, likely to insist that he was fine. Venti thinks Xiao really needed to redefine his definition of ‘fine’, if what he considered to be ‘fine’ was constantly being covered with angry red slashes and wounds that looked deep enough to scar even if treated immediately using healing magic, as well as the endless, forever present onslaught of negative emotions and dark thoughts on his mental state.
Venti stopped him before he could start, though, “Nope. Nuh uh. I’m not buying any of your claims of being ‘fine’ when you’re clearly injured. We’re treating those wounds.” Venti said firmly, tone leaving no room for any arguments that could’ve been made.
On the bright side, Xiao not just agreeing to all of Venti’s decisions was a good thing; and it showed just how far they’ve progressed together. Venti remembered the first time they met - really, <em>officially</em> met, what he likes to dub as The Flute moment doesn’t really count - Xiao - he was Alatus, then, Venti recalled - would keep calling him ‘Lord Barbatos’ even after he told him that just ‘Venti’ was fine. They took at least a decade before Xiao had even ditched the name ‘Barbatos’ and started calling him by ‘Venti’, and another before he also ditched the dumb, unneccesary (and extremely extra) title.
Once Venti was satisfied with his handiwork, he finally freed Xiao. Okay, Xiao admits, he kind of missed Venti’s embrace already, and he wants it back. He was too, as Venti called it, tsundere - whatever that meant - to admit it, though. He may not act like it, but he <em>does</em> care about his pride, to a certain extent, okay?
Turns out, he didn’t even need to ask, after all, for the bard in question himself had drawn him back into his arms, and in the next moment, they weren’t at Stone Gate anymore, no, but instead back at the rooftop of Wangshu Inn, which was also currently Xiao’s place of residency for when he had over exhausted himself to the point where he had no choice but to rest.
At some point in time, Verr Goldet and Huai’an had just decided that the entire roof of the inn was Xiao’s territory, and he’d somehow always find a plate of almond tofu, and sometimes, especially after Venti had started visiting nearly everyday, there were 2 plates prepared, ready and waiting for him whenever he returned. Their behaviour towards him was…strange, especially since they knew who he was, but Xiao wasn’t one to look a gift horse in its mouth.
Even now, Xiao instantly spotted 2 plates of almond tofu awaiting him and Venti atop that vase thingy that has that mini map structure when they fully rematerialized onto the inn’s roof.
Venti noticed it, too; it was kind of hard not to, given the placement location. Quietly, the bard reluctantly detached himself from Xiao and shuffled towards the food, grabbing both plates and then shuffling back to Xiao, holding one out for him. Xiao happily accepted it.
The rest of the time, they kind of just spent it together in silence, with Venti occasionally humming a tune or summoning his lyre to play something.
It was nice, Xiao supposed.
