Winter Moon | Xiao x Fem Reader

Bloody tears

The journey to the tree was, to put it lightly, extremely uncomfortable. Perhaps that's what happens when the person who threatened you into a contract was now happily yapping about finally going back to Snezhnaya with you in tow, so lost in his bliss that he wasn't noticing the feral looks thrown at him by the archon and the yaksha. That, or he was outright ignoring them.

"I did say my siblings would love you, didn't I, ojou-chan?" He beamed at you, voice a little louder than necessary.

You only hummed and nodded with an awkward smile. Even now you couldn't find it in yourself to hate him. In his seemingly newfound bliss, you could sense the jittering anxiety underneath it all. He didn't enjoy being hated, not by people he cared about. But you guessed he was used to that. It comes with the job, he'd muse. If you weren't so careful about not provoking him any further, you'd happily ask him if all of it was worth it. Was the Tsaritsa's goal so important for him to lay waste to the people he loved and was loved by?

His fake facade dropped in the blink of an eye but he still walked with his hand comfortably resting at the back of his neck and eyes trained to the sunless sky. "You mentioned how you and the Celestial Sun God created the gnosis, right?" The sudden change of topic caught you off guard.

"I did, yes. Three thousand years ago right before the Archon War."

"That's very interesting, indeed." He looked to be in thought for a moment. "I've always been ambitious, you know. That's why the Tsaritsa chose me to be one of the harbingers. So I wonder, if I could capture you, the Moon Goddess, perhaps I can lure out the Sun God too," he chuckled like he hadn't said the most ludicrous thing you'd ever heard.

"That's ridiculous. This is not being ambitious, it's idiocy."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"It's not."

"Ojou-chan, tell me about this Sun God. I fear not many things are known about Celestial Gods. You lot like to keep to yourself, don't you?"

You stayed silent. You really didn't want to feed Childe any more information and definitely not help him somehow bring down the Sun God who was like an older brother to you, maybe even a father figure. Knowing the Tsaritsa wanted to take down Celestia meant that any information regarding it would be beneficial to her.

"Hm, I see," mused Childe, noticing your lack of response. "Xiansheng, tell me all you know about the Sun God." Crap. Zhongli was required by his contract to answer everything the harbinger asked him to. Back on Celestia you were always closed in your domain, but the Sun God had always liked throwing parties and gatherings at his domain. You didn't know if Zhongli ever attended those, though he never seemed like the type, especially back in those days.

Zhongli exhaled half in annoyance with Childe and half with himself for ever signing a contract like that, you guessed. "The Celestial Sun God is the oldest God there is, outliving even me. It is said he is a magnificent archer."

"Perhaps you could learn from him," you cut in, gesturing at Childe who only glared at you in response.

Zhongli cleared his throat before continuing, "Some legends say that he was the one who created Celestia, others say Celestia was run by ten evil gods and the Sun God took them down and freed the floating island from their evil reign. When I'd meet with him he was always an eloquent host and a man with manners. Other than that I believe us, deities that reside in the mortal realm, aren't allowed to know much more of the Celestial Gods."

"Hm. That is indeed very interesting," Childe hummed. You let him and Zhongli ramble about whatever they thought they knew about the Sun God and looked behind you and at Xiao.