Falling for You

Chapter 8 - The Mark

I got motivated by getting my first vote for this story on last chapter so here is an extra chapter today.

 When I woke up, I was in an unfamiliar place, laying in an unfamiliar bed. I immediately sat up my hand reaching for my spear, only to find out that not only my is weapon missing, but I also have an extremely bad headache.

 Unable to stay sitting up any longer, I lay back trying to remember how I got here.

 I remember going to Mondstadt looking for Venti. Someone told me to go to Windrise, then...

 I reached for the back of my neck.

 "Hiss!" 

 I pulled my hand back immediately. It wasn't that it hurt, exactly, it was more like it felt hot to the touch.

 Lying back down, I finally noticed the voices coming from outside the room. I tried using my anemo energy to enhance my hearing. To my surprise, it was not only working, but it was working better than the last time I used it.

 Now I could make out two voices, both of which, were familiar.

3rd person POV

 "Well, now you've done it."

 "I know. I know that, Morax. I don't need you to point it out." The young archon glared at the old one.

 "What are you glaring at me for? This whole situation is your fault."

 "I. Was. Drunk!"

 "Tell that to Xiao." The old archon said, successfully shutting the other up.

 "What are you gonna do? You can't just mark someone without permission."

 "How nice hearing that from you. If I remember correctly your situation with your little harbinger wasn't exactly consensual either." He sent another glare in the geo archon's direction.

 "That was different."

 "How was it different?"

 "What happened to me couldn't be prevented, you being drunk, on the other hand, could."

 "Do you think I would just randomly mark people when I'm drunk?"

 "You marked Xiao." He pointed out.

 "That is Xiao! Had it been anyone else, this wouldn't have happened." Venti hissed at his old friend.

 "Well, this time it was Xiao and it did happen, so how are you going to solve this?"

 "I'll talk to him..." Venti muttered.

 "Talk?"

 "It's a start!"

 "Well, then you can go ahead and start," Zhongli said, turning around to leave.

 "Huh?"

 "He's awake, you idiot. He has been listening for a while now." He pointed at the door before walking off.

 Venti just stared at the door and gulped. He slowly reached out and grabbed the handle. He took a deep breath and opened the door.

 Xiao's POV

 I saw the door open slightly, Venti's head poking through the opening.

 We made eye contact and his head immediately disappeared, only to reappear moments later. Eventually, he entered the room, sitting down on the stool next to the bed, obviously looking uncomfortable.

 "I... That..." The little bard tried forming his sentence.

 Just as I was about to help along with starting the conversation, he did something rather unexpected.

 "I'm terribly sorry!" He shouted, his head lowered as much as it could be.

 "What...?"

 "I shouldn't have done that, even if I was drunk! I didn't have your permission to do so and I'm terribly sorry!" He continued.

 "Wait, wait, Venti, what the hell is this about?"

 He was drunk and he bit my neck. What is such a big deal about that?

 "That... It might be better to just show you. Can you stand?"

 "I can try."

 I tried sitting up first. At least I didn't have a headache anymore. When I tried to stand up, however, I staggered and almost fell, only to be caught by Venti.

 "Are you okay?" he asked concerned.

 "Yeah, I'm fine, thank...you."

 "Are you sure?"

 "Yeah, I just noticed something I didn't before."

 "What is it?"

 "Nothing much." I shrugged it off, but my mind was going in circles.

 This guy... He is taller than me!

 We weren't close enough for me to notice before, but now it's just awkward. I kept calling him a little guy in my head, and now it turns out he's taller than me.

 "Are you sure you're okay, Xiao? You are spacing out." Venti's voice broke me away from my thought.

 "I'm fine, really. But where are we going?"

 "We're already here."

 I looked around and we were in...

 "The bathroom?"

 "Yes, exactly. Now stand here for a moment."

 He let me stand in front of a mirror with my back to it, before going to grab another, smaller mirror, and handing it to me.

 "Now lower your collar and look at the back of your neck." He instructed.

 I did as he told me to and lowered my collar to look at my neck. On the back of my neck, I found a small light green anemo marking.

 I froze. Although the shape was different, the nature of it seemed similar to the one I saw on that fatui bastard that charmed Morax.

 But, that thing was a dragon's Mark of Possession...

 "Are you a dragon?"

 "What? No way! Where did that even come from?" He looked completely baffled.

 "But, this thing is like the Mark of Possession a dragon would leave on their-"

 "How could you compare my mark with the one that blockhead Morax left on his little fatui?! He's is completely useless! At least mine still has some use to you!" He looked seriously offended.

 From what he said, however, I did manage to catch a few things.

 "You know Morax." I pointed out.

 "Ah, that. Oops!" He looked surprised for a moment before realization dawned on him. After that, he just giggled and shrugged his shoulders.

 "Venti, just who are you?"

 He looked me in the eyes for a few moments as a smile surfaced on his lips.

 "I'm just a bard from Mondstadt."

 "Bards don't usually leave behind marks of possession."

 "Well, this one does." He looked amused.

 "Let me rephrase it then. What are you, Venti?"

 At this question, his smile disappeared and he seemed to sink deep in thought.

 "What am I? It's been such a long time since someone asked me that question." He muttered just loud enough so I could hear it.

 After a while he looked up, looking me straight in the eyes, and asked seriously.

 "How does wind spirit sound?"