Widened Eyes

3

"I told you," A deep rumblesome voice echoed through Xiao's skull, pounding and really only making his headache worse. He seemed to vaguely recall that voice...knowing that he had heard it somewhere, but upon the half throws of sleep, along with his pounding head, and no real desire to figure it out, he was unable to quite place it.What he did know is, despite the increase of his headache, the voice seemed to cause an echo of calm to surround him. He was quite happy to merely bask in it's candance for as long as he was allowed. Xiao knew, however, that it was unlikely to be long. He had to get up, he had to get up and then get himself out of this place. He had been taken back to that stupid hut, he knew it, he could smell the air was the same.

He slowly opened his eyes, but whoever was speaking was not in the room, and contrary, whoever they were speaking too were also absent. Xiao had one chance, and he definitely was not going to let it pass him by, frustrated as it was that whoever had taken him had also managed to find him yet again. He was truly failing at this whole escaping thing. Frustrated that he had once more been captured by the very same people who had taken him from before. Xiao was not certain what their means were for protecting him, or saving him, and he was relatively sure that perhaps Lord Barbatos had something to do with it, but it made him even more upset than more grateful. He knew Barbatos did not particularly like him, though he was endlessly grateful to the Archon and would serve him had Barbatos allowed it. However, the Anemo Archon spited his attempts, and now he had a sort of resentment towards his beloved Archon.

Creeping around the room he realized that they had wisely once more stationed his weapon away from this area, only this time it was not a viable option for him to go wandering around outside. Whilst he typically would not hesitate to do such a thing, it was not a good plan considering he had no idea who was out the door, nor how many people were there, and Xiao himself was not exactly in peak condition. Then again, Xiao had not been in peak condition for a long while now. He supposed it was bound to happen sometime that he would fail in battle. He figured perhaps it was best to fight his way out, than to simply lay there and accept his fate like a coward, but that was exactly what he was, a coward. He did not have the same will as he had previously. Perhaps it had something to do with Rex Lapis leaving him, casting him aside as though he did not matter, his heart hurt from that, even if he knew that it was not done on purpose.

He could not get out the front way, well, he could but he was not going to risk getting caught. He was definitely not in the mood to try and outfight who knows how many people without his weapon. He probably would manage, but that was not the point, he did not want to have to put himself through all that extra effort. So out the back it was. Or it would have been, had the windows not been sealed shut. Xiao could merely grit his teeth in annoyance at that. It was not as though he could just break the window. It would definitely work, whilst destroying a chance I have at not alerting whoever may be outside that door. He thought to himself. At this moment, however, there was very few options and he really did not want to be stuck in the room while whoever they were decided they finally wanted to check in on his existence.

Not that he had much choice in the matter, deciding to forego all sense of propriety once he heard the footsteps echoing up the stairs and easily shattered the glass of the room, hauling himself out of it, not really thinking clearly, which was more than a bit obvious considering nobody in his condition would even attempt throwing themselves out of a window. His torso muscles were definitely strained or torn, and his back was still ripped to shreds from where he had failed to entirely dodge a slice to his back. His ribs were likely bruised, and with his karmic debt acting up all of the time his ability to heal was severely compromised. Not to mention he had overworked most of his muscles in his body. There was very little chance he would actually manage to get away from anyone in the condition that he found himself in.

"What in the world are you doing?" Came the screech out the house. Xiao did not bother looking back at the unknown voice...sort unknown, many human voices blended together over the years, there were few he was able to recall immediately, and this was not one of them as such he did not hesitate to continue forwards, trudging himself through the wet grass. He heard the person rush down the stairs and continued hastily moving himself forwards, not wanting to wait. He would likely not have another opportunity like this, and he did not want to fail in escaping once again. Such a thing would be a blight on his record, and his self worth.

Xiao kept moving forwards as best as he could, but he was moving slowly, quite slowly in fact, and it made it difficult when he was barely able to move for the blinding pain that cascaded about his body. He dealt with it as best as he could, but the pain was definitely not something that he enjoyed dealing with. It was horrible, and he was suffering the effects of it whilst attempting to escape.

The next thing he knew arms wrapped about him and he panicked, flailing around uselessly. He growled, hissed, and even bit the arms that subjected him to the whims of the person who held him. The arms were rather strong. Xiao in general was not nearly as strong physically as some of the other Adepti, or even mortal men, but what he lacked in physical prowess he often made up in speed. At the moment, however, his speed was severely hampered, and he had a strong notion that his headache was affecting his hearing, as he had not even heard the mystery person approach in the first place.

His lack of ability to escape merely had him fighting harder, straining his already strained muscles and likely worsening his bruised ribs. Not that he was of the mind to care about such things. Xiao ignored the blinding pain, continuing to fight as best as he could, sinking his canines into the flesh of the person restraining him. Outside of a mild grunt, they did not react, leaving Xiao feeling more and more helpless, despite his refusal to stop his escape attempt.

"Enough, Alatus," The words struck a chord within Xiao, leaving him dropping into his captor's arms. Tears flooded his vision, and his mind spiraled as the reality of the situation he had found himself began to truly echo in his mind.

His Master had not, in fact, died, and been killed. His Master had willfully abandoned him to pursue the life of mortals. Xiao had failed his Master.

I had thought Master would never leave me. Where had I failed him, to the point of his abandonment? What use had I failed in giving to him? That he would deprave me of his presence? I know I am but a broken weapon, but still I had...I had hoped...Xiao found himself unable to continue the thoughts in his mind, torn between the feelings of anger and betrayal at his Master's willful abandonment, and the feelings of depression and failure at somehow having displeased his master to the point where he would lie to him about his life.