Chemical Prisoner

where do you go, little bird?

{ TW: extremely graphic body gore, suicidal thoughts, self-harm } 

The air smells of rot.

A torch sits on the wall, illuminating a tunnel. He stands in an empty room and the floor is spattered with crimson, and it stinks of blood and death. It smells like the end.

There isn't anywhere else to go, so Venti takes hold of the torch and goes through the tunnel. The further he goes, the stronger the smell gets, until it threatens to choke him. He holds his breath.

The tunnel opens out into another room, this one so full of blood that he can't stand it. It looks empty, he swears it's empty. It's empty. It has to be empty. He can't find a single thing in the room.

Something splatters on his shoulder and he freezes.

It's an eye. Scratched up and bright yellow, he knows it came from somewhere. There's no such thing as an eye just.. falling from the ceiling. No, this was pulled out of some poor creature's face, and just that thought makes him shudder. Why hasn't he dropped it yet?

Something creaks above him. Hands trembling, he looks up just enough so he can see the ceiling, and-

A body hangs from it, skewered through the chest by his own weapon, covered in crimson and bright pink blood. One of his eye sockets is empty, and the eye is in Venti's hand. He recognizes the body, of course.

It's Xiao. The Conqueror of Demons, the Vigilant Yaksha, Xiao, is hanging dead and rotting from the ceiling above him. And Venti still has no fucking idea where he is, but now his whole body is shaking.

Xiao isn't the only body, either. Many, many others are hanging just like him, spattered in various amounts of blood, with varying death wounds. Among them... Liyuean children, a few Millelith soldiers. Faces he's seen every single day in Mondstadt- Diluc, Amber, Diona, Albedo.. Klee... Even more than that. Every face matching with Mondstadtian clothes is one he recognizes. The whole city is hanging from this ceiling.

And then one by one, they drop down to the floor in front of him. They crawl miserably, fingernails and weapons still buried inside them dragging on the ground.

"Barbatos.." one growls.

"You betrayed us.."

"Your people.."

"Where is our freedom now..?"

"Killed by our own god's hand.."

"Fire and scorching wind.."

"It hurts so much.."

"Barbatos, help me, please.."

They're getting closer and closer, piling on top of each other, crawling up his body. Venti is frozen to the spot, shaking, wide-eyed. He'd only seen Mondstadt's destruction for a brief second, but.. all these bodies.. were killed by his hands?

A claw hooks over his shoulder and he turns his head to see Dvalin, and he remembers that too. Dvalin is still charred, burned all over just how he was before, with claw marks oozing blood and dripping onto the floor. Dvalin is no more.

Barbatos is a murderer, and Venti must be in hell. This must be his punishment.

Dvalin cries, and nothing else is left. The tears gathering in Venti's eyes spill over and he drops to his knees, letting the rotting bodies grope at him, begging for mercy. Every sob sends another shudder through him and he wants nothing more than to die, to be ripped apart the same way as everyone he loved. He cries and chokes on air and dirt, being pressed down into the floor, feeling their hands rip through him.

His victims turn him on his stomach and begin to tear him open with their bare hands, and his blood spills onto the floor. Bright pink. They tear at his insides and he still doesn't pass out, he just writhes under their grip, every touch bringing a new wave of torture, and then they tear out his heart.

Venti wakes up screaming, his vision blurry, and he's aware of an incredibly painful something in his chest. He's in a musty dark room, the only light coming from a small window down a narrow hallway. The bars are inches from his face, his hands are claws, and Barbatos is still fighting to keep control.

He stretches out his wings, cramped in the tiny space, and the pain flares up, sending him reeling forward into the bars. It hurts, but it's not nearly enough.

Not nearly enough to pay for what he did.

The claws grip onto one of his horns and they pull as hard as possible, scraping against it. He can't get a grip, he isn't strong enough- he isn't as strong as Barbatos, he's powerless, he can't do anything, he couldn't even stop him from murdering every citizen of Mondstadt.

All he can do is use those claws to rip things apart.

His tail flicks behind him and he grabs it next, pulling and tearing at it as much as he can until the skin breaks and blood starts to seep out. It's not enough, it's not enough, it's not enough. It's not enough until he's just as mangled and ruined as those bodies in his dream. He pulls at it and then he's on his side, biting at the end of the tail and dragging his claws along the rest of it. His claws are already caked in blood and this is fresh, this is different, his blood is tainted and needs to get out.

He wants to rip his wings off. He wants to tear them apart feather by feather, he wants to shatter those horns into pieces, he wants to tear every inch of his body to shreds. It's never going to be enough.

He reaches around to try and claw at those wings, just as footsteps sound in the tunnel. He doesn't care. Why should it matter? Barbatos is fading away and he's alone, he wants everything gone. Venti wants everything to disappear.

His clawed hand slips and digs into his shoulder instead, scraping at it over and over until he feels a fresh sting of pain. Why isn't it enough?!

"HEY!!"

Metal clinks against metal and his hands are being forced behind his back, tied together with rope that stings his skin. He gives up and they drag him out, his tail leaving blood on the floor as he walks. His feet are still bare.