A Collaboration by Chance - Venlumi Idol AU

Do it.

⚠️mentions of kidnapping/abduction, swearing⚠️

Walking at a pretty brisk pace, Xiao treads through the slowly darkening forest. He fishes for his keys in his pockets He finds them and clicks on one of the keychains on it, which makes a beam of light appear in front of him.

"who would have thought that a keychain that Kazuha bought would come in hand so soon?" He thinks to himself as he shines the light of the flashlight at a nearby tree.

He looks around, now having a source of light to guide him. He takes a few turns until a reaches a small clearing. Xiao takes a minute to observe his surroundings and notices a very small building that was surrounded by trees.

"Huh, what's that doing here?" Xiao mutters as he slowly walks towards the building.

To Xiao, it seemed as though the building hadn't been cared for in a very long time. Parts of the roof were falling off, mud and grime had been smeared on the edges and sides, and there were cracks in the wall.

"Doesn't seem very homely to me" Xiao thinks to himself as he takes a small step near it, accidentally stepping on some leaves.

"I don't think I should walk in just yet.." An odd feeling deep in Xiao's gut tells him to stay wary of the ominous building standing in front of him.

---

"Oh hell no" Kazuha takes a breath as he sees the window wide open in the middle of the room.

"He snuck out the window didn't he" Heizou buries his face in his hands as he inhales sharply.

Venti rushes into the room and searches every corner, but he wasn't there.

"He's definitely not in here" Lumine calls out as she helps Venti.

"Well shit, what are we going to do now?" Venti looks out the window and runs a hand through his hair as Lumine puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder.

"Kazuha, can you call Jean?" Heizou looks over his shoulder at Kazuha, who whips out his phone and holds it up to his ear.

He taps his foot worriedly as he crosses one arm.

"Hello? Jean?" He speaks slowly, as to not worry her and puts the call on speaker.

"Hello? Kazuha, what happened?" Jean's voice crackles through the phone.

"So.. uhm.." Kazuha struggles to get the words out of his throat.

"Earlier, Xiao had locked himself in his room because of... You know.. So we thought that he had been in there for a bit too long, and decided to open his door with the key and.."

"and?" Jean asks, a tone of confusion and worry in her voice.

"Well.. we opened it, and his window's open from the inside.. He's not here anymore"

"im sorry, WHAT?" She shrieks, and covers her mouth with her hand.

"Heizou has been trying to call him too.. He hasn't been picking up.." His words come out in a soft whisper.

"We still haven't been able to find Aether and are trying to track him.. We'll try tracking Xiao too" Jean tries to steady her voice.

"I'm sorry i cant come over there... I'm trying to help them track him down" Her voice swells with guilt.

"Don't worry, we're all holding up okay" Kazuha reassures her.

Jean lets out a pained sigh from the other side of the call.

"Make sure none of you guys leave the house okay?"

"Yes ma'am. I'll personally make sure we all stay together" He explains