Abyss Aether × Xiao || You can try to escape ||

Getting To Know Him

(Xiao POV)

I returned to my room in Wangshu Inn as soon as possible. Today, Aether and I are gonna be learning about each other since who knows how long he's gonna be with me.

I told him to stay in the room while I went out to slay demons, but I can't completely trust that he'll listen to me, considering how much he hates Liyue.

As I return to my room, I see something I never thought I would see in all of my life.

"LUMINE I SWEAR TO EVERY ARCHON, STOP CHASING ME!" Aether screams at his twin sister, who's chasing him around the room in circles.

"NAH-UH, YOU'RE GONNA DO WHAT I ASKED YOU TO DO, YOU HEAR ME!?" Lumine yells back. It seems she wants Aether to do something that he doesn't agree with, but I have no clue as to what.

As the two of them continue their useless bickering, Aether seems to notice that I'm here and runs straight at me. He hides behind me and Lumine comes to an abrupt stop right in-front of me.

"ARE YOU USING HIM AS A SHEILD" Lumine shrieks. Aether just smirks at her.

"Well this is his room and I don't think he appreciates us running around it" Aether mocks. I take the hint that he wants me to kick Lumine out of the room.

"Traveler, I think it would be best if you stopped with these antics in my room" I say sternly. She shivers from my scary tone and immediately agrees to leave for now.

As she leaves the room, Aether walks out from behind me and over to the couch where he slept the night before.

"Ughhhhhh finally. I thought she was never gonna leave me alone" Aether whines. I still stand there before heading over and standing in front of him. He looks up at me and smiles.

"You came back really fast. Did you teleport back" Aether muses, trying to talk to me.

"Yes, of course I did" I communicate back. I'm not one for social interaction. I've never been good at it to be truthful. "So, you wanna explain what that was about?" I raise an eyebrow to him.

"Well, you see it's very complicated" Aether states, clearly trying to avoid the question. However, I won't let it slide, so I continue to push him for an answer.

"Look aren't we supposed to be getting to know each other today. So how come you can't just tell me what was happening?" I interrogate. He just looks at me before sighing, showing he gives up.

"Alright, alright. You win, okay" he boos. I sit down next to the couch, much to his surprise. Once his initial shock is over, he begins to explain what was going on.

"Alright, so basically...." he begins, "Lumine wanted to put me in this outfit and go around town with her so she could show me around, meet her friends, and a bunch of other things". He looks up at the ceiling.

"I just don't get why she has such a thick skull. How hard is it to realize that I don't want to be here at all" he finishes, sighing in annoyance.

"Tough" I mumble, not realizing he could hear me.

"Well enough about that, we should start this little game~" he cheers. I just click my tongue.

"I guess I could start us off" Aether giggles.

"My name is Aether, I'm the leader of the abyss, I hold a hatred against Teyvat, I care about my sister, I like fighting, and I enjoy board games" he concludes. He just smirks at me, signaling that it's my turn to share information about myself to him.

"Okay..." I breathe.

"For starters my name is Xiao, I'm an adeptus, I'm 2000+ years old, I protect Liyue at all costs, I don't understand mortal emotions, nor do I see the point in them, I hold high admiration for Rex Lapis, I don't like social interaction, and I hate anyone who tries to harm Liyue" I state in a stern voice. I just look at him and he's.... smiling at me.

"Hmmm, I think I understand you now a little bit better Xiao" Aether snickers. I just frown at him before looking away.

"I also seem to understand more about you" I contort. I still find it weird for myself to be so comfortable talking to someone like him. I stand up and walking over to the balcony, Aether staring at me the whole time.

"I must go out and kill some monsters. You can leave now" I speak before disappearing in front of him.

(Aether POV)

"Hmmmm" I hum. I guess now I can do whatever the heck I want since Xiaos gone now. I stand up from the couch and head over to the balcony. Once I'm there, I look down to make sure no one's below before I jump down.

'What can I do now' I ponder to myself, 'I guess I could use this as my one day to go back to the abyss. I could also try and escape, but knowing Lumine, I'll be hunted down and trapped here again in no time'. I finish those thoughts up before making my way out of Liyue and summoning an abyss mage to take me back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"God damnit.....how did things turn out this way" I breathe, trying to stay from fainting. I don't understand how this happened at all. I just went back to the abyss for the day and had to deal with a few errands that I missed when I was in Liyue. Now all of a sudden, I'm covered in cuts and bruises from head to toe. I don't even remember who.... or what attacked me.

"At least I managed to get that thing back...."

Before I fled I managed to deliever it a pretty hard blow, causing it to retreat. I could only be glad about that. Don't get me wrong, I have no problems dying. Heck, I wouldn't care if I died tomorrow, but if I'm gonna die, it is not going to be with some dumb sneak attack.

My legs start to feel like jelly, I can barely move anymore and vision is becoming all blurry. To be truthful I'm not surprised I mean.....

*Flashback*

"Ahhh!" I scream, flying into a rock. I hit my head pretty hard on the rock. However, I see another attack immediately coming my way, so I get up and dodge.

"WHO THE HELL IS THERE!" I scream, pissed at whoever the hell just tried to kill me. I continue to look around, trying to find the perpetrator. I can't find them and they continue to send more attacks flying at me. I manage to dodge most of them, but I end up getting a few cuts and bruises. My head starts pounding from the first attack and that's when I figure I have to end it now or I won't make it out.

"That's it" I growled. I form a giant ball of energy in my hand and lift it to the sky, shooting it off. It rains down like meteorites, crashing anything that is around me.

"Ouch-"

I turn my head to the voice and see someone in a black hood on the ground, blood dripping out of their mouth and gut. I begin using all of my energy to run towards them, I launch another attack and hit them dead on. They fly backwards and land on the ground, shaking from the impact.

"I got you" I thundered, pure anger showing in my voice.

However......

Right when I'm about to deliver the final blow, a giant gust of wind appears out of nowhere, it lifts the person up and away from me, taking them somewhere else. I wanted to chase them down, but all the blood I had lost over the battle is starting to catch up to me. Then and only then, did I realize that my head was bleeding.

*End of Flashback*

"I can't anymore..." coughed, a trail of blood behind me. I sit down on the ground, trying my best to regain control of my unsteady breath. I lay down on the ground, knowing that it might be my last time opening my eyes. I'm still injured from the last time in the maze, and it seems the fight caused that wound to reopen, making more blood gush out. I shut my eyes, giving into the deathly tiredness, and everything disappears....