𝕴𝖓 𝕳𝖎𝖘 𝕯𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖒𝖘 | Xiao x Reader Sequel

8

Xiao's eyes shot open as he sat up, breathing heavily. At first, he couldn't see anything, just the color of red, like he had in his dream. It took him a few seconds to calm his heart rate down, his vision slowly returning to normal as he did so.

Finally, he was breathing normally, and looked over to see Zhongli, who seemed very startled. He was in a wooden rocking chair at the Yaksha's bedside, and seemed to have been reading a book. Only, he wasn't in his normal bed at Wangshu Inn. He wasn't sure where this place was, actually.

It was only then that he noticed the feeling of something cold on his lap, and glanced down to see what looked like...Your water bottle? It was partly frozen still, and he guessed it had been used as a makeshift ice pack.

Placing it on the small table beside his bed, Xiao tried to remember what happened for him to end up in this place.

He'd been clearing Hillichurl camps with you, hadn't he? His Karmic Debt had gotten out of hand, and the last thing he remembered was collapsing mid-battle with a throbbing headache. He frowned at the thought. While he'd known his karma was worsening, he hadn't expected things to get that bad.

After that, he assumed he'd passed out and you brought him to Zhongli for help. That meant he was probably in the funeral parlor now, surrounded by mortals. He scowled at the idea.

"...ao...Xiao!" The ex-Archon's voice faded back into his ears, and he turned his attention back to the brown haired man, who gave him a bittersweet smile. "Good, you can hear me. I was worried there for a second," Zhongli stood up, putting a hand up to the Yaksha's forehead, "How are you feeling?"

Xiao frowned. How was he feeling? Well, confused, for one thing. But physically, he felt great. He had more energy than he remembered possessing in thousands of years, and it was like a huge weight had finally been lifted off his shoulders.

The whispers he seemed to always hear had stopped, and the silence was more comforting than he could have ever imagined. Despite being confused at first, his mood had brightened after waking up, too. Frankly, he didn't remember ever feeling this good before.

"I feel...Good," He admitted with the smallest of smiles. Zhongli smiled too, nodding.

"That's great. Then, is your Karmic Debt under control now?" Suddenly, the Yaksha frowned. Right, Karmic Debt. He'd almost forgotten about it. From the second he woke up, it didn't seem to be an issue anymore. It was like thousands of years of pain had finally left him.

That was when he remembered his dream, and the world seemed to come crashing back down on him. Everything came back.

He remembered being suspended over the ocean of blood, pulled into the void behind him. He'd all but given up at that point, knowing there was no way to stop his Karmic Debt from destroying him. He'd accepted his fate. At least, until you had shown up in his dreams.

It was ironic, really, how you'd appeared in that moment to save him. You'd taken all his pain away, leading it through a portal and out of his dream. You'd saved him. That must have been why he felt so good now; you had literally saved him from his Karmic Debt. But what did that mean for you?

He looked around the room again and, seeing no sign of his lover, felt his stomach churn.

"Where is Y/n?" He asked carefully, studying Zhongli's reaction. Safe to say, it wasn't good. His smile disappeared, and he took a long moment to choose his next words.

"I'm...Not sure," he admitted finally. Xiao froze before finally speaking again.

"What happened?" Zhongli clearly didn't want to tell him. He looked away, scratching the back of his neck.