Winter Moon | Xiao x Fem Reader

From bone to dust

"Who are you...?" Your voice rang out in the quiet. Your cheekbones contrasted themselves with the dull sunlight shining on you, accentuating your dullness. The scene itself reverberated deep in Xiao's bones. You were alive, right in front of him yet you looked dead.

And you didn't know who he was.

"You don't remember me? I'm Xiao," he said in an almost whisper.

"I-I-," You stuttered, looking so lost it made the yaksha's heart hurt.

"This is Zhongli, the Geo Archon," he gestured to the group that was standing behind him, equally as puzzled. He didn't know if they'd even heard you saying you didn't recognise him but he continued nonetheless, "And this the harbinger, Childe and this is your yaksha, Yin."

"My lady," Yin's lower lip trembled as she took a tentative step towards your cowering form and you flinched. So you didn't even remember Yin?

Why couldn't you remember any of them? Xiao didn't need to wonder too long, he knew the man in the palace was to blame. He stood there contemplating, undaring of taking a step closer in case he scared you.

He tried to not let his anger show but he still couldn't help but clench his fists tightly at his sides. The masked man, the Celestial Sun God, had mentioned he had broken you. What did that even mean?

Xiao turned to Zhongli silently, the inquisitive arch of his eyebrow the only indicator of his question. Zhongli, in turn, subtly shook his head - he also didn't know what this was.

"What are we going to do? The Tsaritsa didn't seem very pleased with the masked man," Childe spoke up with an uneasy expression, his eyes still trained on your shivering form even though he spoke to Xiao, "She is going to leave soon and there is a high chance we'll be discovered. This was already creepily easy to infiltrate."

He wasn't wrong. It was easy. Almost too easy.

"We should leave. Now," Xiao said, determination making his eyebrows furrow. His instincts were screaming at him to leave immediately and as he looked to his right at Yin, she also had the same look on her face as she looked around suspiciously.

"How do we convince someone who doesn't seem to remember us, to leave?" Childe asked.

Xiao looked at you for a moment and his heart seemed to drop even lower as you flinched. You'd been staring silently at them this entire time, following their exchange.

The yaksha took a step closer to you and you scurried back again but your back hit a bush wall, the branches of it poking your back. You were still clutching that skull to your chest protectively.

"P-please, don't take me away. I can't leave, I don't want to leave," your voice trembled and your eyes glistened with unshed tears.

What was Xiao supposed to do now? Force you? Of course this current you wouldn't know any better so he didn't seem to have much of a choice either.

He crouched in front of your shivering form, about an arm's length distance. "You need to come with us, it isn't safe for you here," his voice came out gentle despite the urgency thrumming in his veins.

"I can't leave my sisters here, there is no one to protect them, please," you mumbled and your tears finally spilled over and it took everything in Xiao not to reach over and brush them away like he normally would.

"Your sisters?" He questioned instead.

"Yes, my sisters can't leave this garden and as their god I have to protect them," you explained despite the wobble of your voice as you continued to cry.

Xiao looked behind him at Zhongli who was looking at you as if seeing you for the first time, confused and unsure. He looked around the garden again and the yaksha watched as the answer dawned on him.