Ghost of the Past - A Xiao Backstory

Chapter 4: Tears of Blood

A/N Yumi PoV again. Also, here's a lil' explanation to her mother. Her mom tried to cover her husband's crimes against Liyue, and therefore got banished from the ranks of the adepti. However, Morax still felt pity for Yumi and when her mother was about to set off on a journey to find her husband, Morax promised to take care of her.

Yumi spent entire weeks searching for any signs of Alatus.

And here he was, finally standing before her, looking like a starved, horrible mess. His hair was unkempt and messy, clothes torn and ripped everywhere so much that his tank top barely hung on his thin frame. His eyes looked almost entirely dead, deprived of any emotion, the slits of his pupils losing all the sharp alertness it used to hold. There were injuries all over his body, but nothing fatal.

And Yumi was so, so close. But the ancient god was watching him. Was watching her.

She could not see nor sense the god, but could hear their voice.

"You dare intrude into my territory, yaksha?" the god boomed, their voice echoing deeply across the battlefield in which they stood. "Leave, with the mercy I have granted you."

Yumi struggled to find words, feeling as if they were trapped in her throat. "No. Give Alatus back to me, and perhaps Morax will be merciful to you."

"You have no authority over me!" the god screeched, their pitch increasing. "Morax has abandoned you. You are alone."

Yumi summoned her jade sword, twirling it around her fingers. "Come out, you coward! Fight me like the god you say you are."

She heard the god scoff with arrogance, a breathy sound that made her flinch. "You are not worth my time." Yumi's eyes widened as Alatus raised his head, beautiful amber eyes narrowed at her.

She easily had the opportunity to flee. It would take less than a second, a mere thought, to escape.

Aiya, she was an absolute idiot. As Alatus launched his first flurry of attacks, giving her no moment of respite, she made no move to attack, but only to defend.

That was her first mistake. A sword, despite its keen edge and a user's swift ability to wield it, had no way of blocking all strikes. She started missing her blocks, and would be rewarded with a slice to the arm or a blow to the head.

Then Yumi saw a tear fall from Alatus's eyes. Her second mistake. She faltered in her movements, her heart squeezing in her chest tightly. Her Alatus was in there. She gasped as Alatus made a clean cut to her shoulder, straight through her clothing.

Their blades clashed, a terrible sound that rang through her ears. The weapons vibrated from the impact like an earthquake that shuddered through her. Yumi bit on her lip hard, unable to strategize another way to attack Alatus without hurting him.

Alatus unleashed a swirl of anemo that she narrowly dodged by a hairsbreadth. She straightened her sword arm, activating her cryo vision and imbuing her sword with cryo. It glimmered with a deadly grace, Liyue symbols flashing around her as she began her ritual.

Perhaps that could have been considered her third and final fatal flaw. She slid her bare foot in the sand in a half-crescent. The barrage of attacks that Alatus continued were blocked by cryo particles that flew in the way of his anemo blades, and snowflakes swarmed to blind his vision.

Yumi's cryo vision glowed with a bright light akin to a beacon, like a lighthouse guiding a lost ship to shore. And that was precisely her intention as she struck the ground with her sword, the blade digging deep into the sand and hitting stone. The ground vibrated with energy as she continued to push her sword by the hilt into rock, every ounce of her will focused on one singular goal.

She heard a loud crack as the ground around them shifted, the sand sliding towards her blade. Yumi smiled to herself. It was complete.

Any adeptus in Liyue would be able to sense the signal her blade was beginning to send through the ground.

Whether they would come to her aid was the ultimate question. During olden times, this adepti art was only used as a messaging system. But Yumi had had no time to transmit a message into her blade.

She turned to Alatus, who leaped at her again. She dodged multiple stabs and strikes, getting a clean kick to his stomach, just as she had beaten him the first time.

If he had felt it, he didn't show it.

Over years of hard battle training, both had sharpened their combat prowess that even the highest ranking adepti had recognized them.

When adepti would speak of them, only words of praise were uttered from their mouths.

After Alatus was taken, they had only spoken about pity. Pity for her.

She mindlessly grabbed the blunt end of the polearm, yanking it downwards to slide past another strike.

Yumi couldn't help but feel a deep anger emanate within her. Pure, yet delightful and addicting rage that threatened to swallow her full.

She had served Morax for all of her life, and all she got in return were painful memories and hard times that never paid off.

Adepti, she realized, lived in a cycle. And yakshas especially lived for only war and violence.

Perhaps she was the only one with a gentle heart, the only one who thrived only in peacetime and struggled in war despite her combat ability.

A harsh breath escaped her lips as her limbs tired, sluggishly dodging Alatus's attacks. It could have been described as a scoff, a sigh, or a pant of exhilaration at her own self-discovery.

They were nothing more than tools to gods. Simple toys that could be discarded. Alatus was proof of that, being controlled to fight her against his will. Her mother was proof of that, swayed and tempted by a god and thrown out of the adepti ranks for trying to stitch their family back together. Yumi herself was proof of that. She was one who warred within a tender heart.

Her breath hitched, eyes catching the sharp end of the polearm glistening in the setting sun's light. Yumi felt a sudden pain through her abdomen as she curled inwards, her screams silent to her own ears. Maroon mixed with white streaks that looked akin to comets dashing across a crimson sky splattered as she coughed up more blood, lips and fingers stained.

Everything felt slow, her short life flashing before her eyes. Yumi couldn't help but smile, remembering the first time Morax had gifted her a flute, the first time she had finished a whole song and had performed it for Lady Guizhong, the first time she had beat Alatus in a battle, the first time Bosacius had beaten her up in a battle.

Out of the corner of her frazzled eyes, she saw a flash of golden light. Her smile faltered as she took a rattly breath. Morax had finally arrived, and she could just make out the silhouette of Bosacius with his mighty four arms pummeling a shadowy figure that Yumi foggily guessed was the ancient god.

Her eyes zoned in on Alatus's concerned, panicky face as he knelt beside her, trying to stop her bleeding.

He was speaking to her, but she couldn't hear his words. Perhaps her nerves were too shocked, overloaded, to make sense of anything anymore.

Then she could hear. It was a rush of sound that hurt her ears, but she was grateful for it. Alatus was saying a mix of apologies and was reprimanding himself for not fighting back and reprimanding her for not running away. His face was tearstained, hands dripped with her blood.

"Sorry, Alatus," she whispered fragilely, raising her left arm up slowly to wipe tears from his eyes.

Alatus moved in to hug her tightly. "You're not going to die. You're not. Morax can help you! Bosacius, anyone, the healers-"

"They can't," Yumi murmured in his ear, the pain slowing to a dull hum. "Alatus, can you promise me something?"

"W- what?"

Yumi sucked in a pain-filled breath, blood pooling in her mouth. "Move on from me, okay? Don't dwell on the past. Be happy." A large tear slid out of her eye. "If you need to... forget me."

She smiled serenely, expression filled with a peaceful serenity. She felt Alatus sobbing beside her, weeping heavy tears.

Yumi numbly felt her body go slack as darkness clouded her vision, and she welcomed it inside.