The Wind Reunited Us (Xiaoven)

Chapter 6

Xiao picked up a photo of him and Barbatos that Barbatos must've secretly taken as Xiao was staring into the sky while Barbatos smiled at the camera. Another photo was of Xiao wearing a Cecilia flower crown, looking away from the camera in embarrassment. He also found a picture of himself sleeping peacefully against a tree and it looked like there was a basket beside him; that's right Barbatos liked to go on picnics. Xiao smiled at the fond memories he had tucked away, examining each and every picture. He also found one of him with the traveler, Xiao looked unamused while the Traveler was smiling. He chuckled and reached for the vision that was once a bright teal but now a medium grey. He rubbed his finger over it, remembering the day he was given it and had to keep it a secret from the corrupt god he was once under. Now it no longer held power and could be used as a decoration; no one had seen an active vision in thousands of years so they were believed to be myths now. Xiao then pulled his old clothes out, some of the white was yellow due to their age, putting them up to himself. He folded the clothes and put them back then looked at his old mask, seeing it glow slightly in reaction to his karma. He closed the box quickly, picking up the pictures and vision off the floor to put them on the bed. He took a deep breath sitting next to them, deciding to hold the vision and look at the anemo marking in it. He didn't even realize how long he had been looking at the vision until it got dark in the room and the front door opened. He was lost in thought, thinking back to how Morax saved him but Barbatos freed him and made him smile...When the light in the bedroom turned on he looked up from the vision, blinking a few times and rubbing his eyes.

"Trying to blind me?" Xiao said sarcastically

Venti looked at the scattered pictures on the bed and approached to lean over Xiao so he could see what so deeply had Xiao's attention. Venti kind of gasped when he saw the vision, he'd never seen one.

"Wow~ How'd you get that? What is all this stuff?" He questioned in awe

Xiao mumbled, "I wanted to open up more...I'm afraid though..."

"Ah~ you can trust me, why would you be afraid? Hm?" He smiled, combing his fingers through Xiao's hair.

He groaned, looking away from Venti, "My past is a mess, you'll probably think I'm joking. If you were to look at those pictures you could find out who Barbatos was."

"Daww, you're so serious. Hm...let's see! Who is this mystery lover?" He laughed as he picked up the photos and his eyes widened at the style of clothes and especially at the person was an exact replica of him. "You weren't kidding when you said I looked just like him..."

Xiao nodded, crossing his arms after setting the vision on his lap.

"The style of clothes...It's so old. There's no way that's you! I mean cmon! What even is this place?" He was looking at a picture ontop of Wangshu Inn, thinking Xiao was just pranking him.

"Wangshu Inn. It doesn't exist anymore, got destroyed in a war and no one rebuilt it."

"Xiao...Just who are you? If these are actually real...Then..."

"While this is a lot to take in, I locked it away for a long time. My name is Alatus, one of the last adeptus alive. Barbatos...Lord Barbatos was the anemo archon." He looked at the vision once again, sighing.

"Haha...This is a joke isn't it? An adeptus? Those are just fairytales!"

Xiao sat in silence, picking up the pictures and walking to the box in his closet, setting the vision and pictures inside.

"I felt the need to tell you, I just can't lie to you anymore." He turned around to face Venti and crossed his arms.

Venti walked over to Xiao, placing his hands on Xiao's cheek. Xiao could tell Venti was confused, nervous, and also felt pity for him just by Venti's eyes. Xiao grabbed Venti's waist, pulling him close, "I'm sorry if it's too much...But I fell in love with you...My lover deserves to know my past."

Venti hugged me, "You're in love with me? Not the fact I look like Barbatos?"

"Correct."

Venti backed up, grabbing Xiao's chin and kissing him. Xiao's face went pink and he looked away as Venti laughed, "You get flustered so easily! So I guess youre Alatus from those myth books, a yaksha...I guess this explains why you can be stone cold but so easily embarrassed!"

"You have no respect for the Adepti."

He sighed, pulling Xiao onto the bed with him. "So, do I get to call you Alatus? It's such a beautiful name..."

"No. Xiao is the name people know me by and it would certainly be confusing for them to hear you call me that. No one else must know my true roots."

"Awww, fine." He pouted as he snuggled into Xiao.

Xiao smiled but soon asked the dreaded question, "Who is turning off the lights?"

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