𝒜𝒻𝒻𝒾𝓃𝒾𝓉𝓎 | Xiao x Reader

...𝙰𝚗𝚍 𝙷𝚘𝚠 𝙷𝚎 𝙵𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚖

Xiao reappeared in the snow right by Dragonspine, feeling his heartrate quicken at the idea of finally seeing you again. It had been so long now, and there was so much he wanted to tell you. Where would he even start?

His eyes adjusted to the brightness of the white snow, and a second later, he could feel his breath catch in his throat.

There you were; sitting on a rock and turned away from him just enough that you hadn't noticed him yet. Still, he could still easily make out the image of your pretty face, along with your beautiful h/c hair that he'd always loved so much. He wanted nothing more than to call out to you in that moment, but for some reason, he felt himself freeze up.

It wasn't from the cold either. As he stood there staring at you he realized he genuinely had no idea what to say. He'd anticipated this moment for so many years, and yet he'd never thought it would actually come.

You looked so ethereal sitting over there and he almost didn't want to interrupt, even if you'd basically invited him here in the signed copy of the book Yae Miko had sent. It reminded him of the day you two had first met; he was just as relieved to see you then as he felt now, though the reasoning was different.

You walked along the snowy path with Morax in toe, taking in the chill of the winter air as you made your way towards the camp you both had set up nearby. You'd always enjoyed the snow, and occasionally, you'd glance back to smile at the man as he followed you, showing just how happy you were in this moment.

Originally, he was supposed to make this trip alone. It wasn't important enough to warrant the need of another deity accompanying him; not when the front lines needed all the help they could get fighting for the future of the land that would one day become Liyue.

However, once you'd heard of where he was going, you'd convinced him to let you come with. Not only would it be a nice change of pace from the war you'd been fighting, but you absolutely loved snow.

Morax had always had a soft spot for you, being one of the first deities he recruited to join his cause, and so he'd eventually agreed.

Now, here the two of you were, making your way through the icy terrain silently. Most of the fighting was taking place on the western side of the territory right now, so it was relatively peaceful for once.

You didn't expect to find anything out of the ordinary, but then something in the distance caught your eye. Frowning, you took a few steps off the path as you made your way over to it, alerting the other god that something was up. He followed you cautiously, and once you realized the thing you'd noticed seemed to be a person, you picked up the pace.

"Y/n!" He called in an attempt to get you to rethink this but you just kept running until you reached the person, who was laying face-down in the snow.

It was a boy that looked to be wearing not nearly enough clothing for the weather like this, and after trying to get his attention with no success, you wasted no more time in removing your large coat and throwing it over his body.

Morax caught up now, frowning at the sight of you kneeling in the snow next to this strange boy.

"Here, help me flip him around," you ordered in a voice he didn't dare ignore, "I want to make sure he'd still breathing." The other god nodded, kneeling down to gently roll the boy onto his back so his face looked up at the sky. To your relief, his chest still rose and fell gently, and you wrapped your coat a little tighter around him.

"He must have been out here for a while," you observed, taking note of how cold his skin was to the touch. His dark hair splayed out under his head and looked extremely unkempt, and there were several patches of dried blood where you assumed he must have been injured before.