Ascender || A Xiaother fanfiction (AU) {DISCONTINUED}

Chapter 11 (OLD)

"σѵε૨ƒℓσωเɳɠ ƭɦσµɠɦƭร"

Aether's POV:

I just kept staring at his vague shadow that to my surprise wasn't even there anymore. The silence made me nervous. Being alone made me nervous. I was confused, I was lost. My heart was beating loudly and I didn't know a way to calm it down. I didn't know what to do to calm it down, so I soon began to panic. I placed my hand on my heart and tightly shut my eyes as I pleaded in my heart. "Please stop beating too loud, please top beating too loud." After it calmed down a little, I just raised my knees, placed my elbows upon my knees and held my head as I looked down on the ground.

"Why did he do that?"

"Why did he say that?"

"What just happened?"

These questions circled my mind on repeat and soon those unanswered questions were the ones that managed to calm me down eventually. I looked up on the sky and saw as a group of birds flew by. I followed them carefully until suddenly a maple leaf flew right across my eyes. It suddenly followed the leaf's way and once it fell, I looked back up to the sky just to see that the group of birds had already flown across the mountain, out of my eyesight.

I then got up after letting out a sigh and wiped the dirt off of my boots that got on it when I fell onto the ground. I thought to myself "once I take a walk, do daily commissions and clear some domains, my head will probably clear out" so I took a deep sigh and slowly headed to Liyue Harbor. Once I was within the city I headed straight for the Adventurer's guild.

"Ad Astra Abyssosque, traveler. What may I help you with?" - K

Katheryne asked with a smile as she waved. I smiled back, trying to forget everything that just recently happened and focus at the matter at hand.

"Ad Astra Abyssosque, Katheryne. I've come to ask if are there any commissions today. " - A

"As always. Let me write you a list of commissions that came in." - K

Katheryne said and then reached under his desk, pulling out a large scroll and a smaller paper. She grabbed a pen and after opening the scroll, she began copying some contents of the large scroll. Once she was done, she rolled up the scroll and passed the paper onto me.

"There you go. Four commissions as usual. Once you finished them, come back to collect your reward." - K

"Thank you!" - A

I said as I turned around, glancing at the piece of paper, ready to leave.

"Ah, also Traveler." - K

Katheryne called after me and cause of that I let the paper down next to me, turning back.

"Yes?" - A

"Not to pry but how come Paimon isn't with you this time? You two are usually inseparable." - K

"Oh, she's at Xiangling for a week!" - A

I smiled.

"Oh, I see that makes sense. See you in a bit then." - K

Katheryne nodded while waving as she smiled back.

"See you." - A

After that another adventurer made their way to Katheryne, so I chose not to waste more time and headed off to do my commissions. Once I finished, I returned and collected my rewards for the completed commissions. Once I finished, without thinking I headed to complete four rounds of a domain.

After I was done I left the domain and let out a sigh as wiped my forehead with the back of my hand. As I did so I looked up into the sky once again and my eyes spotted an anemo crystalfly flying by. But for some reason instead of catching it my instincts told me to let my eyes follow it instead. Soon it began flying closer to me so I raised my index finger mid air calmly. To my surprise the anemo crystalfly flew on my finger and confidently showed off it's beautiful wings before setting off once again and finally disappear within the woods.

I then decided to head back to Wangshu Inn, since I didn't know what else could I do after. After a while I found myself in my room where confusing feelings started to overflow my mind, but I didn't know why. All I knew was that I suddenly felt very tired. I straight headed to the bed and fell straight on it, my face getting buried in the sheets.

After a while I rolled around and began laying on my back as I looked up at the ceiling. After a while the thought of Xiao flooded my mind. What was surprising to me that all along I managed to get him out of my mind and didn't think about him at all. But even though he's not here, I couldn't stop thinking about him.

My hand slowly slid up to the corner of my lips. I pressed a few of my finger tips on the place where Xiao planted his gentle kiss on the corner of my mouth. Then I raised my hand looked at it for a while, before I mumbled.

" "I treasure you, Traveler." " - A

I opened my eyes wide and then felt as the place where he planted his kiss began burning along with my cheeks. I quickly put my hand down as well and just kept looking at the ceiling as questions started flooding my mind.

"He was probably just thanking me for yesterday... Right?.."

"Did he mean he treasures me as a close friend?"

"But then what was that about not noticing and why did he...?"

"Does that mean he treasures me.... romantically?..."

Suddenly I shook my head and then with an awkward smile I looked to my side and looked at my pillows.

"Aether stop being delusional. Stop overthinking. It was... nothing..." - A

Then my smile disappeared and with a worried face I sat up and leaned against the wall.

"He probably just... wanted to show you appreciation... You can just ask him once he returns..." - A

Then my eyes suddenly began to gaze at one point on the ground as i pressed my upper and lower lip against each other nervously. I then grabbed a pillow and hugged it as I began mumbling to myself.

"But if he meant it romantically... What am I to do?... I never even thought of being in a relationship before.... My eyes were always focusing on finding my sister.." - A

I closed my eyes and let out a deep sigh, hoping my mind will calm down soon enough.

1107 words!