( Xiaother / Aexiao ) Ten Seconds

Lumine

LUMINE'S POV

"Paimon, are there any commissions available at the guild...? I'm broke, Zhongli stole my damn wallet..." I said, with a hint of shame and a hint of saltiness.
"Paimon didn't see any... Maybe Childe has some to spare...?"
"NO. Not the ginger."
I kinda hated Childe. First of all, he's weird, second of all, he's Fatui, third of all, he's too kind! Like dude, have some structure! Not everyone is a friend!
"Why? Paimon thinks Childe is really funny!"
"No way. Hmmm... Maybe I could go bet on those jade things... Or I could see if Xiangling would be willing to trade ingredients for mora..."
"What if Xiao has some?"
"He's busy. He said to call him twice if I was in serious danger, otherwise don't bother. Plus, where would he get mora? At the most, he has some that he picked up on paths. I guess we could ask Xiangling..."
"Okayyy... Paimon wonders if she has any extra Steak... Or maybe Bamboo Shoot Soup with slime condensate... Mmm...!"
"No, Paimon."
I walked over to Xiangling's restaurant. "Xiangling? You in there?" I called. A cheery girl ran up to me.
"Lumine, Paimon! It's so good to see you again!  Do you need something?" She smiled brightly at me. I swear, that girl has no problems...
"Ah, yeah... I was wondering if you had any spare Mora to trade for cooking ingredients..." I scratched my head.
"Ingredients?! Of course! I'd trade anything for ingredients! Except Guoba."
"Hah. So, I have 16 Jueyun Chilis, 107 Slime Condensates, 7 Whopperflower Nectars, and a bunch of other stuff."
"How can you fit that all in your backpack?!" She exclaimed.
"I'm just cool like that." I smirked.
"I can offer... 75,000 mora for everything!" She smiled.
I looked at Paimon as she grinned. "Paimon's in!"
We made the trade, and made the trek to Wangshu Inn to make Xiao and Mist some food.
I knocked on the yaksha's room door. "Xiaoooo?" I called. No answer. "Guess I'm just coming in anyway..."
I pushed open the door. What I saw was... Shocking. Pillows ripped and thrown about. Vases of Qingxin smashed and scattered. Lights ripped out of the ceiling. Drawers ripped apart. The mattress shredded by what looked like spear slashes. A distressed Crystalfly in the corner.... With a broken wing.
Paimon shrieked. I shushed her, seeing a tuft of dark green hair. I picked it up, feeling the energy it radiated. I gave it a sniff.
"That's Xiao, alright... But... What happened here...?!" I began to panic, picking Mist up and putting her in Paimon's hands. I began to scour the room, looking for any hints on the adeptus' whereabouts. All I found was pieces of clothing from Xiao's outfit, and more of Xiao's hair. I even found a fragment of Xiao's spear.
"XIAAAAOOOOOOOOO!!!" I screamed, "XIAAOOOOOOOOOO!!!" Again.
Nobody came. I started to worry.
"Paimon, let's go get Zhongli!" I grabbed her and Mist, running as fast as I could to Liyue Harbor.