"to you, who left me" | XIAO X OC | trpical

I loved him.

As my eyes drifted open and began to adjust to the blinding lights, I groaned while stretching my arms. 

"Damn it...  it's bright." I muttered as I carefully checked my surroundings for any monsters. 

After the incident with Xiao a thousand years ago, I couldn't bring myself to trust anyone else - I knew that in the end, they would betray me. I knew that they would stab me in the back when I wasn't looking, and reap all that I gave while piercing my heart in the end. 

I slept on the grass under a tree on most days, so I could quickly kill monsters without having to move such a long distance to find some. Although I was an adeptus, I had removed myself in all positions regarding the adepti in order to distance myself from Xiao. I couldn't bring myself to face him, even after all these years. He had killed my best friend without reason, and the only apology he had given me was a simple 'sorry'. 

Like that would bring her back to life? Who do you think you are to ruin my life, Xiao?

I got up quickly, then defeated some hilichruls using electro with my bow. 

"...fifty." I counted, as I gasped to catch my breath. 

As I continued to invade into more monster camps and kill them, a familiar presence came towards me. I didn't even have to look up, as I could instantly tell who it was. 

Without looking up and aiming my bow at a monster, I was greeted by a ginger man. 

"Nice aim." He said as I released my arrow which pierced right through the heart of a hilichrul. 

"What are you doing here, Childe?" I responded curtly, as it wasn't uncommon for Childe to appear every now and then, challenging me to a fight. 

"I want to fight." He said, and I sighed already knowing what he was going to say. 

"If you want to fight, fight someone else. I'm busy." 

"Busy with what?" 

I groaned in annoyance, as I knew that I really wasn't busy. After the archon war, I spent my days idling and defeating a couple of monsters for a bit of mora. 

"None of your business." As I spoke, I aimed my bow at an abyss mage and shot right through its shield, then continued to kill it in one more shot. 

"Well, I have something fun to tell you." 

"I don't care." 

Despite my curt remarks, he grinned. "There's going to be a magnificent battle that involves the adepti. Of course, the fatui is also involved." Childe smirked, as if already expecting a change of emotion in me. He thought that it would somehow trigger me, as he knew that I wanted nothing to do with the adepti despite being one myself. I refused to meet them. 

"I told you, I don't care. I don't care about the adepti. I don't care about the fatui. I already decided to not get involved with any of them centuries ago." I replied bluntly, and Childe's face sagged, but was still determined to get me involved. He should have known to not constantly try to drag me into some mess I didn't want to get into. 

"Zhongli is also overseeing it." And as Childe said what I believed to be nonsensical, I finally broke out of my blunt speech. I paused. Morax, who also went by the name of Zhongli to humans, rarely ever got involved in battles. 

"Morax, that mora-hungry, lazy archon who only drinks tea all day, is doing what? Supervising a battle?" I gasped, and I knew that something that could change Liyue as a hole, was about to occur.  

Childe opened his mouth a little bit, then proceeded to laugh like a maniac. 

"That's my first time seeing you show your emotions." He said, and I shut my mouth after feeling embarrassed for no reason. He then continued to talk. "So you're not going to join?" 

Despite being shocked that Morax had become involved in this battle, I was still determined to stick to my usual circumstances. "Nice try, but I still refuse to rejoin the world as an official adeptus again. I already made a deal with Morax." I then carried on with killing the monsters around us, while Childe simply stood there doing nothing. 

"Hmm.. What if I say there's a cute traveller who's trying to seduce Xiao? Will you be jealous?" Childe chuckled and my I stopped releasing my arrows. I became puzzled at the situation - I had never told Childe about my relationship with Xiao. 

"You, how did you know-" However, my words quickly became interrupted. 

"So I was right. You were once lovers with Xiao." 

I desperately wanted to deny his words, but I knew that he was terribly right. I didn't want to admit that at one point, I loved Xiao. But now, I deeply resented him for killing my best friend. To my eyes, he became a cold-blooded murderer. I wanted to say 'no', but I had already given myself away. 

"You're right. So what? That was centuries ago, I don't love him anymore. In fact, I hate him, I resent him with all my heart." Every time I talked about Xiao whether it was in my head or out loud, it pained me more than a thousand stabbings. 

"Then I'll help you get revenge on him." With those words, I became stunned - I didn't know what to think. But simultaneously, I knew that Childe wasn't weak - he was someone that could potentially help me carry out some plans and accompany me to fight. And I knew that if he got in my way at any point, I could easily discard of him - he was no match to me. He would be an incredible asset to my connections and power, but also a pawn that I could throw away. I never really liked him anyway in the first place - if I accepted, him lingering around in my area would be of great use. I hesitated, but my rage against Xiao ultimately lead me to accept Childe's offer. 

"..I accept." 

"Great choice!" Childe chuckled, while walking closer to me. 

"So, what's this big plan of yours to help me get revenge on Xiao?" I asked sarcastically, putting strands of my hair behind my ear. 

"It's quite a simple plan, if you ask." 

Despite him saying that, I knew internally that it was probably the most complex plan a human could imagine. Though Childe was just about to go on about his plan, there was something about this plan and truce that puzzled me - what was the catch? Someone like him would never simply agree to join hands with an adeptus who could potentially stab him in the back at any time - in fact, if it was an adeptus other than me, who knows if he would still be here talking to me right now. 

"What's the catch? There must be a reason behind you helping me with this." I questioned, as Childe's smile gradually grew larger. 

"..I want to fight you."