New fic just dropped!
it has pretty heavy topics, just warning.
Alatus [Modern AU Xiao]
alatus [alata, alatum] adjective. winged, having / furnished with wings
~
"May you grow wings and fly, Alatus. Fly far, far away from here."
It's said that a child who does not receive the appropriate care will ultimately recognize this fact and seek that elsewhere. A child who is being mistreated may run away to escape it. But a child who only knows abuse and neglect may normalize this treatment, and refuse to leave.
Rated Mature for.... Self harm topics. (Self punishment, referenced suicide, attempted suicide)
TW (Please read): Child abuse, child slavery, human trafficking, referenced S/A, referenced S/A of a minor (not super graphic), people being treated like cattle, blood, gore, torture, branding (an identifying mark burned on livestock or (formerly) criminals or slaves with a branding iron), child labor, slavery in general, mentions of experimentation, dehumanization, they have ID numbers instead of names, mentions of suicide, attempted suicide, self harm topics...
Summary and notes: Basically Xiao grew up in a human trafficking ring that works loosely with the fatui (Which is kind of a gang I guess); Collei and Freminet may appear but I'm trying to stay as close to canon as possible so they aren't very important. There's a couple ocs too, but we aren't going to talk about them.