(Xiaos POV)

I sat against the tree after Aether had left, feeling tired and out of breath. Just from him rubbing me like that, I already felt like I had fought 40 battles.

'THAT STUPID ASSHOLE'. I was irritated that I had been used in such a humiliating way by that jackass. As these thoughts were running through my head, I heard a voice call out my name.

"XIAO! ". I opened my heavy lided eyes and looked over towards the sound of the voice, and I saw her and all the others running my way.

" ARE YOU OKAY?!?! " Lumine screamed, rushing over to my side.

"Traveler...." I mumbled trying to keep myself from passing out. Once she reached my side and saw my face, it went from mostly concerned to more confused.

"W-why is your face all...... red? " Lumine questioned looking at my flushed cheeks. I could barely manage to look at her, I was starting to feel light headed.

"I apologize. I wasn't able to stop him from leaving, " I breathed trying to stay awake. All she did was put her hand on my shoulder.

"It's okay, I can see that you tried, " she reassured, but before she could say anything else, everything went black.

As my vision began to come back I realized I was back at Wangshu Inn. I immediately shot up out of the bed and looked around at my surroundings.

"Oh so your finally up, " I looked over to see Ganyu standing in the door way.

"Ganyu... " I mumbled confused as why she was here. She began making her way towards me, but I put my hand up as to tell her not to come any closer to me. She took the hint and stopped right where she stood before speaking to me.

"Are you feeling any better? " she asked, clear concern showing on her face. I looked at her with my normal face before responding.

"Yes. How did I end up here?" I questioned her, trying to make sense of the situation.

"Well, Lumine and the others had gone to look for you after you chased after her brother, and when we found you, youlooked really tired, then the next thing we knew, you had passed out, " Ganyu explained in as much detail as possible.

When she said I had passed out, my eye widened. Me, pass out? That's impossible. I don't understand, but it must be true.

"It's all his fault" I whispered under my breath, before glancing back up at Ganyu. "What? " I questioned her.

"Why is your face all red? " she asked.

"Huh? " I responded confused. I got up and went over to the mirror in the room only to notice that she was right. My cheeks were red. I just stared at myself in the mirror wondering why before she snapped me out of it.

"Actually once you woke up, we were supposed to head over to the Jade Chamber and meet up with the Traveler and everyone else, ". I looked over at her.

" You know I hate being in a place full of mortals, " I stated, "the only reason I was there last time is because we were investigating the Travelers brother as a suspicious person, ". She looked at me before sighing, understanding that there is no way to persuade me. She made her way out of the room, leaving me alone to collect my thoughts.

*Around about 4-5 days after the incident with Aether*

(3rd Person View)

" Why exactly do I have to be apart of this, " Xiao asked in an annoyed tone. Lumine, Xiao, Yanfei, Keqing, Qiqi (because Baizhu allowed it), and Chongyun were all out on a quest in the forest. Lumine took a commission and decided to form this team for it.

"Because Xiao, this mission will need the power of an adepti, and Yanfei is only part one so she cannot do it all alone, so now you have to help, " Lumine whistled while looking at the map in her hands. Xiao gave up trying to argue, knowing the Traveler wouldn't let him leave.

All of them continued on their way to the location of the commission, and once they reached the location, they started to prepare things. Once they had everything set up they did almost a ritual before finishing the commission.

"See that wasn't very hard, right Xiao? " Lumine asked. Xiao just looked at her before agreeing.

"Should we head back now then? " Keqing asked. All of them agreed that it was time to head back to Liyue City for the day. However, as they started going back they saw something.

"Is that an Abyss Mage" Paimon pondered looking over at the floating bird looking creature.

"Yeah, but what's it holding? " Chongyun jumped in. Everyone agreed that they should follow the mage, since most of them got a bad feeling from it.

As they followed the Abyss Mage from the shadows, they saw it approaching someone. Someone they never thought they would see again.

"Aether....... "

Everyone looked over to see Lumine slightly shaking from the shock of seeing her brother again. While she was shaking with joy, someone else was shaking with anger.

And that was Xiao.

Seeing the man that used his body and made Lumine cry made his blood boil. He wanted to get his revenge on him, but at the same time something else arose in his body.

His heart began to beat faster and he felt his cheeks heat up. He continued to stare at Aether, and the longer he did the more he felt those strange feelings. He didn't understand what was going on, but before he could stop himself, he was already charging straight towards Aether.

"XIAO" Lumine screamed, before following behind him. Keqing right beside her, and the other three behind them. Aether turned around when he heard Lumine's voice and saw Xiao running at him. He told the mage to open up a portal right away.

The mage quickly opened up the portal, but before he could run through it, he felt arms wrap around him as Xiao pushed him into the portal, Lumine and Keqing jumping into the portal right after. However, before the other three could make it to the portal, it closed and they were left there, while the others were somewhere else. Somewhere they didn't know.