seventeen | XVII

                                    

                                          

ミ☆
     the inside of the golden house was silent aside from the pair's light footfalls. 
     compared to the outdoors, it felt like a different realm entirely. the distant sound of wind blowing through tiny crevices filled their ears. on either side of the black marble stairs were piles of mora, so full to the brim that it could make a poor man rich with just a few handfuls.
     xiao's senses were on high alert. he definitely wasn't prepared when (y/n) gently touched his shoulder, whipping his head towards her at an ungodly speed.
     "look!" she urged, pointing to a pair of legs that stuck out from behind a ledge. she found herself rushing towards the fallen man, and upon further inspection, she discovered that it was a millelith soldier. his spear lay few feet from his hand.
     xiao loomed over her shoulder as she put two fingers against the guard's neck, releasing a breath of relief when she felt a shallow pulse push against her fingertips.
     "he's alive, just unconscious," her hands dropped onto her bent knees briefly before she curled her arms around the guard's in an attempt to drag him closer to the ledge. she intended to prop him up into a more comfortable position.
     "i'll get this arm."
     the teal-haired adeptus moved to his other side and assisted in moving the guard. once the deed was done, the only thing they could do was continue to look around for the exuvia until they could go get help. to their luck, it was in a separate corner only a short distance from the center of the lofty room.
     the girl stopped in her tracks to look up at the dragon held stiff in mid-air by some unknown force. her grip on the handle of the sword tightened to the point where her knuckles screamed for her to stop. xiao couldn't bring himself to look directly at it, merely closing his eyes and turning his head to the side.
     a few moments of silence passed before either of them spoke.
     "i wish i could have met him before..."
     "you already have. it was a long time ago," xiao replied softly.
    "i don't know when it'll come back to me. he probably would have helped me figure everything out if we had the chance." sadness made itself evident by the creases caused by her remorseful expression.
     xiao put a hand on the back of her neck and pulled, gently knocking his forehead against hers. she felt his fingers tangle in her hair as his hand moved up from her neck. the gesture was endearing and made her spirits lift slightly, knowing the adeptus would do everything in his power to help her.
     "how sweet!" a sickeningly sarcastic voice startled the pair out of their moment. "i see you've found yourself a companion, little miss (y/n). romance was always the one thing i could never comprehend."
     childe strode before them with empty hands, acting as if nothing was wrong despite the situation presented in front of them. she could only muster a venomous glare towards the man. her and xiao were the only thing standing in the way of childe and the exuvia. this wasn't going to end well.
     a low growl resonated from the depths of xiao's throat. before she could even blink, he had summoned his spear to charge at the harbinger. however, he was quickly restrained by an onslaught of fatui agents that had been lingering out of sight, effectively catching him by surprise.
     (y/n) had no time to react before rough hands grasped her shoulders. she was swept off her feet as her arms were pulled behind her back, short bouts of pain bolting through her shoulders as more agents pressed her hard into the ground. her struggle was short-lived as a metal-toed boot rammed right between her eyes.