#over my one true love the bough keeper... haha....

[hqrbinger]

Immortality can be a curse. Xiao knows it all too well, has always been too aware of the downsides of it, but never has he truly felt it like this.

Centuries had passed since he’s met you, since he’s lost you to the flow of time and the ebb of mortality. He still recalls how he had held your cold body and cried shamelessly for all the heavens to hear, for all the gods to bear witness. But although such pain still lingers even after so many centuries, Xiao still somehow holds onto hope. He has searched for you, every second of every day for the last thousand years, hoping to find you again. To hold you in his arms and give you the happy ending that you both deserved.

So he searches, and he waits. Ever patient, with his love and his hope never wavering. He watches the towns and villages turn to cities, and watches the cities themselves grow taller and bigger and more modern. He watches the other adepti leave for Jueyun Karst, but rejects their invitations to join them. All this time, he remains steadfast. You two will reunite, and he will give you the happiness he could not before. He will protect you from all harm and make you smile, and hear you laugh and he will hold you close and tell you that he’s missed you so much.

And it’s on a random day in the city that used to be Liyue Harbor when Xiao feels the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. His ears all but perk up like a dog’s when he hears the familiar sound of your voice amidst the hustle and bustle of humanity and he freezes, just for a second, a fleeting thought of, ‘Curse?’ racing through his mind before he himself is practically sprinting down the roads, heart beating so frantically, so excitedly because Archons, you’re here.

It doesn’t take him long to find you at all, and his heart melts when he sees that you are as breathtaking as he remembers and as radiant as the day he lost you. He can feel a pressure behind his eyes and against his steel will, his hands begin to tremble. From fear? Excitement? He doesn’t know, but with you so close, with you all his eyes can focus on, he’s so willing to find out.

“Curse,” Xiao says, breathless, eyes wide as he takes a gentle hold of your arm, halting your walk. He almost chokes on his relief when you turn your gaze to him, and he feels like he could cry. It really is you.

“Yes?” You ask, politely, “Do I know you?”

“I’m—“ Xiao starts, something like happiness bubbling in his chest for the first time in much too long, when he spares a glance behind you and sees your company. He sees the way you hold onto him, the way you’re both connected and how your hands are intertwined. How you seem to shy away from Xiao and towards the other male. How there is love in your eyes, but not for Xiao. Not anymore.

Is he—

“No, sorry,” Xiao gets out, though the words sting his throat like knives. He buries his hand in his pockets, forcing himself to school the disappointment and utter distraught behind a wall of indifference. “Wrong person.”

Before you can say anything else, he walks away from you, not looking back. Though he hears how you call the other person ‘sweetheart,’ he hears how your voice lilts how it does when you’re happy and in love— sounding like how it used to when you spoke with him. He can’t forget the way you glanced at the person with as much affection in your eyes as you had once held for Xiao.

Was he… did he make you happy, this new person? Xiao wonders as he walks away, swallowing heavily. He’s cold and it feels like his karmic debt had just increased tenfold. He feels like ’s suffocating. The excitement he once had has become a rock in the pit of his stomach. He doesn’t know where his feet are taking him, he just knows that he is walking away from you, like you are from him. The distance grows with each step.

Has he… has he really lost his happy ending with you?

Yes, he has.

haha.... thank u so much for the angst brainrot catte..... haha.... idk this character but..... haha............ u write so well........ it totally does not feel like there are a million knives stabbing me in the heart rn !!!! definitely not !!!