disclaimer : i don't own genshin impact
As much as the story he told, his friend from another world also had a lot of stories he never ever heard of. Of machines he could never think of, of places he couldn't imagine, of tales that were clearly not of this world. Among those fantastical tales, one bugged his mind and despite his friend had laid down her opinion on the laughable fiction part of it, Zhongli still found himself venturing to his neighbor city where he knew his friend had been slumbering for years. He stepped into the domain where his friend had sealed himself in his slumber, using his thousand years skill to not trigger any mechanism as he reached further deeper to where a blue-haired winged archon laid among the flowers of cecilia.
He recalled the tale that was told to him as he slowly got down on his knees, hands cupping the other face gently. Words of the tales seemed to perfectly describe the image upon him.
Zhongli hesitated, fingers curled into a grip as he studied his friend's face. The body was sleeping so peacefully, a contrast to how energetic his friend was when he was awake. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath and slowly lowered his face. He could feel warmth touching his lips, of his friend's, and he felt himself relax to know that his friend hadn't truly left him, that he might still have hope. He stilled for a moment with as little force as he could and then slowly retracting himself. He waited, watching for the eyelids to open any time now, hopeful for a smile to greet him.
Yet, three seconds quickly turned to a minute and Zhongli found his heart ache as there was no sign of even a stir from the sleeping body.
His fingers brushed a stray hair from his friend's face, "As I thought it's not working," scoffing to himself.
It wasn't like he completely believed the story-tale, Zhongli just dared to hope. He knew his friend wasn't a princess and he wasn't a prince like in the story. Perfectly aware there was no blessing protection cast upon his friend to help his curse and there wasn't a true love between them. The only thing that was similar was the fact his friend had been sleeping for hundreds and as long Zhongli had been longing for him to wake up again.
"How much longer will you sleep, Barbatos? The dragon has long been fallen."
The tale that was told to him was too much a beautiful one. Their story wasn't the same, and he'd wanted the happily ever after.
based on if Zhongli met Alice after Barbatos fallen to his 500 years sleep, then there was a possibility Alice telling him about fairytales & about sleeping beauty