Disclaimer: I do not own Genshin Impact nor any of the characters. The Genshin Impact game and characters belongs to Mihoyo Gaming.
A/N: This is basically just a one-shot to ease the Icy Zombies AU that I've been writing on Tumblr onto my accounts.
The Misadventures of Two Icy Zombies
Kaeya wheezed as he tried to breathe around the blood filling his lungs.
Even in his dying moments, he felt no regrets over what he did. He knew the children had escaped to Mondstadt by now.
The only thing he wished he could have done differently was how things had ended between him and his brother. He knew he deserved to be hated for what he did, but he still wished things had happened differently.
And what about the others back in the Ordo? Jean would be in hysterics if he didn't show up with the children. He's not sure how Lisa or Amber would react. Sucrose might cry, but she was just too nice and sympathetic to everyone. Albedo was still pretty new, but he could probably not have cared less what happened to Kaeya. He'd probably blame him for getting himself killed. Klee was still young, so there was a chance she would even remember him a year from now.
The one person he would want to miss him would be more likely to dance on his grave.
He's pulled out of his thoughts when he feels tiny hands moving his head from the hard ground onto something softer. He opened his eyes to find the last child, a little girl from Liyue with tags on her head and arm. However, there was something very off about her.
Her large magenta eyes were completely blank, no real shine of life or even a reflection of his image. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought that the child couldn't see. It takes him a moment to realize that the girl in front of him wasn't human.
She was a zombie.
He had heard stories about the zombies in Liyue. They were primarily used for hard labor and were eventually frowned upon since they took a lot of the work from other living people looking for jobs. He had personally never seen one before, but he felt his chest constrict at the thought of such a young child dying and being brought back for slave labor.
Strangely, he couldn't bring himself to regret saving her since she was still a child, even if she was probably older than him. The girl rests his head on her lap and it's from this new angle that he sees the man in dark clothing walking towards him.
The man wore a dark three-piece suit made of browns and golds. When he finally reached them, he stared down at the two with mesmerizing golden eyes that made Kaeya squirm with how they seemed to stare into his very soul.
The little girl didn't seem alarmed and even seemed to recognize the man. The man looked her over silently and seemed pleased to realize she was uninjured. It was then that he finally turned his eyes to the man in her lap.
"And pray tell," the man started, his voice surprisingly deep for his youthful appearance, "why would you risk your life to save a zombie." He tilted his head, his dark brown hair swaying slightly behind him, his face still completely stoic, despite the curiosity in his tone.
Kaeya felt like it was a loaded question. The man had already shown that he clearly cared for the girl, but seemed to be honestly curious why he would do the same.
"She's," he rasped, blood trying to obstruct his airway, "still a child. She deserved better than to be in a situation like that."
His words made the mystery man smile, his features softening.
"Then, as thanks for your actions, how would you like a contract with me?"
Kaeya hesitated. What did he mean about forming a contract? What good could it possibly do in this situation? But he also didn't really have a reason to refuse, seeing as he had nothing left to lose.
"Okay, I accept."
He had nothing left to go back to. Diluc was gone and the only person who would miss him was Jean, if only because she didn't know who he really was.
His eye finally slipped shut as the last of his life drained out of him.
Zhongli walked up to the newly deceased man before placing a talisman over his face. At first, nothing happened, but the Archon merely waited patiently before – finally – the corpse breathed anew. When he finally opened his eye, it was dull, all signs of life having faded.
He was a zombie.
People bustled about Liyue Harbor as they went about their normal lives.
The adults busied themselves with either work or walking around the harbor looking for new commodities to buy. The many dogs that seemed to live on the streets of the city merely slept wherever they wanted with no fear of starvation since the adults and children alike would feed them enough scraps to keep their bellies full. Children laughed as they chased each other around at the docks.
One of the children, a little girl, found herself colliding with something solid before she fell backwards onto the ground. Looking up, she was met with the sight of a young man wearing extravagant robes with a talisman covering part of his face. His dull eyes stared into hers and she felt tears building in her eyes.
She flinches when the man reaches for her, but is surprised when he grabs her under her arms. She can hear her best friend freaking out in the background, but can't really register what they're saying as the man sets her back down on her feet.
"Please be careful," he murmurs softly before continuing in his way. Not far from where the children were playing stood a merchant waiting by his boat.
"Excuse me," he starts, ignoring how the man jumped at being addressed. "I'm here to pick up a delivery for Bubu Pharmacy."
The merchant looks unnerved, but moves into his ship to receive the delivery. When he returns with several of his crew mates, he gives him a large box that looked a little too big for a single man to normally carry.
The zombie doesn't bat an eye before he lifts the box almost effortlessly and turns and walks away, leaving behind a gaping group of grown men.
Kaeya pays no mind to the gawking merchant as he makes his return trip back to the pharmacy.
They had run out of a special flower that could only be found in Sumeru and his master had put in an order for more a week ago. He wound up having to dodge several running children and other people who weren't bothering to pay attention.
It wasn't anything he had bothered to think too much about. He knew people in Liyue didn't pay much attention to zombies. The ones that did were usually too scared to interact with them. He had grown used to it for the few months that he was working at Bubu Pharmacy. The customers always seemed so nervous when he was the one behind the counter.
He's brought out of his thoughts when he hears a startled scream. Curiosity getting the better of him, he turns in the direction of the noise.
What he sees makes him have to fight off a smile.
His co-worker and not-quite-officially little sister, Qiqi, was staring at a group of children who were playing and they had finally noticed her.
"Qiqi!"
The child turned at the sould of her name being called and her eyes lit up at the sight of her big brother. Completely forgetting the children, she ran over to his side and didn't bother to slow down before she latched onto his leg. The action nearly toppled him, but he was able to regain his balance as he looked down at the girl.
While their relationship had started off completely professional, the two had gotten attached to each other quite quickly and had entered a sibling relationship. Occasionally, he would even look at her and swore he saw someone else, even if he couldn't remember who. It often reminded him of fire, which hadn't made sense seeing as they both had a Cryo Vision.
He shook the thoughts away as he gave the girl a smile and felt something in him melt when she smiled back. No matter who she reminded him of, he still cared for her as her own person.
"I came looking for gege because he took too long at the market."
Kaeya felt a small but fond smile cross his face at her words.
"I haven't been gone that long, Qiqi."
He could have laughed when she pouted at him.
"Liar," she said, the barest hint of a whine in her voice. "You've been gone all morning. You were supposed to be back hours ago. I wrote it down."
Kaeya could only blink at that before looking up at the sky. The sun was well past its zenith and was almost resting on the horizon, telling him that it was past noon.
"Sorry, he says sheepishly, a guilty smile forming on his face. He must have spaced out again at some point. Without Qiqi there or someone else to snap him out of it, he had probably been standing around somewhere looking like a creep.
"Don't worry about it," she reassures him, "Your still getting used to everything. Qiqi will buy you a notebook like mine so that you don't forget again." Spacing out was just something he was going to have to deal with until then.
Those words felt familiar, but Kaeya shrugged it off as he gave a hum of agreement before both he and Qiqi made their way back to the pharmacy together.
Just as they were coming upon the stairs leading into the city, panicked screaming caught their attention. A large wagon was coming over the bridge and into the harbor, the two horses at the front running like wolves were chasing them, not bothering to slow down.
He heard Qiqi make a sound of curiosity as she moved around him to get a good look.
And right into the path of the rampaging carriage.
Kaeya gives an alarmed shout, shooting forward and covering her body with his own, dropping the boxes in the process. He closed his eyes as he squeezed Qiqi into his chest, waiting for the impact.
Instead, he was met with a strong gust of wind and the sound of a loud crash. When he opened his eye, he was surprised with what he found.
The carriage was on its side, knocked over while the horses had changed course and ran back unharmed towards the bridge.
Hearing what sounded like a growl, Kaeya looked up to see a young man, shorter than him with green hair and gold eye, glaring at the downed carriage. Angry shouting had him turning back to the carriage as a burly looking man pulled himself from the wreckage, another not much smaller man pulling himself out from inside.
"How about you keep your eyes on your damn brat, huh?!"
The growling from the shorter man got louder, now clearly audible.
The sound had the men pulling up short, clearly not used to someone so much smaller than them not being intimidated. The young man looked about ready to rip their heads off.
"Your reckless driving nearly hit several people, you fool," he barked back at them, his voice vicious with a dark edge to it. "Or do you want to be arrested for reckless endangerment and almost running everyone over?"
By this point, several people were surrounding the scene, whispering among themselves. Some of them even seemed to recognize the two zombies.
The men were sweating by this point, knowing that no one was going to take their side if a fight happened.
"And what about our horses, punk?!" the larger of the two men shouted. At this pount, though, Kaeya could tell he was just acting tough to try and save face, not wanting to show he was intimidated by the smaller male, even if he was a Vision bearer. "Are you going to pay for that? They costed a lot of money!"
"You'd be lucky to leave with your lives if you don't get lost right now," the ethereal teen said.
Thoroughly cowed, the men made a dash for the bridge as the screamed about how they would be back. Their savior muttered what sounded like an insult under his breath before turning to the zombies. His cat-like eyes settled on the little girl in Kaeya's arms before he appeared to finally take a look at the taller man.
With a sigh, the tension left his shoulders.
"Are you two okay?"
Qiqi gave a sluggish nod while Kaeya continued to stare in curiosity. With a nod the man turned to leave.
"Um," Kaeya called out hesitantly. The smaller man paused, looking over his shoulder in a questioning fashion.
"Thank – thank you for saving Qiqi."
He appeared unaffected, but he still gave a light nod before he disappeared. He heard Qiqi make a disappointed noise and looked down at her. She was looking longingly at the space that the man(?) disappeared from.
"Did you know him, Qiqi?"
"Yeah," she said quietly, disappointment radiating off of her. She had clearly wanted the man to stick around. "His name is Xiao. He's an Adeptus from the mountains with the other Adepti. He doesn't visit the city often."
"Do you know where he lives?" he inquired, curiously.
"Uh-uh," she shakes her head sadly before it brightened in revelation. "Sometimes, he can be found at Wangshu Inn, though."
"Okay," he nodded. "Then I promise to take you to visit him if you want."
This caused the girl to light up as she nodded her head enthusiastically. He gave a grin at the adorable sight before helping her up off the concrete flooring, continuing where they left off and making their way back to the pharmacy.
The destroyed box of flowers were left forgotten at the scene.
Later that night, a new one had somehow found it's way onto the counter just as they were closing down for the night.
A/N: Just a one-shot that is supposed to an introduction to my The Icy Zombies AU. I'm not sure if I'll write more of it; it all depends on how well this AU is received. It was supposed to be a series of one-shots in a collection, but I still doesn't know how to make one or I would have already put all of my FebuWhump stories into one already.
If this gets enough traction, maybe I'll start to write the actual story.
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