#ae rambles about: shadowhunter au! | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

opalthea · 11 months

Text

12:10

You liked to believe that you've lived a pretty normal life.

It was pretty ordinary, this routine that you're familiar with. You wake up sometime before dawn so you can get ready for your shift, arrive right on time, and leave your workplace as soon as you can. And it wasn't like everything was the same each day - you see different faces every now and then, coming from different parts of the city, and every conversation leads to even longer talks. And yeah, there were some accidents you couldn't avoid — like that one time, where you accidentally spilled a customer's drink twice — but all was well.

And you were comfortable with this life you've built on stable pillars.

... So if you were so used to the sense of normalcy, and learnt to stay out of trouble, why were you following this sketchy guy with his date?

...

You hid near the alleyway, palms covering your face as you sighed.

To be fair, you were not trying to act like a good Samaritan - a hero, if you would. You were really only worried for the lady draped over the guy's arm, like a fur coat of some sort, right after they left the building. Without any evidence or witnesses, you couldn't just say outright that the guy had basically dropped something in her drink, and it was a little strange to you how nobody caught him red-handed in such a public spot.

This wouldn't count as stalking, would it? That's already a crime on its own, but.. you already feel horrible if you had decided to do nothing. Your conscience wouldn't forgive you if anything happened to that poor woman.

Peeking from your hiding spot, you almost missed the two of them taking a turn for another alleyway, and you panicked. You may have lived here for a while, but you knew nothing about the more secluded streets - if you were to go there alone... A weapon. You'd need a blunt object, or something. Your hands rummaged through your pockets, and you only managed to retrieve a pen (if you ever lost the cafe's pens while you jot down orders) and your keys.

These would do, right? Right.

You waste no time chasing him down the alleyway. In hindsight, this was stupid. Going alone was always a stupid choice. Maybe you should've reconsidered- but if you had left for one second and the lady became a missing person, you wouldn't forgive yourself.

You can't think like that. She was still alive and well, if not a bit drowsy, but alive. You'd get the two of you out of there and you'd file a report immediately.

You rushed towards the alleyway.

The alleyway stared back. Empty. A long, narrow street, with shadows cast by the tall buildings between it. No sign of life, no sign of that lady you were so worried about, and where was that man, crap, that man--

You turned around to flee, but a figure stood tall behind you, fangs bared and arms outstretched. And you swore that nobody — or, rather, nothing else — had been following you or that strange couple, but this thing hissed and growled, clearly not human, and you were sure that your life was flashing before your very eyes-

A blade struck through the creature's chest, and it shrieked. Loud enough for you to crumble and fold into yourself, clutching to your ears so you'd face no eardrum damage. Even then, you still heard it sputter, and the blood that spat out through the clean wound was probably the second loudest thing you heard before it collapsed on itself. Its body disintegrates before your eyes.

Behind that monster, stood a man. His highlighted, yet dark hair definitely stood out first, but then his eyes caught you frozen. Unlike that creature, which was dark, and attempted to consume you with its shadow, this stranger's eyes were the brightest features on him.

Gold.

There was no mistaking his eyes, pure gold as they came. Even in the dark, they seemed to shine - maybe that was how he came to find you, even though the hostile noises from that thing should've been enough to alert any passer-by. In his hand, the blade that cut through the monster's body, almost with no effort whatsoever, despite the small size.

My saviour! You thought, and you opened your mouth to speak — thank him for coming, and for protecting you — until his gaze landed on you, and suddenly, you became the object of his attentive glare. Yikes. Okay, maybe you're just being hopeful that someone came to your rescue, yeah - if that thing somehow stalked up behind you, there was no way that this man, too, was following you. And that thing. Whatever it was.

.. Actually, what was it? You've seen your fair share of large animals, but nothing so...

"Demon." Your knight in shining armor spoke up, amidst the silence of the alleyway and the faint bustling of the street behind him. You gaped at the sound of his voice, a little startled he had even started to talk, though he took it as a cue that you didn't catch what he said. "What you saw just now. That was a demon."

"...Demon? That thing?"

He sighed. Okay, so maybe he wasn't in the mood to speak to stupid people-- but you weren't stupid; imagine just having survived a demon attack! That's unheard of, one, and secondly, people would call you insane if you were to tell anyone about this! (Not that you would. Right? Right.)

Or maybe he was insane and he was one of those bad guys who like to pull a prank on innocent people working in cafes.

"I've said too much. Best to forget about this. You were not supposed to be caught in the affairs of our world." His eyebrows furrowed a little deeper, his hand storing away his weapon in his pocket. "And you don't talk about this to anyone. Nobody else. It's for your own good, mundane."

The nerve-! No, forget it. Judging from the way he looked, he would probably just leave you if you had anything more to say.

No, wait-

"Did you see a girl being dragged away by some random, real sketchy guy?! I was following them earlier, but they disappeared the moment I came here and--"

"Those two weren't real."

"-- I'm worried if this is some- wait, what?"

"You were fooled. The demon lured you here." He averted his eyes towards the remains of the demon, or where you thought it should be, because there wasn't anything left on the ground anymore. It was completely gone. But the stranger didn't look so alarmed, so.. that was nothing to worry about, right?

He cleared his throat. "... Knowing that you're perfectly able to see things that the naked eye shouldn't, makes me restless."

"Why's that?"

"All humans are born with their third eye closed after their infant stages of life. If this gets out to the Institute..." The stranger then held his hand out, as if gesturing for something, "give me your phone."

Okay, now he's just weird. So he's your saviour and a thief. "Uh, what are you gonna do with my phone?" And the dude just had the audacity to roll his eyes.

"If there's going to be a time where you're in trouble, and it's not something even the cops can handle, it would be wise to have my contact." He bent his fingers slightly, but flexed might be the right word, and gestured again. "In case this happens again."

... Honestly, how do you reject a man that pretty? Without much hesitation — shameless, that you are — you handed your phone over to him, and watched closely as he typed in his number and name. Before you could make out the letters — you realized that he had a pretty short name, which somehow suited his short stature — he turned the device off and gave it back to you.

"Do not tell anyone about this. The longer you keep this a secret, the better." He said, before leaving you alone in the alleyway, joining the busy street as if he hadn't just taken down a monster twice his size.

.. You later learned that his name was Xiao.

SHADOWHUNTERS AU WAWAWA,, YEAH I'M JUST GOING INSANE FOR NEPHILIM XIAO BECAUSE IT'S ALREADY SO CANON WKDGSNVSBSB like... Okay... Besties I don't think I can stand it anymore, he's just so FINE.

#ae's works #xiao x reader #xiao x gn reader #xiao genshin impact #genshin x reader #xiao #genshin xiao #ae rambles about: shadowhunter au!

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