The Dursleys
Zhongli woke up in a cupboard. Very unpleasant. Where was he? The last thing he remembered was Childe’s face and those pictures flashing in his mind.
He then immediately noticed that something was extremely off.
He felt weak.
Sitting up, he brushed his loose hair away from his face, and examined himself.
Oh.
Zhongli hadn’t been in this form for a very long time. He was younger, and his skin was paler, but other than that everything remained the same. However, he thought he looked skinnier than the last time he was eleven. That was six thousand years ago though, his memories of his younger self were extremely blurry.
He rubbed his temples, trying to clear his mind.
Alright, so somehow he got turned into his eleven years old self, he was in a cupboard, and Childe’s probably nearby.
Hopefully.
He surveyed the room. It was extremely crammed together, the little mattress creaking when Zhongli moved even a little, and the light bulb above his head flickered when he turned it on.
In his six thousand years of experience, this was probably the most unusual thing he experienced.
Zhongli found a shard of glass on the floor, picking it up, he examined his face. The red eyeliner, thankfully, was still on. (It never smudged anyways, a benefit of an Adeptus, he supposed). His hair was a bit curlier as well. Though Zhongli did realize that he was a bit malnourished, and his eyes seemed dimmer than usual.
There was a sudden, sharp, knock on the cupboard’s door, and Zhongli accidentally dropped the glass in surprise, cutting his palm in the process.
“Get up, brat. It’s my Dudley’s birthday.” A shrill female voice snarled.
She had an accent, he noted.
Zhongli blinked, “Who?” He asked.
The window looking thing on the door opened, and cold hazel eyes glared at him,
“Don’t play dumb boy, get up.” She snapped, and before he knew it, she was gone.
Disrespectful.
Was that his kidnaper? No, he didn’t sense any power on her, a human most likely. Unless she had an accomplice, a mortal is incapable of attacking a Vision user or an Adeptus without them noticing.
He sighed. At least he still has his geo powers, although it was weak, and he can barely feel it.
He stood up, nearly hitting his head on the light bulb. A change of clothes will be refreshing, he thought, glancing at the dull white sleep wears he had changed into somehow.
However, blood started dripping onto the wooden floor, and Zhongli examined his cut.
It was shallow. He grabbed a tissue paper, rolled it into a ball, then closed his injured hand around it.
Improper medication. Guizhong would be disappointed.
Zhongli rubbed his heart. Liyue felt far away. He was always able to feel Liyue in his heart. Now his heart feels oddly empty.
Deciding that it was finally time to change, Zhongli fumbled around, and changed into a more unusual outfit.
An extra large gold and black striped t-shirt and some brown shorts. They were rumpled, but it was the better of the clothes pile, and fitted Zhongli’s color scheme.
Grabbing his hair tie, which was on the bed, he tied his hair up as usual and went out of the cupboard.
Getting out felt like breathing for the first time after being underwater for too long. Zhongli wasn’t able to enjoy the fresh air, though, as suddenly a giant purple-ish arm grabbed him, and yanked his arm, pulling him along.
“What took you so long, you little brat? Dudley is going to be late now.” The man snarled.
He was a mortal as well, and who in Celesia is Dudley? Weird name. “Oh, I apologize.” He replied mildly, playing safe for now.
The grip on his arm tightened as they marched into the kitchen, he winced, it was definitely going to bruise.
He chose to focus on his surroundings instead. It was confusing, it was a house that’s for sure, but it doesn’t seem like a home anywhere in Teyvat. Too untraditional.
That’s when he realized he's not in Teyvat.
Dudley was apparently the two mortals' son, a pudgy boy with blonde strips of hair splattered on his head.
He was currently sitting beside the three humans, around a sleek wooden table.
There was a plate in front of him, with what seemed like roasted strips of meat, and some silverware. Which made Zhongli very uneasy as he only used chopsticks. He glanced up.
All three of them was glaring at him.
“Uh...I’m sor-”
“Keep your mouth shut!” The man roared suddenly, “Did I say you can talk?”
Zhongli had to suppress a glare. He must not harm some mortals. Morax would have killed them ages ago, but he was a child, a peaceful child right now.
So he shook his head.
“That’s right, I didn’t. Now Dudley! Happy Birthday!” The man’s voice suddenly shifted from anger to cheerfulness in a matter of seconds.
The sharp woman also joined in, “Happy birthday my sweet boy!”
They both glared at Zhongli, taking that as a sign, he talked,
“Happy birthday, Dudley?” It came out more like a question than he meant to, but it seems like nobody realized.
Dudley, who was sitting in front of him, merely frowned harder, “We’re going to be late to the party.”
“But you’ve only eaten twenty slices of bacon!” His mother protested.
Zhongli realized with a jolt that he was starving, he reached towards his plate preparing to stab a strip of meat with the fork, when the table flipped over.
“I DON’T CARE! I want to go to the zoo now! Piers is probably already there waiting! ” Dudley wailed, face red.
Zhongli stared in dismay at the wasted food on the floor, then started picking them up to throw in the trash can. Usually Adeptus doesn’t need to eat, but they can still feel hunger.
“Yes, yes, of course my boy. Let’s go now,” The man turned to Zhongli, eyes narrowing, “You’re coming too, brat, leave the bacon strips, you’ll clean everything up after we come back.” He ordered.
He sighed then nodded. This was horrible, they were treating him as a slave. Perhaps he was a slave here? This was an alternate universe after all.
Dudley then started to complain about why Zhongli was coming, but he merely tuned out their voices, and followed them out of the house into what seemed like a smaller movable house that they called “Car”.
He despised it, it made him nauseous.
Along the journey, he thought about why he was even tolerating them. Disrespect needs punishment.
However, if he manages to kill them, he’ll be homeless, and on the run for murdering. Zhongli also doesn’t know the capabilities of this form yet, how much power could he use before he passes out? He’ll just have to endure this for now.
He missed Teyvat. He realized, not just Liyue.
He wondered how Childe was fairing. The Harbinger was alway able to make him smile. Zhongli was sure he was in this world as well, he’ll just need to find him.
Finally, they arrived. Zhongli got jabbed by Dudley a few times, he barely felt it though. Even a pebble is still a rock. Oh and he also learned the name of the two humans, Petunia and Vernon. Seems like weird names run in this family.
He wondered if his name was Morax or Zhongli here, maybe even Rex Lapis. They had only called him brat so far. Could brat possibly be his actual name? That was impossible. Even though he was not their son, as he looked nothing like them, they wouldn’t name a random kid “Brat”, right?
The Zoo was a busy place where people visited creatures who were trapped in cells. Personally, he found this cruel, Zhongli couldn’t imagine being in there for the rest of his life.
Staring at all those pitiful creatures, he almost didn’t hear the footsteps of a bunch of kids running towards them.
“Hey Dudley.” One of the taller ones said with a wave.
“Hey Piers! What did you get me?”
Zhongli stopped paying attention to the conversation after that, and stared at the group. They were all boys, maybe a year older than Zhongli, most were taller than him, which was something he needed to get used of.
Piers had scruffy brown hair, and a bulky build. There were four other kids as well, two of them had blonde curly hair, and the other two had black hair.
Interesting group.
They had a menacing aura to them. From what Zhongli had sensed, they were humans, like Petunia and Vernon, who had gone over to buy ice cream for them.
Zhongli would have the upperhand if things escalated, he decided.
Which, of course, he jinxed it.
Dudley’s parents had returned with ice cream for everyone but him, which made him a little sad as his stomach was rumbling for something to eat.
“Hey, what's the deal with your cousin?” One of the curly haired boys asked, pointing a rude finger at him.
“Yeah! Why the fuck is his hair so long?” Piers chimed with a disgusted expression.
Zhongli decided to ignore them, making a grim mistake in the process.
He turned his back on them.
Suddenly someone pulled his ponytail.
Zhongli stumbled backwards in surprise, accidentally summoning his geo power- The hand loosened, and a loud thud could be heard from behind him.
Oh dear.
He regained his balance, and turned around to see what he had done. Passersby were whispering, and Dudley’s group had their eyes fixated on him, eyes round with shock.
The one that apparently tugged his hair was a black silky haired boy, who was now on the ground clutching his arm, wailing.
Hearing the commotion, Vernon must have come over, and was hauling the boy up.
“Demon.” He hissed at Zhongli, venomously, before going back to his check up on the kid.
Demon? It kinda hurts hearing that coming from a mortal.
The next few minutes went past like a blur. The next thing he knew, Petunia was yanking him after her, into an alleyway that smelled absolutely horrid.
“That little stunt that you pulled,” She started, her voice boiling with anger, “You’re quite lucky only I noticed.”
He froze, so someone did see.
Zhongli had summoned a sharp rock that had jabbed the boy in the arm. He had hoped nobody saw his eyes glowing.
Wait.
Why does she sound like she already knew?
“You already kn-” Slap
Zhongli touched his cheeks, it was burning. She slapped me, he thought in astonishment, although the slap didn't quite hurt, the fact that his aunt actually slapped him, hurts.
Petunia loomed over him, grabbing his hand away, and pinched the spot where she slapped him, “Of course I do, and if I catch you doing it again, you’re out of the house.” She threatened, voice harsh.
His mind was buzzing, and there was an odd ringing in his ears as he tried to process this. She didn’t just hate him, she loathed him.
“We’re going to the Sepertarian next to cheer up my little angel, behave.” She growled.
He forced himself to nod.
“I want to hear it.” She hissed.
“I understand.”
Oh, where was Childe, please let him be safe.
The Serpentarian was wonderful, although most of the snakes were sleeping or just hiding from the visitors' view, the ones he saw were majestic.
The atmosphere between Zhongli, and everybody else was tense, and not enjoyable.
Occasionally, the boy he had hurt, Dennis, and the rest of Dudley’s friends would throw glares at him. Vernon and Petunia kept him separated from them as well, standing in between him, and the kids as if he was a monster.
The cut wasn’t even that bad! It was shallow, and Dennis only bled for thirty seconds or so. Zhongli apologized too, saying that he accidentally kicked the rock from behind.
It didn’t make sense but Dudley's group was dense, and believed him.
Currently, Zhongli was gazing at a small blue snake that reminded him oddly of Osial.
It was pretending to sleep at the moment, its tail rattling from time to time in annoyance as Piers kept banging on the glass separating them.
They should really teach children manners in this universe.
“I feel very bad for you.” Zhongli doesn’t know why he whispered that, perhaps it was because everyone was ignoring him, and he was getting lonely, but he did, and the blue snake raised its head, then looked at him with beady black eyes.
If that caught Zhongli off guard, he felt bewildered when the snake started talking to him.
~Then get me out of here~ It hissed.
He froze, talking to snakes? That was new.
Oh, perhaps it was because he was a dragon, snakes are related to dragons afterall in Teyvat.
Piers, seeing it was awake, ran over to Dudley, excitedly dragging him back.
~I can sense that you’re magic, come on, break the glass.~ It continued hissing at him.
“They’ll see me,” Zhongly whispered back, “And they’ll catch you before you slither out of this place.”
~They won’t, I have a plan.~
Piers and Dudley were back, and were trying to divert the snake’s attention to them by shouting and banging on the glass.
He could just frame them, he realized.
He glanced around, Petunia was nowhere near and Vernon was busy chomping down a sandwich. Perfect.
Slowly, he manipulated one the biggest rocks in there, his eyes and hair were glowing, but hopefully no one noticed. The rock slid forward a bit, the snake's eyes were on it too now, then suddenly the rock surged up with lightning speed, and smashed onto the place where Piers had been hitting. Zhongli then turned the rock into dust before anyone noticed.
Clash! The sounds of broken glass crashing on the floor. Piers had his arm half raised, with his eyes wide with horror.
Suddenly the alarm went off, and everyone started screaming.
Zhongli almost felt bad. He turned his attention back to the crystal blue snake, just to see that it wasn’t there anymore.
With so many people here frantically rushing towards the exit, surely the snake would be stepped on.
Someone pushed against him, Zhongli stumbled and fell on his knees. He rubbed his temples, maybe he shouldn’t have freed the snake, but how was he supposed to know that it would cause such a reaction from the mortals?
Perhaps they were scared that the other glass would break as well. Some of the other cages contained gigantic serpents that looked as if it could swallow Zhongli in one bite.
Realizing he was still on the ground, he began to stand up, but suddenly something cold slithered up his arm.
Oh Celestia, curse that dang snake.
Someone almost tripped over him, so Zhongli decided to get out of this place first rather than question the snake here.
The sleeve of his t-shirt reached below his elbow, so the snake that had crawled up his arm was hidden from view.
“I really hope you don’t bite me.” He muttered, there were less people here now, but as the exit was narrow and mortals were trying to squish themself through the crowd to the door, Zhongli had to wait.
He was hungry, he could feel a migraine coming, his ears were ringing and there was a snake up his arm. Today might possibly be the worst day he had ever experienced.