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They haven't been called Death for long. It's only been a few years since the humans They were forced to look after decided it was Them guiding people to the afterlife and now They were forced into the role of Death by Their mother. They didn't like it, but They didn't hate it. It just added onto Their responsibilities of being the Servant of Time and God of The Wind. (Death is only looking after them because of Their friend. It was His dream after all.)
They followed the pull, the wind guiding Them to the next soul. Death arrived in Their wind spirit form, it having been awhile since They were last in it. They watched invisibly as the spirit of a woman hovered above her body, tears slipping from her eyes that didn't make a mark against the ground. The woman's body was covered in blood, her head was barely attached to the neck and slashes were all over, as if she was hit multiple times by a large axe at full force. They turned into Their 'human' form, 3 sets of wings fluttering about as They became visible to the spirit. The spirit's gaze snapped to Them. "B-barbatos? Is that really you?" The woman said shakily, hands coming up to clasp together in a prayer like motion, interestingly enough the woman's tears had stopped. Death forgot that's what the humans decided to call Them. Death just nodded, to which the spirit started crying again. "B-before you take me, can y-you please protect my child? They're called Fedora. I-I know Snezhnaya isn't under your r-rule but—" The woman didn't continue, her crying involving into full on sobs.
Death stayed silent, wings drooping low to the ground. "I will try my best." They said finally (whether They could follow through was another thing, but They can try.) The woman looked up. "T-thank you!" The woman cried, getting up and hugging Death. They stiffened for a moment before relaxing, realizing it's not an attack. The woman sobbed against Them for a few moments before her cries quieted down.
Death summoned the Wind and made it take the woman's spirit to Celestia. They would let the mortals discover the woman's body.
(If They struck a deal with the current Cryo Archon to protect the young child, no one but them would know.)
It was a stormy night when Death found a dragon egg that was close to hatching. The cold winds of the mountain harsh against the feathers of Their wings. It wasn't a place a dragon could survive in, and Death didn't want to have a guide such a young soul. (They didn't know if They could handle it.) Death walked forward, wings as close as they could be to Their back with Their hood up to block the wind from messing up the hair of Their form. (They refused to left measly wind mess up Their friends form.)
They picked up the dragon egg, huddling it close to Their chest. wings flaring out as they launched themselves up into the air, taking off in the direction of Old Monstadt. They had been staying there whenever They weren't busy, even if the humans They now watched over had made Them a place to stay in the new city. (They refused to live in it. They didn't want to impose on the humans.)
Death landed, placing the egg down in the highest tower. The floors of the tower were mostly made out of quickly put together magic seals that made sure nothing could get through, almost every hole was covered in seals. They used the winds to teleport them to the room the humans had given Them and taken some of the pillows, blankets and anything that would be comfortable or warm for the dragon. They're only slightly glad the humans had decided to give Them some, if only because the egg now had something to keep them warm.
They teleported back into the tower, making a small nest out of everything They grabbed and placing the egg in it. They would definitely need to get food for the dragon, They might have to go to the humans.
They waited for what felt like forever. Asking Their siblings to do Their job was hard but They managed so all they had to do now was to wait for the dragon to hatch.
A crack startled Death awake, (When did They fall asleep?) Their eyes snapping open as They turned to the dragon egg, small cracks growing. the shell of the egg started to break in, a large enough hole being made as the baby dragon's head popped up through the hole. Death walked closer, trying not to startle the baby. From what Death could see the dragon was a mixture of blue and light blue. Death kneeled next to the dragon, watching as it struggled to get out.
Death brought a hand to the shell, the dragon pausing as it studied Them. Death's fingernails drug into some of the cracks, pulling some of the shell off. It wasn't much but the dragon had started to manage to poke their barely formed claws and managed to get out the rest of the way.
The dragon was pretty, its mixture of blue, white and other blue-ish colors were similar to the seals that were around them.
The dragon struggled to stand, circling Death once it could. "Would you like a name, young one?" Death asked. They didn't know what was the standard for dragons when it comes to naming but They could try. The dragon perked, as if understand Them before running around happily, stumbling before sitting down in front of Death.
Death smiled. Death studied the dragon as if trying to come up with a name. (They startled when a whisper echoed in their ears, coming from no where. It was suggesting a name, one They knew to be one of Their siblings that had died. Death knew it was mother.)
"What about Dvalin?"
Kronos' mother is gone. She left Them with the title of God of time and left Them all Their siblings to take care of. Kronos was no longer a servant to time but the controller of it. It wasn't something They would think would happen, They thought Their mother wouldn't leave Them all behind. They now have thousands of wind spirits to take care of to add onto having to make sure an entire nation doesn't die AND have to guide souls to Celestia. (He refused to acknowledge the fact he's taking care of a dragon too, but it doesn't make it any less true.) Kronos was thinking of leaving the nation under the protection of it's current rulers and what will potentially be called The Four Winds. They couldn't handle having so many duties by themselves.
They haven't attended a single Archon meeting yet, Kronos knows the other Archons are furious at Them. Kronos had just been too busy trying to get everything in order, Dvalin had helped to lessen Their workload but it was still too much.
Deat- Barbatos had finally attended a meeting, one being held in Liyue. It was awkward when They arrived, all the other archons had already arrived. The meeting was mainly to discuss something about orders from Celestia, but They weren't really paying attention. They hated Celestia, but They had to work closely with them. The glances the other archons had sent Them was unsettling something in Their nerves.
After the meeting had ended He wanted to get away as quickly as possible. He was tired, having spent most of Their energy dealing with a massive spike in deaths about something (Death wishes They had paid more attention to the meeting, it would've helped them for what was about to come.) so they were considering summoning Dvalin, despite knowing that it would bring trouble to bring a dragon only Monstadtians knew about (The humans had decided to keep the dragon a secret when a few months old Dvalin had once followed Barbatos to the city. The humans decided to after seeing the soft look Barbatos had, deciding they wouldn't let harm come to the dragon, even if meant keeping the dragon a secret. It was an unspoken rule.)
Barbatos could feel exhaustion creeping into His bones and sighed, knowing that They barely had enough power to hold up Their god form. He summoned as much wind as He could and used it to teleport away back to Old Mondstadt right as an Archon was trying to speak to Them.
They collapsed onto the seals that covered the large hole in the top floor of the tower, hands firmly in front of Them in order not to fully face-plant into the magic. There blankets were gathered in a nest in the middle of the tower and Barbatos crawled to it before fulling collapsing. He switched forms, turning into a wind spirit in order to persevere His energy.
He fell asleep like that, snuggled against soft blankets and pillows. Dvalin eventually joined Them, using his wing to cover Barbatos' small form.
Barbatos was flung back into the air, wings desperately trying to save Them. The fight was too close to the city, He could see Dvalin trying to lure Durin away from the city but was flung into the snowy mountains. Barbatos knew His children were watching the fight, scared as they watched the fight. Durin started heading back to Mondstadt, ready to destroy it.
Barbatos wasn't going to let the dragon do that. He wasn't going to let Durin hurt His children, the ones He swore to protect. Barbatos righted Himself, flinging forward in a flurry of feathers in order to prevent Durin from getting closer to the city. Barbatos strung back Their bow, letting the winds gather in the arrow before letting it fly, hitting the dragon between its scales and making it cry out from the small vortex that was gathering beneath its scales.
Dvalin entered the fight again, apparently recovering enough to try and once again lure Durin away. Barbatos flew to help, nocking another arrow in Their bow, gathering wind again to make another attack. The arrow hit, making another mini black hole beneath the scales which angered Durin to make it come after Them.
Barbatos let out a yelp, flying fast over to where the mountains were. They shot another arrow, keeping its attention on Himself. 'I'm not failing now, not when the other gods failed.' (He felt The Heavenly Principles pull on his gnosis, trying to get him to help the others destroy Khaenri'ah but he resisted. He needed to protect his city.)
The fight was moved away from the city, which was what the two of them wanted. Barbatos fought against the exhaustion from Their overuse of power, not faltering once as They nocked another arrow, barely waiting enough to gather wind before shooting. Barbatos was mainly trying to provide a distraction.
It felt like hours until they finally managed to defeat Durin. Dvalin managing to snag a nasty bite in Durin's neck which made Durin finally die and fall to the ground in the mountain.
After Dvalin came over to check on Barbatos They sent him off to let him rest after the long fight. Barbatos watched as Dvalin did one last fly around Mondstadt to check on it before flying towards Old Mondstadt.
Barbatos dropped down next to Durin's body, stroking the dragon's muzzle. He felt bad for it, knowing it was just corrupted but unfortunately there was nothing They could do.
Barbatos left after guiding it's soul to Celestia, listening to the sorrows of the dragon. Barbatos transformed into a wind spirit, deciding to sleep and recover with his siblings.
Venti kicked his feet back and forth, feet dangling off of the branch he was on. He's just happy his children are safe, he needed to get gifts for the people who helped free Dvalin eventually. (Even if he could've done it by himself if the Traveler hadn't messed it up.)
He bit into the apple he had, thinking about everything that happened the past few days. Stupid fatui thinking they can take an Archon's heart, thinking they can underestimate him and get away with it. Oh well, he doubts it'll take long before they realize it was fake.
Venti just shook his head softly, before pushing himself off of the branch he was on. No use thinking about it, it was time from him to go perform after all!
(He doesn't know when he started seeing the citizens of Mondstadt as his children, but he thinks he doesn't mind.)