XXXVIII

A gasp left your mouth as all the air was punched from your lungs. The sensation of falling curled in your stomach, harsh scrapes scratching against your skin as you fell through the air.

Your back hit the harsh ground, the air once again leaving your body, making you feel flat against the ground, as if nothing was filling you up. Absentmindedly, you realized you were laying in a patch of stark green grass, towering trees shading you from a bright, violent sun.

You heard rustling around you, rushing foot falls and far away calls that couldn't be heard over your haze of pain. Your shoulders hurt, your back hurt, and your legs had felt like they had been running for far too long. Little droplets of blood dripped from the cuts across your body, staining the rips in your dusty, now riddled with dirt, clothes.

A shadow hovered over you, thin fingers wrapped in gloves pressing delicately to your neck. Your growling stomach churned at the scent of berries mixed with rich earth from the person above you, a groan leaving your lips as you tried to move.

Hands pushed your shoulders down to stop you from moving, the voice turning stern as those lithe fingers searched all over, looking for all your bleeding wounds.

A harsh bark, an order from the person, sent some others (Assistants? Friends?) scrambling, but all it did to you was send a shock of surprise through your body.

-

Your eyes snapped open to the usual darkness of your little dungeon cell. Sweat formed on your brow as your head hung to your chin. As you continued to wake, that scent of sweetness and earth still invaded your senses, filling you with a wave of longing.

How long have you been hanging here? Arms slowly pulling from your sockets, stomach caving in and muscles weakening as you were denied food until you provided something of worth.

A cynical chuckle left your lips. You supposed you had something of worth now. A vision, you had finally realized after your fall, showing you not in the clutches of the abyss was pretty important you'd say. Of course, you'd never say it, never tell Lumine that eventually, you wouldn't be in her hands anymore, wrapped in her chains, at her command.

Eventually, you'd see sky, see the sun, two things you hadn't realized how much you could connect your happiness to until it was gone. The cold, dank, lifeless air of the cell and the creeping dark that never left. The lack of windows and the creaking of your chains condemned you to misery.

You lifted your eyes when you heard the door creak open. Little light spilled through the crack before the door was shut once more, and the only thing illuminating the room was now the Abyss Princess' outfit decorations, which glowed an ominous, royal and strangely cloudy purple.

Her arms were crossed, lips set into a deep frown as she looked at you, a soon-to-be skeleton swaying in rusted chains.

You took a deep breath and raised your head, looking her in the eye as you prepared for her usual onslaught of questions.

-

Back in the tavern at the beginning of dusk, Aether waited with baited breath for Diluc's return. He hadn't had the energy to sight see Mondstadt even though he missed the atmosphere more than he thought he would.

Liyue, despite its incredible beauty, could feel rather suffocating at times. The towering, intimidating mountains that littered the landscape, the always busy harbor, the shimmering lake constantly stuffed with boats. It was quite a shift from Mondsadt's rolling hills and small cliffs. The city buildings were close but never so tight it felt like they could fall over and the streets were lined with people but never to the point you could very easily bash your shoulder in someone else.

Or perhaps this bias had come from the constant worry he felt in Liyue. The fight at the Golden House, the battle against Osial, your coma, your kidnapping, his flare ups... it was all so much that maybe Mondstadt was automatically gifted with the title of "Not as Traumatizing" and that was why it felt easier to breathe.

Aether sat at the bar, swirling the straw in his drink with concealed dejection as Diluc took longer and longer to arrive. Venti had been playing his songs, his finger strumming a sweet tune on his lyre as a deceptively joyous smile was on his lips.

It was only when a new presence appeared at his side, did he perk up. Looking to his right, he felt a twinge of disappointment when instead of a fire red, he was met with a deep cobalt blue that fell over one shoulder.

"Traveler," Kaeya smiled. "It's been so long since you've been in town. Has everything been going well?"

Aether's fist curled but he forced a deep breath. "I'm afraid I returned with bad news."

Aether saw something flicker in Kaeya's starry eye before it was hidden once more. "Did something happen to [Y/n]? I had heard of their condition, but I was under the impression that they had been healing."

Aether paused. He wasn't sure how good of an idea it was to involve Kaeya. On one hand, he'd have to explain the visions, Venti, Dvalin, the abyss, maybe even Ariel. Was it too late to bring him into the loop? Why wasn't he in the loop in the first place? Aether was under the impression that Kaeya and Polaris had been close. Was there some lack of trust? That didn't make sense.

But Kaeya was also shifty, knowledgeable in his own ways that Aether hadn't taken the time to uncover. There would be a benefit to bringing him in, resources that they could possibly gain.

It seemed he had paused for too long when he noticed Kaeya's eye sink into a narrowed gaze that left prickles along his arms. "Traveler?"

"Listen..."

-

Xiao's polearm cuts through the air with deadly precision, the glowing jade reflecting the evening sun as it stabbed through the heart of a lowly demon.

Sweat dribbled down his forehead, but there was a soft, perhaps twisted, smile on his lips. For the first time in the past thousand or so years- honestly, he had lost count so long ago, caught in a swirling oppressive sadness he didn't realize was dragging him so close to death- he could think freely, his mind unbound and his limbs full of air.

It was currently the only thing keeping him hopeful in such times.

The giant golden wings from his back and wasn't it strange to have those after so long, instinctively curled around his small form at the bitter reminder of his friend's disappearance. It was strange, he thought, now that they were gone, he felt a longing he didn't understand.

Before them, there was simply his duty, one to be carried out each day despite the ache in his arms as he slashed through hoards of hostility and resent. Even as his mind muddled occasionally, leaving him in an unpleasant haze that blocked off his senses and left him vulnerable to the wave of intense hatred as the miasma curved around his tortured soul, he still abided by the contract set by his lord, Rex Lapis.

Their prayer was the first thing to intrigue him. Of course, the people of Liyue had prayed to him before, he was a protector of the country, it was natural. But none had prayed for his happiness. None had thanked him so kindly for help he hadn't offered them. It was indeed curious.

Then he had met them face to face alongside the golden-haired traveler. Your eyes had lingered on the horizon as you waited, a delicious looking plate of almond tofu beside you. He didn't regret the ensuing conversation, nor the dessert you left for him.

It was the night upon the balcony that truly brought him into your orbit. The haunting look in your eyes was one he had remembered on his own face when he looked into the old bronze mirrors (before he started avoiding them all together). Something had stirred in his chest, something that broke through the haze and pushed him to talk to you, and before he thought too much about it, he had appeared by your side.

You were troubled, agitated, and scared, but it didn't overpower the soft look on your face as you teased him, confessed to him, took comfort in him. It was such an odd feeling, to be one that brought reassurance instead of fear or intimidation. And when a glaze washed over your eyes at the thoughts of death, there was another lurch in his chest, something akin to understanding.

He wasn't one to comfort, he didn't think he was all too good at it, but the appreciative look you shot at him when he simply said "I understand" was something he never thought he'd get.

Contrary to him, he knew you were much better. The sentiments that he deserved things had warmth, he did his best to hide, spreading through his stomach. A feeling he couldn't identify that made his cheeks burn light pink.

It was why he inevitably found himself coming back to you, spending time in your presence, going along to your whims with little resistance. The care with which you treated him, not like a stranger or acquaintance, but as a friend, had him yearning to the point where he gave you permission to use his name.

A permission you had only used once so far, one he wished you'd use again soon.

The sight of your body, bloody and crushed after your fall from the Jade Chamber, had his heart stuttering. He could recognize fear. It churned inside him like a restless, distressed beast, desperate to run from the sight of your shallow breaths and limp, dirty strands of hair.

Momentary relief was gifted to him, only to be taken away so soon. It left him crumbling, the miasma seeping into the exposed parts of his mind that cling to the memories of your worry and comfort.

But then his wings, his lost, forgotten, torn up wings, sprouted from his back as beautiful as before they had been ruthlessly amputated. You had still been thinking of him. Even in your fear and desperation, you still had him on your mind.

They were his symbol. His connection to you. His hope that you would be found.

-

The tavern was quiet when its owner stepped through the threshold. Lips set in a deep frown and claymore slung over his tired back, Diluc gazed at the few individuals left in the soft amber glow of the bar.

a/n - Damn, y'all were unreactive to the last chapter. I hope you find this one a little more entertaining.