It started as a silly request from his sister.
Aether doesn't understand why, out of all the friends she's made along her journey, this adepti is the one she is most fixated on. On more than one occasion, he asked if she had been romantically involved with him, or if she wanted to be. She merely shook her head.
"He is... not someone I could save. I knew that from the start. And when you find yourself wondering how to 'save' someone every time you see them, it is hard to view them as a romantic interest."
He couldn't agree more to that.
"So he's one of your... suitors?" he summarised. Because he knows his sister has an endless supply of those .
(Sometimes Aether wishes he could smite every single one of them.)
She laughs, sheepish. "It's a little more complicated than that. I'm sure he is attached to me, but... my presence hurts him."
He frowns in response, "I find that hard to believe."
"No, not in the damning way that The Abyss does. It is the opposite... He was tainted with karmic debt, see, and my powers seem to negate his very reason to live. At first, I thought this was a good thing. He should live for something other than carrying sin!"
Awfully optimistic of her, but she wouldn't be his sister, otherwise. He smiled softly at this, letting her rest her head against his shoulder.
"...But I realized it is more complicated than that. He didn't tell me much about his time before he received Zhongli's contract, but... I suspect he might be more than just an illuminated beast."
Aether raised his brow at that. You mean..?
Lumine shrugged in response, nuzzling her head closer. "I don't know. He certainly didn't seem like any of them, but I sensed that he had a complicated relationship with his affliction.”
“In any case, I just want you to get along with him. I’ve told him a great deal about you.”
Aether chuckled as he stroked her hair, “All bad things, I imagine?” He asked, teasing.
“Oh, terrible things! the most awful of things…” Lumine gestures in an exaggerated fashion as she clings onto her brother, fake tears and all.
“I told him I missed you.”
✧✧✧
And that is how Aether finds himself in his current situation, being stared down by virtually everyone in Wangshuu Inn.
“You’re…” The lady behind the counter trails off, eyes fixated on Aether as if finding it hard to believe he exists.
“Lumine’s twin, yes.” He smiles softly, “Nice to meet you, my name is Aether.”
He can hear whispers all around him. Astonishment, mostly, mixed with equal parts disbelief and wonder. He hears one of them saying they’re glad Lumine managed to find who she was looking for. He shares the sentiment.
“Erm,” The lady falters a bit, but regains her composure.
“...Well, welcome to our establishment. My name is Goldet. I am the boss here at the Wangshu Inn; Lest you think I was…”
“The boss’s wife, right?” Aether chuckles. “Lumine has told me about you. Boss Goldet, with a capital B-O-S-S.”
Her smile visibly relaxes. “Is the Traveler here as well, then?” The lady asks.
“She isn’t, sorry.” She’s actually just hiding downstairs, but. “She says that she will visit soon. I’m here to err… fetch? A close friend of hers. She says he lives here?”
“Oh… Do you mean the Conqueror of Demons?”
“That’s the one. Is he around?”
“He should be. You can go ahead upstairs, if he isn’t on the rooftop deck, then the room directly next to it is his. You might have heard this from the Traveler, but The Conquerer of Demons isn’t the friendliest of people… If he refuses to face you, bring up the Traveler’s name. He should be more amenable to a conversation, then.”
“I understand. Thank you very much!” Aether smiles, and heads on upstairs.
The rooftop of Wangshu Inn was a beautiful sight. He looks over the deck with wonder and takes in the sprawling mountains and vast plains of Liyue spread endlessly beneath him. It has been several hundred years since he was able to enjoy this, he realises, and forgives himself for wanting to take a little more time to appreciate the world he helped(?) save.
When he took a step closer to the locaction Goldet pointed out, The Conqueror of Demon’s room seemed to be no different than any of the other rooms in that Inn, just far more secluded. If not for her statement, he would’ve thought this was a storage room, instead. He knocks thrice, and barely hears any movement or footsteps before the door in front of him opens, revealing a young man about his height, with teal streaks on messy dark hair and traditional Liyue clothing. The man—or rather, the entire room, smelled like medicinal tea and Qingxin, with just a touch of incense smoke.
“You’re…”
Aether thinks he has heard enough of people reacting with ‘you are, dot dot dot’ whenever he tries to greet Lumine’s friends (or anyone) without her present. Yet when he heard the man’s voice, soft spoken and entirely flabbergasted in contrast to his intimidating appearance, he couldn’t help but chuckle.
He sees why Lumine is fixated on him.
“Hello,” He says simply.
The man—Xiao, former adeptus, one of Rex Lapis’ strongest fighters since the age of the third Desencer’s fall, The last Yaksha titled “Conqueror of Demons”—seems deep in thought for a moment, expression unreadable as his amber-colored eyes seem to scan every inch of Aether’s figure. Then he stills his gaze to meet Aether’s own.
“Do you need something from me?”
That’s awfully direct. Aether mused, unperturbed. He tries to be as sincere as possible as he says,
“It is natural for you to be on guard, but my coming here is actually a request from Lumine.”
The man crosses his arms on his chest. “Then why are you the one facing me, and not her?”
Oh, he hates me. This isn’t a good start.
“She’s downstairs, by the water wheel. It has been a while since she last visited, and seeing as she is a regular, all the staff and half the guests would flood her with questions the moment she shows up. She stands out, as you know. And I’m… not that much better, actually, but at least they are not so brazen as to shove themselves on my face.”
Xiao seems to consider this reasoning, and with a huff that sounds suspiciously like a sigh, he finally nods.
His excuse was entirely truthful, this time. The twins did spend some time walking together back in Mondstadt, but the second Lumine showed herself inside city walls with him in tow, she was practically bombarded with questions and people wanting to talk to her. She was kind enough to entertain them, most of the time, but it got tiring after a while. Aether’s affiliation to the Abyss was scarcely known to anyone, other than a few of Lumine’s closest confidantes, so to most of them, Aether was present there just as “Lumine’s lost brother”—Which isn’t entirely wrong, he supposes. In any case, it was a role he is more than willing to step into.
Xiao, evidently, was not ‘most people’. And according to Lumine, he was the only person to whom she had told this fact out of her own volition, instead of them finding out or her being forced to tell. It explains much of Xiao’s guardedness, considering what he knows, what Lumine said she told him; While not untrusting, he certainly seemed like he had a lot to say about what happened. Looking at the man’s small figure from behind, he found himself hoping they could work something out, and he convinced himself it was for Lumine’s sake.
✧✧✧
“You want me to do… What ?”
Xiao’s expression was as if he had seen a ghost, and Aether tried his best to hold back a chuckle.
“Like I said, I just need you to be his tour guide for a while. Like Paimon.”
“...Like– Like Paimon .”
Even Aether, a total stranger to the ex-adeptus, could tell that he and Paimon could not be further apart in nature.
“I… And why couldn’t this be the fairy’s job, again?”
“Because she’s out with Dain,” Aether interjects, mostly because he finds the fact funnier and funnier every time he explains it.
(It will do Dainsleif some good to hang out with her.)
Xiao does not recover from his horror. Aether wonders if his sister had truly broken him.
“I’m sorry, but you're really the only one I can ask for. I need to sort out business with a lot of people, some of them need me, and I also miss them,” Lumine explains, expression as kind as ever.
“But whenever I go into town, I attract attention . I’m all used to it, so it’s alright—But sometimes they say things about the Abyss. Things that I do not want my brother to hear.”
Aether’s reaction when he heard this was about as shocked as Xiao’s. That is what this is about?
He was going to have a talk with his sister later.
“I understand that they do not need to, and cannot know the truth. But I…” She sighs, and Aether’s heart grows heavier with every word.
“You know me, Xiao. I can’t just make him put up with that. Even if not a guide, you can think of it as just… being his bodyguard.”
Right, because being bodyguard to the man who ended the age of the Divine isn’t weird at all.
“There’s not many people I could ask who would be a comfortable company, for him. I don’t want him to have to hide himself forever.”
“Lumi, I don’t mind—”
His sister glares at him before he can interject. He frowns, but keeps his mouth shut. He had no qualms with getting along with Lumine’s friends, pretending he was absent for most of her journey. He practically was . Aether doesn’t regret doing what he did, sure. If he had to do it again, he would choose the same path in a heartbeat. But that doesn’t mean he was going to flaunt his past like it is something to be proud of. If he could spend most of his days hiding the fact that he sent spies to watch over his sister for the past decade, he would be perfectly happy!
“I just want to travel for a while. Introduce Aether to my friends and take care of… Way too many things I’ve left unfinished. It will take a few months, maybe. And I’d rather die again than not take him with me, but while I want him to get along with my friends, I need someone to keep him company while I deal with… You know, everything else .”
Lumine finishes her explanation with an apologetic smile. Aether sighs, wondering if any of this was really necessary. Xiao’s eyes seemed to convey that he had come to a decision long ago.
A part of Aether fears the answer— If even Lumine’s most trusted friend could not accept him, then is he destined to hide his past for the rest of this mortal life? —the other part dares not hope for the adeptus to agree. Contrary to the expectations of everyone involved, though, what came out of Xiao’s mouth was a simple,
“I understand.”
