Chapter Text
For Aether, home was anywhere that he could see his sister.
Home was the laughter.
And home was her.
But now, there is no her. Only Teyvat. The frighteningly fake skies, and all of the people he met.
Maybe it's because she told him to follow in her footsteps that Aether now felt that Teyvat is the closest to what he could call his home. Monstadt with its freeing breeze, Inazuma’s brave thunder, Sumeru’s overflowing wisdom and golden sands, Fontaine’s oceanic feeling, Natlan’s camaraderie and Liyue’s breathtaking landscapes — presently what he's up to now.
The morning sunlight was sharp, cascading across the cliffs of Guyun Stone Forest as if gilding the jagged stone with molten gold. The sea below glittered endlessly, waves kissing the base of the rocks before retreating again. It was the kind of day when everything seemed alive—bright, warm, and steady.
But Aether could only feel the quiet hollow pressing against his ribs.
Beside him, Paimon floated lazily, her small frame turning in the breeze as her eyes admired the distant sprawl of Liyue Harbor. The ships came and went like drifting leaves, sails swelling with the wind. The harbor was awake with all the nearly indistinguishable markets bustling, people darting between stalls, decorations being prepared for the coming nights.
“Liyue always looks so lively,” Paimon whispered, half to herself. “It’s been a while since we’ve been here, right, Traveler?”
Aether smiled faintly, reaching out to stroke her cheek. Her face was warm under his palm, soft in a way that reminded him of the first day they met, when she pulled him from the water like a little guardian. She leaned into the touch, her eyes closing for a moment in quiet contentment before giggling and turning away.
Aether smiled, turned around, and slowly slipped off one glove.
Golden sunlight washed over his hand, yet it was no longer the same. The once strong fingers that had gripped swords, held friends, and reached across nations now glimmered faintly, edges blurring like smoke dissolving into air. Each time the light struck it, his hand seemed less and less a part of this world.
His throat tightened. He curled his fingers quickly, hiding the transparency from Paimon, but the coldness lingered in his chest.
If he disappeared…
Would Lumine’s voice break when she realized she could no longer scold him? Would Venti, somewhere under a tree with a half-empty bottle, strum a mournful tune in his name? Would Zhongli, hands clasped behind his back, mutter something about fate before continuing his long walk through time? Would his friends recover quickly after his passing?
And Xiao…But Xiao…
The thought of the adeptus made Aether’s heart sink further. Would Xiao finally speak his name without restraint, or would he swallow it, bury it deep, and add it to the countless burdens of his karmic debt? The idea of leaving Xiao with yet another ghost weighed heavier than anything.
Aether flexed his hand, willing it to stay, to remain flesh instead of fading light. But the stars within him whispered otherwise.
He let the glove slip back on and rose to his feet. “Come on, Paimon. Let’s head down.”
They descended the stone peaks with practiced ease, each step taking them closer to the familiar landscape of Liyue. The air grew softer as they moved toward the sea, salt tinging the wind. By the time they reached Yaoguang Shoal, the sun had shifted into its golden descent, painting the world in hues of amber and rose. Waves rolled gently across the sands, scattering seashells that glimmered like tiny fragments of stars.
Aether walked slowly, letting the water lap at his boots, while Paimon darted ahead to chase the shimmer of fish. For a moment, he let himself breathe—the horizon open, endless, reminding him of the first time he stood upon this shore as a stranger to Teyvat.
“A blond traveler, washed ashore along the sun, it has been a while.”
A haiku spoken by a familiar voice drifted on the wind.
Aether turned, and there stood Kazuha, his figure calm as the tide itself. His white hair caught the glow of the sunset, unique red strands fluttering with each breeze. He looked unchanged, and yet somehow wiser, as though every journey only carved deeper stillness into his soul.
“Kazuha,” Aether said, his voice softening.
The samurai walked closer, his sandals barely leaving prints on the sand. “It’s been some time. I wondered when fate would cross our paths again.”
They clasped forearms in greeting before settling side by side along the shoreline. Paimon fluttered near, chatting excitedly with Kazuha about their travels in Natlan, but the wind soon swallowed her words as she darted off to gather seashells.
For a while, only the sea spoke for them. The hush of waves filled the silence, a rhythm that seemed endless.
“You seem troubled,” Kazuha finally said, his voice low, thoughtful. His crimson eyes slid toward Aether, quiet but perceptive.
Aether pressed his gloved hands into the sand. The warmth of the grains seeped into him, grounding, and yet his chest still carried the weight of unspoken words. He swallowed, gaze fixed on the horizon.
“…What do you think happens when someone disappears?” His tone was light, but the words trembled faintly. “Do you think people remember them forever, or does time eventually make them a stranger again?”
Kazuha tilted his head, the question heavy yet familiar to a man who had also lost much. He did not answer right away. Instead, he allowed the silence to stretch, as if waiting for the sea to shape his response.
Finally, he said, “A person may fade from sight, but not from the heart of those who cherished them. Memories are like wind, they slip through fingers, but they never truly vanish. They return when you least expect them, carried back by the breeze.”
The traveler's lips parted slightly. The answer should have comforted him, but instead it only deepened the ache. His hand, trembling, reached for the sand. He pulled off the glove once more, watching the faint translucence flicker at his fingertips.
Kazuha’s sharp eyes caught it instantly. He said nothing, but his gaze softened. Slowly, he reached out and covered Aether’s hand with his own. His grip was warm, steady, grounding.
“You don’t have to carry this weight alone, let it float with the breeze,” Kazuha murmured.
The blond bit his lip, shoulders trembling just slightly. For a fleeting moment, he allowed himself to lean sideways, resting his temple against the samurai’s shoulder. It wasn’t surrender, it was just a brief moment of rest, like exhaling after holding breath too long.
Kazuha lifted his free arm and drew him into an embrace, the scent of maple leaves and salt air wrapping around him. The world blurred. For just that heartbeat, Aether allowed himself to be small, to be held.
“There, there. You're here, traveler. You're here with us. This wanderer doesn't know the weight of what you are carrying right now but two shoulders are better than one, no? You have all of Inazuma's too.”
At that moment, amber eyes narrowed from the cliffs above.
Xiao stood there, unseen. His spear rested against his back, but the tension in his posture was sharper than any blade. His eyes fixed on the scene below, the traveler pressed close to another, being comforted in arms that were not his. He didn’t move, didn’t speak, but something in his chest coiled tight, painful and unyielding.
By the time he stepped away, the shadows of dusk were lengthening.
A Qingxin flower clutched in his hand gently drifted with the wind.
Kazuha’s hand lingered over the sand, tracing idle lines as the waves crept near and erased them. He glanced sideways, a small smile ghosting his lips.
“Would you like to draw, traveler?” he asked softly.
Aether blinked, caught off guard. “Draw?”
“Mm.” Kazuha’s voice was calm, carrying that faint lilt of a poet reciting to the wind. “The way a child does. Lines in the dirt. Doodles on parchment. Sometimes I think the simplest strokes speak more truth than words.”
“Perhaps, you'd like to draw the things that give you strength?” The samurai gently gave a stick to him
The traveler hesitated, then knelt down beside him. He held the stick, pressing his hand into the cool grains of sand. Slowly, carefully, he began to draw.
He carved a lone star, a tiny spark burning quietly against the vast emptiness, and besides it, different people. Lots of people.
Kazuha’s crimson eyes followed the movements, thoughtful. “A star and perhaps...we, your friends?”
Aether smiled faintly, though his voice wavered. “The star is me. Always twinkling. Always afar.” His golden eyes softened, lingering on the star. “And the people, these are the ones who have always been there.”
The waves reached forward, washing away the edges of the star. Aether’s chest tightened as the lines blurred. He reached out instinctively, fingers trembling against the wet sand, but he could not keep it from dissolving.
Kazuha, silent until now, drew his own lines a little further up the shore, away from the water’s grasp. With swift, sure strokes, he sketched the curve of a heart. It was simple, unpolished, yet sentimental .
Aether’s lips parted, startled. “That’s…”
Kazuha’s smile curved gently, wistful. “Your heart. A way to remember you, if ever the wind carries you where I cannot follow. It's a big place.”
For a long moment, Aether couldn’t speak. He stared at the portrait, his throat aching, his hands curling into the sand. He wanted to say something.
‘Thank you, I’m sorry, don’t forget me’ but the words tangled too tightly in his chest.
Instead, he looked back at the star and the people he had drawn. The people he knew seemed to fit so comfortably inside his heart but after he disappeared, where can he put it all? He, the star, too, was nearly gone. Yet he could still see them in his mind. And maybe that was enough.
Kazuha rested a hand lightly on his shoulder. “Even if the sea takes the lines, the memory remains. That is the gift of drawing with the heart.”
Aether lowered his gaze, the ghost of a smile trembling on his lips. It was sweet. Profoundly sweet. And yet the sweetness only deepened the ache.
“See you, traveler. We'll be waiting in Inazuma.”
“....mmn.”
The horizon swallowed the samurai and the traveler was left alone again. He whispered, barely audible against the surf, “I hope he’ll remember me too.”
The tide rushed forward again leaving only the faint mark of a star that clung stubbornly to the grains.
The sun dipped lower, painting the shoal in liquid gold. Paimon returned, humming happily with a shell crown perched lopsided on her head. Aether chuckled softly at the sight, brushing stray sand from his trousers as he sat by the shore. The sea stretched infinite before him, each wave scattering like a thought he could never fully hold.
He lowered himself onto the sand, drawing his knees close, and let the tide creep near. His golden eyes traced the horizon. So much still lay unfinished. So many goodbyes waiting to be made.
The sound of footsteps broke his thoughts.
Before he could turn, strong arms slipped around his waist from behind. Aether gasped quietly, startled, until the familiar weight, the familiar warmth, melted against his back.
“Xiao…”
The name left his lips in a breath.
The adeptus didn’t speak. His hold was firm, almost desperate, as if he feared the traveler would vanish the moment he let go. His chin rested lightly against Aether’s shoulder, and for once, there was no distance, no hesitation. Only the raw, unspoken truth of his embrace.
The sea roared softly at their feet. The sun drowned slowly into the horizon. And in that fragile, golden moment, Aether closed his eyes and leaned back into him, pretending, just for now, that he wasn’t already fading into the stars.
Aether turned around and looked at the man. Xiao flinched a little before looking away, afraid to meet the other's eyes. Adeptus was scared that if the blond could perceive all these thoughts inside his head then he'd abhor him. With evading eyes, the arms were tighter.
The traveler only smiled lightly before asking, “What's gotten into you?”
“I heard that you finished your travels from Natlan.” Xiao spoke quietly, “I wanted to….spend time with you.”
The traveler's gaze melted and realized a possible reason for the frown on the silly adeptus, “So you've missed me.”
Xiao's ears reddened before looking at him. “Y-you have no respect for the-”
“For the adepti. Yeah, yeah, I know.” Aether grinned deeper.
Xiao's eyes only stared at the blond. Annoyed and Fondly.
Slowly, he extended his hands to tuck a few strands of loose hair to the back of the traveler's ear before gently drawing the end of his braid. Untying…burying his fingers through them..
Xiao never paid too much attention to anything.
But Xiao only looked at Aether with stars in his eyes.
The traveler who seldom lets his hair loose.
With every promise of “a little longer”, Xiao's the one who wanted more.
His adventures and little songs.
And the return he could only wait so long.
Xiao knew that he wouldn't let anything hurt this man. If only the traveler knew what he feared having to lose. Then realize that he's now the only thing that mattered to him most.
The adeptus felt the urge to say something hence, despite the weight in his throat, he spoke.
“I wanted to give you a flower.”
Aether's eye trembled slightly before nodding. “Yeah?”
“...I don't know which one you'll like.” I threw it. Xiao said.
The traveler could only sigh as he broke out a smile. “You're lying. I could smell a Qingxin from you. You really got flowers for me?”
“I- …yes.” Xiao replied before gathering his breath, “But I never got to give it to you. Aether, I also feel jealousy. No matter how much I want to hide how it affects me.”
The man pressed the traveler closer to him. Aether also hugged him and patted his back. He pulled away a little and gently touched Xiao's chest.
“Feels heavy here?” The traveler asked.
Nods.
Aether chuckled as he teased the man. “And here I thought the vigilant Yaksha doesn't have a heart for affection.”
Xiao held Aether's hand that was on his chest and replied sternly. Determinedly.
“I have. I do. It's big and it beats for you.”
“Xiao…”
The yaksha caressed the traveler's face with a gentleness that he only discovered five hundred years later in the form of Aether.
And Xiao kissed him.
And kissed him again.
Repeatedly.
So this is what jealousy is like for him, so territorial. Aether thought as he closed his eyes and wrapped his arms around the yaksha’s neck and pulled him deeper into the kiss. Their tongues awkwardly trying to hold each other.
Good thing Paimon went back to the teapot.
When they pulled apart, Aether looked closely at the man's eyes to peek at his emotions but there was only his reflection amidst the cat-like eyes.
“When you look at me like that, I have a feeling that I wouldn't be able to leave.” Aether shyly said.
“Do you plan to?” Xiao replied closely.
“No.”
Never.
TBC