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Aether jumped back just out of the reach of a cryo abyss mage’s icy attacks. This proved to be in vain, however, as the smell of burnt hair graced Aether’s nose and the feeling of burning flesh filled his consciousness. He swore loudly in his native language, rolling out of the way of the two abyss mages. How did he forget about the pyro one?
His back burned and he could feel blood staining his shirt. His singed hair had come undone and hung around his arms, limply. Maybe he should have taken Albedo’s advice and gotten armor… not like he could dwell on that at the moment.
Aether could feel metal in his mouth, “great.”
At that moment, a hydro abyss mage appeared out of Sevens knows where looking just as angry as the other two. “Just fantastic.”
Aether’s power was waning. He had been fighting nonstop for an hour at that point. hilichurl camp after hilichurl camp and now these three abyss mages. Sweat dripped down his brow as he regained his fighting stance. He twisted his sword in his hand, adjusting his grip as if that’d do anything. The sword was red and cursed, according to Albedo. Aether wished the curse would make the sword more powerful. He thought it’d be cool if it made the blade rip through skin easier or something.
The only skin being ripped currently, however, was his own. Aether hoped that the wound on his back wouldn't get infected.
“Focus, Aether. You can't space out in battle or you’ll die!”
Aether rushed forward, dodging the new hydro abyss mage’s slice of sharp water. He swiped his sword in a diagonal motion, “wind blade!”
The hydro mage shot backward from the anemo that expelled from his blade. It fell to the ground with a high-pitched squeal, incapacitated for the time being.
Aether reveled in the small victory for a second before turning his gaze onto the pyro and cryo abyss mages. It was now or never! He could do this!
Anemo power surrounded Aether. He silently prayed to both Barbatos and Rex Lapis (Venti and Zhongli?) that this worked. He funneled the anemo power to the tip of his sword, making it glow bright blue.
“WITH THE WIND!”
All the accumulated power released from his blade at once, creating multiple deadly whirlwinds. The cryo and pyro abyss mages were sucked up into these winds, pushing them back. Aether took this chance to ditch. Not the most chivalrous option, but a necessary one at that point.
That was when it all fell to pieces.
“YARG!”
Aether recognized the cry with a start, “shit. How did I not notice the hilichurl camp?! More than that, how did I run straight into it ?!”
A mitachurl charged at him, its giant shield threatening to bash the side of Aether’s face in. He dived to the side, crashing into one of the hilichurls and sending them both tumbling to the ground. He shoved his sword into the neck of the creature, killing it instantly. Unfortunately, his distracted state led to a sharp pain in his side. He looked down.
“Oh. Fantastic. An arrow.”
He turned and glared at the archer, “rude.”
The hilichurl just tipped its head to the side quizzically.
“Damn, I should’ve come with backup… I could call for Xiao, but I’m sure they’re busy brooding on the inn roof or something. And I’m not in much real trouble. I can handle this.”
He stumbled toward the archer. His vision blurred as he desperately tried to stay upright. He could taste the metal of blood in his mouth. The sounds of the plains of Mondstadt all melded into a high-pitched hum that gave Aether a headache. He could only focus on pain; his back seared and his side protested his every movement. He was only vaguely aware when he fell to the floor. A high-pitched voice spoke frantically, but he couldn’t make it out or focus on it and it eventually went away.
He zoned out for a minute before returning to his somewhat aware state. The hilichurls hadn’t been attacking him. Why weren’t they attacking him? That was weird. Didn’t hilichurls eat people? Or, at least, any meat they could find? That was a grim thought. It was the truth, though. Why weren’t the hilichurls attacking him? Did he ever answer that? Why was his brain so fuzzy?
“...ther. Aether. Aether, please !”
His name was Aether. What a coincidence! Wait, who was talking? They sounded worried. Were they talking about him? Did he know them? They had a scratchy voice that soothed him. An image of a person with black and turquoise hair entered Aether’s fleeting thoughts. Then, the person entered his vision. When did he open his eyes? Were his eyes open?
“...Xi… ao…?”
“Aether, hey, everything is going to be okay. Paimon’s bringing a healer and you will be okay. You will be okay… you will-”
Xiao cut themself off with a noise that sounded suspiciously like a sob. Xiao… sobbing? Droplets of water hit his cheeks. Aether almost laughed at that. Xiao doesn’t cry! Xiao doesn’t even laugh! Xiao doesn’t- Xiao was- Xiao was crying…
“Wha’s wrong? ...Why’re you crying? Don’ cry…”
“I’m sorry, Aether…”
Why couldn’t he form words right? Why was his vision fading? Why was Xiao apologizing? It was like static was overcoming him. What was going on?
His back still hurt and so did his side. The last time he checked, he was bleeding. Why was he bleeding? Oh… right. The hilichurls. He hoped he wasn’t staining Xiao’s shirt. They probably wouldn’t like that much.
Wait. Major injuries, blood, Xiao… crying…
“Am I going to die?”
“I’m sorry, Aether. I’m sorry. I was supposed to protect you, I’m so sorry. ”
No. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Xiao wasn’t supposed to cry. They were supposed to smile! All Aether wanted was for them to be happy! He and Paimon had set up a whole Lantern Rite just for them to be happy! He didn’t want to be the one to make them sad!
“Xiao… Xiao, please smile. I… I love… you… Xiao…”
Aether closed his eyes. He hadn't realized how exhausted he was until then. He could hear his name being called, but the words felt muffled. Like he was… underwater. His eyelids were too heavy to open and his lungs were too tired to breathe. Water… like the sea. Lumine had loved the sea. Aether had been paranoid, worrying that she’d go too far out and not be able to swim back. Heh, what irony.
Aether ended up being the twin that drowned.
It had been a relatively normal day for Xiao. They had spent their evening on the roof of the Wangsheng Inn, watching the clouds. Nothing had seemed out of the ordinary, however, Xiao couldn’t shake the feeling that something was wrong.
“Nothing is wrong, Xiao. You’re just convincing yourself otherwise.”
A high-pitched shrill assaulted their eardrums from behind them,
“XIAO!!!”
They poorly hid their startled jump, twisting around to glare at Paimon and…
Just… Paimon.
Xiao hastily covered their concern with mostly faux annoyance, “where’s your dear traveling companion?”
“That’s what Paimon’s here for! Paimon remembers you saying that you would help Paimon and Aether if he called?”
“Yes. Anytime; anywhere. What do you need? Nobody called for me. At least… no. I can't miss anyone’s plea for help.”
“Well, Paimon forgot about your words until now-”
“That’s a lie.”
“But, Aether is in trouble! You have to help him!”
Xiao sighed, “he probably got himself stuck in a tree again.”
Aether and Xiao had very different ideas of an emergency. One time, Aether called on them because his glider broke, and “it would be an inconvenience to walk all the way back to Liyue on foot .” Regardless of how arbitrary the request was, however, Xiao came to his aid every time. They were afraid that one day it would be a real emergency and they would arrive too late.
They had already pinpointed Aether’s location. They usually kept tabs on where the traveler was. He seemed to have a… knack for getting into trouble. Xiao hoped he hadn’t gone too far this time.
They grabbed Paimon by the sleeve of her romper, her squeaking in surprise, and used a portion of their energy to fast travel to Aether’s location.
Xiao’s shoes landed on Mondstadtian grass. They and Paimon had appeared in the middle of a hilichurl camp, drawing the monster’s attention from the thing they had been focusing on before.
Xiao’s eyes lingered on the victim of the hilichurls before recognizing him with a gasp. It was Aether. His hair was down and blackened at the ends. His clothing was ripped and… red. So, so, red . An arrow was sticking out of his side.
Xiao’s initial shock morphed into rage. They summoned their adeptal energy, a mask materializing over their face. With a raged yell, they charged toward the hilichurls surrounding Aether, “GET AWAY FROM HIM!”
They made quick work of the hilichurls and even the mitachurl went down fast. Seeing a hydro abyss mage lurking just beyond them, Xiao chucked their spear at it. The spear impaled the mage, killing it instantly.
Xiao dropped down to their knees next to Aether as their mask fell from their face. He… didn’t look good.
Aether’s clothing was tattered and had turned red from the blood leaking out of his arrow wound. According to Paimon, he had sustained a serious injury on his back from a pyro abyss mage as well.
“Dammit, Aether! Why didn’t you call for me sooner?! Why didn’t you… why…”
“Paimon,” Xiao’s voice came out more scratchy than normal. Thinly veiled emotion was rich within their words, “please get the first healer you can find.”
Paimon nodded, a worried expression on her face. She disappeared, leaving Xiao alone with their regrets and a dying friend.
Looking at Aether in and of itself made Xiao want to cry. Xiao didn’t cry! Why were they crying?
Tears fell from their eyes and onto Aether’s cheeks. They washed some of the blood off of Aether’s face.
The monsters were sure to leave every part of Aether in a mangled state. Even his hair. The golden braid that Xiao had gotten accustomed to was undone and the curls hung limply around their friend. They supposed the part that had held the braid together had been burned off if the charred ends were any indication. Blood was dried into the strands, dulling the gold.
The sight of the damage done to even something as simple as Aether’s hair outraged Xiao and also made them feel… guilty.
“Aether’s hair was- Aether’s hair is important to him. He’s not going to die. He can’t die. It would be my fault. All my fault! I didn’t make it in time. I didn’t make it in time. I promised to protect him and look at the job I’ve done.”
Xiao choked on their tears. They hadn’t cried this hard in years, centuries, even. They gasped for breath as they begged him to wake up.
“Aether. Aether! Aether, please!”
Xiao blinked the tears out of their eyes. When they could properly see again, they noticed eyes staring back at them. Aether’s once shiny, colorful eyes were dull and dark. Xiao wasn’t sure if he was even completely there. Checking his pulse again showed that he was still alive, however, he could barely feel it. His heartbeat was too slow. “I was too slow.”
“Xi… ao…”
Their eyes widened slightly. So, he was at least comprehending some of his surroundings! Xiao almost wished he couldn’t. The injuries he sustained must hurt like all hell.
Xiao wished they had the power to heal instead of only harm. Some anemo users were healers. However, they weren’t. There was nothing they could do except say words. And that’s just what they did.
“Aether, hey, everything is going to be okay. Paimon’s bringing a healer and you will be okay. You will be okay… you will-”
Xiao cut themself off with a sob. Fantastic. Sobbing.
It was funny. Xiao spent much of their time trying to avoid people, finding them irritating and irrational. Now, they were crying harder than they had in centuries due to losing one of the people they tried so hard to push away.
Despite spending so much energy trying to get Aether to leave them alone, he never stopped. It was as if he made a quest out of getting to know Xiao. He had even made a mini Lantern Rite for Xiao after they’d said that they didn’t want to be around people. He had dragged them to see the lanterns because he knew it would make them happy.
“Wha’s wrong? ...Why’re you crying? Don’ cry…”
Despite always brushing him off and being aggressive toward him, Xiao considered Aether a friend. They would go into a thousand crowds just to see Aether’s smile again. His bright eyes, full of life and love to give to everyone. What they would give for Aether to be safe.
“I’m sorry, Aether…”
Aether’s face was full of worry and exhaustion. He should never have to look like that.
“He looks like that because of you. Because you were too slow. Because you swore to protect him and you broke your promise. Because you killed him.”
Aether’s eyes widened a fraction and his eyebrows creased further, “Am I… go’ng t’ die?”
Xiao’s breath hitched. They wanted so badly to tell Aether that he was wrong. They wanted to tell him that he was an idiot. That he would be fine. But they couldn’t bring themself to lie to Aether. It was illogical. They couldn’t lie to him just to protect their feelings. Aether deserved the truth.
However… they couldn’t bring themself to say the truth, either, irrational as it was. If they said it— if they told Aether he was going to die— then they would be admitting it themself. They would be admitting that there was nothing they could do. That they failed. That Aether was going to die because of them. They didn’t even notice that they were sobbing out apologies until they heard Aether again.
“Xiao… Xiao, please smile…”
He was asking them… to smile. Smile . Aether was on his deathbed and was asking the person who killed him to smile . How?! How could Xiao smile when they just killed the only mortal they cared about? The mortal they… loved. He was dying. He was dying and his last request was for his murderer to smile.
“I…”
“Hate me. Please say you hate me! I killed you. I’m not deserving of any emotion other than pure anger. I’m a murderer. I’m a killer. You weren’t the first person I killed and you won’t be the last. Please…”
“I love… you… Xiao…”
Aether’s eyes closed, his body going limp in Xiao’s arms.
“No. No, no, no! Not like this!”
“Aether, no! Please, Aether, you have to stay awake! It can’t end like this! I didn’t give you permission to die, you idiotic… jerk! Please!”
But Aether didn’t wake up. His body was cold. Xiao heard a hoarse yell of pure heartbreak. And, oh, that was them. They were the one crying out. They kneeled next to Aether’s rapidly cooling body, starting on chest compressions.
They tried and they tried to get Aether to breathe. They tried until their wrists hurt and they were sure that they bruised Aether’s chest in the process. With every failed attempt, Xiao’s hope dwindled more and more.
Collapsing on the now forever still chest of the person they loved, Xiao wept until no tears could come out. They cried until they felt light-headed and then some. They barely noticed when they were gently pulled away from the body.
They could feel Paimon’s hand on their shoulder and felt water drip down their arm. She was crying too. That only solidified their conclusion.
“Aether’s… really gone… isn’t he?”
“Aether’s gone and it’s all my fault.”