Chapter Text
He’d always hated Dragonspine. From the moment he laid eyes on it, Aether felt repulsed by the always-present clouds of snow by the peak and the way it stood out from anywhere and everywhere. It was his least favorite place to do commissions, and this time he’d gotten lost on the way back from one. What, was he expected to know how to get around this hellscape of a mountain? He sighed, continuing to wander around through the blooming afternoon, desperate to come across a path, any path, that could at least show him the way out.
Something about being isolated on the freezing mountain calmed his weary soul. He still detested and loathed this rocky formation with every ounce of his very being, yes, but the jagged shapes coated in soft (yet extremely cold) snow had some sense of serenity to them. It was their peace that kept Aether from going insane as he traversed the chilly mountain.
Paimon appeared every so often, asking for food or rushing him to get out of Dragonspine as soon as possible, but they had no food left and Aether didn’t have the energy left to run as she’d demand. Afternoon stretched on and soon gave way to evening as he thought of the world around him, considering every little detail and simply enjoying Teyvat. He was starting to get sick of Dragonspine though, so he’d started to move much faster. In a rush to get somewhere warmer, he’d lost interest in prioritizing his safety and his foot went through a pile of snow.
He tripped.
Unable to pull some sort of insane trick after spending more than half of a day trudging through Dragonspine, he simply tumbled down the mountainside. He felt something break from within his chest- a rib? was it his rib? -as he rolled downwards. Paimon yelled out for him but he couldn’t make out a word she said through the ringing in his ears and everything was just so, so fucking cold and he could barely hold on and… He’d come to a very abrupt stop. With his failing arms, he dragged himself through the snow, away from where he’d fallen. The path Aether had intended to take was right in front of him; he was supposed to turn and walk down a far less steep slope but he’d tripped and fallen.
He coughed, rolling onto his back. He still had no idea where he was. Maybe he could pitch a tent and start a fire. He’d be alright. He’d make it out alive! Just… It just took some effort. Some energy that he lost through the snow and ice and falling and everything else he’d just gone through. He clambered to his feet, and began to set up camp to the side of a fairly snowless clearing. He could feel whatever broke in his torso screaming at him, but the hypothermia was louder and he was desperate for heat before anything else.
With his bag on the ground, Aether began to set up his tent. He’d be there for a long while. Overwhelmed by exhaustion and agony, he gave up on the tent fast, setting off to collect firewood. He went around the area, picking up broken branches and clutching them to his screaming chest. All the bending over was making his torso hurt so much more and Aether was getting sick of it.
Would he even make it off of this damned mountain alive at this point? Or would he die? To die on an icy mountain… What a tragic way to go. With your hope fleeing as night went on, and in the end nobody comes for you… Aether was getting desperate. He wanted anything but to die like that.
Not today.
He finally amassed a pile of sticks that could hold a fire for long enough (Aether had no idea what long enough would be, but he felt as if it was enough). Lighting a match (a/n: haha stupid little no pyro boy), Aether sat by the fire for a minute. The warmth didn’t return feeling to his face, but it was enough to give him hope. The hope he’d needed to set up his tent.
He did just that, and by the time he was done, an hour had passed. The first hour since he’d tumbled down that god-forsaken (a/n; iirc it canonically was god-forsaken JKSFSFHDFKL) mountain. He set his bag within his tent and set up a space to sleep. Aether crawled back out to the fire and sat there, in the cold, freezing snow, as he tried to no avail to quell the hypothermia.
How many people would mourn if he died like this? Figuring how he’d helped so many people, and everyone seemed to love him, surely someone would mourn. Or would they? How many people would laugh at his fate, a beginner’s mistake of being unprepared and getting lost? Would Lumine figure out?
Oh God… Lumine. He hadn’t even been able to save her. The boy squeezed his eyes shut, his mind overflowing with thoughts of his sibling who’d been ruthlessly torn away from him. He knew she was alive, he knew it… But if he died here then they would never reunite.
But it doesn’t matter, right? He’s not gonna die! It’s all some cruel dream… Or he got a bit scratched up and a good night’s rest will heal him up… He’s survived worse! Someone will find him and be his salvation, something will happen and he will live. Aether began to cry. His desperate thoughts did nothing to stop the dread welling up in his mind. He’s going to die. He’s going to die.
And nobody could save him.
He’s gonna die. He could imagine the agonizing expression on everyone’s faces when they were told. He could hear the cries of everyone who loved him so dearly. He could… Ah… Why waste time imagining such a thing? All it ever could do was make things worse.
It had been another hour.
Two hours since he fell, he could feel the damage inside of him growing worse. He’d been sure it was just a rib or three at first, but a few cracked ribs was a pain he was used to experiencing every so often, and this? This was so much worse. This felt fatal. Aether groaned as he crawled back into his tent, leaving the front open to hopefully let in enough heat to keep him alive for a night… Or at least until the fire died out. What would happen if he died… What would happen to Lumine? Where was she? Lumine… Lumine… It had been so, so long since he’d seen his dear sister. And he may never see her again.
Aether sobbed, the pain from his chest and the emotional agony of knowing he may never meet his sister again weakening the little hope he had left. He curled up into a ball, sobbing until he couldn’t anymore. He looked outside of the tent. He knew the fire was dying. Cold. Cold, so cold.
And he was too.
He was too cold and too weak to shiver. Aether could barely breathe, his eyes half-closed and his body unmoving. Not just unmoving. Unable to move. It was getting hard to think. Hard to feel. No, no… He couldn’t feel. He lost feeling in his limbs an hour or three ago, when he’d first tumbled down that fucking mountainside.
Oh, has it been three hours? Aether was completely unaware, his thoughts bouncing from Lumine still needs me to I’m going to die until there was nothing to think anymore except cold, cold, cold… So, so fucking cold.
Seconds felt like years but still the hours had passed as if they were just a few seconds. Aether twitched every so often, Paimon trying her hardest to wake him, yet he was already awake. He was just on the brink of death. It had been four hours. Four fucking hours of his life slipping away like ocean shores’ sands within his fingers. Four hours of losing his mind and everything else in his body that he’d set his trust in. He continued to twitch as Paimon sobbed beside him.
“ Aether ! What the fuck?! Aether, hey Aether! Stay with me!” Someone had found him. Someone safe. Someone warm and gentle. A nice contrast to this disgusting mountain. Aether’s mind had completely left him, and despite his half-open eyes, he was closer to unconscious than anything, and unable to even perceive the boy holding him. Paimon floated behind Venti, begging him to do something , anything that could save him. Not that Venti paid her any attention, as he was completely focused on the nearly dead traveler in his arms.
“C’mon,” he whined desperately, squeezing Aether tight (yet not too tight as to not harm him more than he’d already been harmed), “Diluc should’ve followed me up this damned mountain by now. He’ll find me--no, us--and you’ll be okay! You just have to hold on a little longer… Please… Aether, please…” His voice was incredibly shaky with emotion.
He desperately held onto Aether for about half an hour until Diluc came around the corner.
“Venti! What happened?!” he yelled, standing behind the bard. Venti looked up at him, a grim look in his eyes. “He… Oh Diluc, he’s nearly fucking dead. He’s gonna die, every second he spends on this damned mountain is another second closer to a miserable death, he’s fucking dying, he’s dying, Diluc! He’s gonna fucking d-”
“Then we have no time to lose. You carry him down the mountain, I can carry his bag and protect you two. We can take him to the Winery and tend to his injuries then and there. Okay?”
“O-okay.” He sniffled, lifting Aether’s nearly lifeless body.