Work Text:
Slowly, but surely, Aether was starting to realize the blind trust he had put into his new friends was his naivety getting the best of him.
It started on that horrible— terrible day. When he and Lumine reunited— if you could even call their brief meeting that. He was blinded then, assuming it’d be easy to have Lumine by his side again. Of all the possibilities— of all the things she could have said or done— in the end, she refused to even go near him.
Dainsleif knew all along. Betrayal after betrayal. There was a time where he and Lumine considered each other friends . He was her confidant, her guide, her friend . And Aether was just— so confused. He had told him who he was looking for. Celestia— him and Lumine were twins. It should have been obvious who he was looking for. Dainsleif withheld his information until the very last second— purposefully. And Aether would never forgive him for it.
When Aether and Paimon made it back to the Wangshu Inn for the evening, Aether immediately went to find Xiao where he was always stationed on his balcony. Somehow, Paimon knew not to follow. She never did when he took the stairs up to the adeptus’ abode.
Aether’s heart eased at the sight of the yaksha’s figure leaning his arms against the railing of the balcony, his gaze fixed towards the darkening horizon. As if he had sensed him, which he probably did, Xiao straightened himself out and peered over his shoulder, fixing Aether with an impassive look.
“Is there something on your mind?”
Aether’s eyes widened a fraction.
“Why? Can you hear my thoughts?” He asked, insecure and suddenly embarrassed. It wouldn’t be the first time that happened.
Xiao merely shrugged his shoulders, keeping them raised for a moment before dropping them back into their normal position.
“There's too many voices for me to truly understand.”
Aether hummed distantly. He joined Xiao not a moment later, standing beside him and taking in the view of Liyue’s sunset.
The day’s events replayed in his head, unsolicited. He never once imagined he’d see Lumine under these circumstances. Every time he thought about their reunitement, he always imagined they’d hug and cry in each other’s arms. That they’d be able to recount their adventures for days and days afterwards. He always imagined it’d be happy.
But perhaps that was his naivety getting the best of him once again.
“Do you wish to talk about it?”
Xiao’s voice broke him out of his reverie. Aether blinked, the sky coming back into view— this time he was able to see Celestia among the stars.
“I saw my sister today.” He replied, bypassing Xiao’s question entirely.
The yaksha shifted beside him. “How did it go?”
For the first time in a long while, Aether’s eyes welled with tears, too quickly to blink away. They dribbled down his cheeks pathetically.
“It couldn’t have gone worse.” He huffed humorlessly, wiping at the corners of his eyes with the knuckles of his forefinger. “She was— saying all these things I didn’t understand.” He continued. “ Don’t try and stop me. Don’t stop the abyss. She mentioned this place… Khaenri’ah — I just don’t— I don’t know what she was trying to tell me.”
Beside him, Xiao said nothing. Aether took it as his cue to continue talking.
“Everything I’ve done up until this moment feels pointless. I’ve met so many people— I’ve made so many friends . But— I don’t know. It feels like everyone knows something that I don’t. It feels like I’m being lied to. Especially with everything Lumine said today— I don’t know. It’s just a feeling. I’m probably jumping to conclusions, right?”
Xiao hummed quietly. “That may be the case.”
Aether sighed, his lips twitching up in a half smile. “Well, even if that were true, I know you’d still have my back. Right?”
The yaksha made a noncommittal noise. “Of course. I wouldn’t be able to lie to you.”
Aether took great comfort in that.
“Thank you.”
But it was stupid of him to actually believe it. Unbeknownst to him, his naivety was getting the best of him once more, and it would hurt a lot more than the previous times.
Zhongli knew. He knew about Khaenri’ah— about its origin, about the terrible things that occurred there.
At first, Aether was— not thrilled , not really excited either. The complete opposite, really. He felt a bit hurt that Zhongli hadn’t mentioned anything about it sooner. Though, he brushed it off— seeing as Zhongli had no idea who his sister was or what exactly happened on that day when they reunited. Instead, he tried to feel grateful that someone he trusted would be able to give him the answers to the questions he had.
“I cannot say.”
It felt like a slap to the face, those words. Zhongli said them with such finality, Aether was almost afraid to push the subject. Paimon was never one for boundaries, though.
“You can’t even give us a thread of information? This is important to us!” She huffed on Aether’s behalf.
Zhongli sighed. “I understand, but I apologize. This is my contract. It was signed before it all began. I have always honored the contract… and kept my silence.”
Aether’s heart rattled in his chest. Betrayal after betrayal.
“Wh—?! How can you be like that?!” Paimon cried. Aether stood silently, his eyes cast painfully to the floor.
“You two are friends to me. I can assure it brings me no pleasure to disappoint you. But as the God of Contracts, I cannot go back on my word.”
Aether wanted to kick and scream. To swing his weapon out from his sheath and point it at Zhongli.
Instead, he waited until Paimon finished speaking with the former, and left without saying another word to him. He couldn’t— not at the moment.
They made it back to Wangshu Inn just before dinner, but Aether had no appetite left in him to spare a meal. After the day's events, all he could think to do was wallow in his frustration and betrayal.
If Zhongli was hiding something from him, it seemed plausible that his other so-called friends were, too. Dainsleif had been badmouthing the archons the entire time when they were together that day. They ‘ aren’t to be trusted’ as he put it. Aether hated to admit it— but maybe he was right about that one thing. If Zhongli could keep things hidden from him, then he wouldn’t put it past Venti either.
“Something on your mind again, Traveler?”
Aether flinched, his foot seizing at the last step leading up to Xiao’s balcony. The yaksha arched a brow at him, and Aether hid a wince.
He’d been so lost in his head— he hadn’t even realized his body was automatically moving to the very top of the Inn. His cheeks flared with heat.
“Ah— sorry. I didn’t mean to— well, I guess I did— but.” Aether sighed, defeated. He walked the rest of the way towards the yaksha, taking his place beside him once again. “I had a bad day, that’s all.”
Xiao hummed. “Do you wish to talk about it?”
Aether hesitated at first. The entire reason he was feeling like this was because of Zhongli. He was Xiao’s ex-master, but that didn’t change the fact that Xiao was still extremely loyal to the man, and would not tolerate bad talk about him from anybody. Not even Aether.
“It’s about Mister Zhongli. Would you still like to listen?”
He could sense Xiao stiffen. He was treading dangerous waters.
“I suppose.” The yaksha said after a moment of suffocating silence. “Please mind what you say and how you say it.”
A chill went up Aether’s spine at the warning.
“R-Right. Well— a couple of weeks ago I mentioned this place— Khaenri’ah?” He looked to Xiao for any sign of confusion. The yaksha merely nodded for him to continue. “Today, I helped Mister Zhongli on a… mission, so to speak. He needed help finding some lost miners.”
Xiao nodded, his arms crossed over his chest. “I heard about that.”
“Right.” Aether sighed. “After everything happened, Paimon and I had a moment with Mister Zhongli, and we asked him about it. About Khaenri‘ah.”
“What did he say?” The question sounded curiously guarded. Aether plowed on.
“He didn’t say anything. He said because of a contract he couldn’t give us any information. And I— I apologize— but I think that’s stupid. ” Surprisingly, Xiao said nothing at all. Aether’s mouth was moving on its own at that point, speaking everything on his mind. “He knows I’ve been looking for my sister for months now. Contracts be damned, I’m his friend. After— after everything I’ve done for Teyvat— being lied to like this feels like I’m being taken advantage of. Everyone always comes to me when they need help— but the second I need it, nobody comes to my side! It’s hurtful— to be— to be mistreated by your friends. To be deceived by the people you care about. It’s hurtful. ”
The moment he’s finished yelling his frustration out into the breeze, his chest is heaving and his eyes are wet.
“You wouldn’t hide things from me.” He continued, mumbling his words at a much quieter level than before. “You’re the only person in Teyvat that offers your aid without expecting something in return. And I’m grateful for that.”
Xiao shifted beside him. “Traveler—“
“Thank you, Xiao. For always listening to me.”
“Aether.”
The former stopped talking immediately at the use of his actual name. He turned his head, and peered into Xiao’s molten eyes, pain and sadness swimming in them. Aether shifted uncomfortably at the silence.
“As I mentioned before, I cannot lie to you. I can feel… my karmic debt growing just by considering it. I truly apologize for not saying anything sooner, but—“
Aether’s eyes widened, horror dawning on him as he realized what the yaksha was going to say.
Betrayal after betrayal.
“No.” He interrupted in a soft voice. He could feel his face beginning to crumble around its edges. “I don’t want to hear it.”
Xiao plowed on anyway, speaking the words Aether did not wish to hear.
“I’m under the same contract as Morax. Therefore, I’m unable to give you the information you wish to receive. But— please believe me when I say that if the circumstances were different, I’d offer any and all the information I have.”
Aether’s heart shattered and crumbled to the pit of his stomach.
“You lied to me.” He whispered to the ground, his fists trembling at his sides. “I told you about Khaenri’ah weeks ago. Why didn’t you tell me this then?”
Xiao did not respond. Aether’s frustration only grew.
Tears burned in his eyes, and they spilled down his face in angry streaks.
“How could you? After everything I’ve told you. You, above all, should know how important it is to me that I find my sister. And you— you—!” He broke off into a pitiful sob, muffling it with his palm as it spilled past his lips.
Xiao’s head was bowed. “Aether, I am truly sorry—“
“I don’t care if you’re sorry!” He snapped, slamming his fist onto the railing of the balcony. “If you were really sorry you’d tell me exactly what happened in Khaenri’ah.”
Aether knew that he was setting himself up for even more hurt. He knew Xiao would never break his loyalty to Zhongli. He knew he’d never get the truth from either one of them. Despite knowing these things, he still pushed.
Xiao raised his head, his eyes glowing with even more pain. “I can’t.” He whispered, taking a step towards Aether. “This is the reason I didn’t want to tell you.”
The former scoffed bitterly. “I have every right to be upset with you— with Zhongli— and with everyone else who’s lying to me!” More tears spilled down his cheeks. Xiao’s eyes traced them down to his chin. “I put all of my trust in you. I believed every word you said to me—”
“I didn’t ask you to do that.” Xiao interrupted swiftly. Aether’s voice tampered out in his surprise. His chest ached painfully. Xiao’s face morphed into one of shock, his eyes widening a fraction. “Wait—“
“I chose to believe you because I think of you as a partner. Someone I can go to when I feel upset— or when I need someone to talk to. Someone who I trust with all my heart. I always think of you when I imagine that person. Someone I— someone I care about deeply.” Aether warbled pathetically, his entire body trembling now. “I see now— you don’t think of me in the same way.”
“That’s not—“
“I got— ahead of myself. I shouldn’t have expected so much out of you. Your duties always come first. I was stupid.”
“Aether—“
“Thank you for telling me the truth. Have a good evening, Xiao.”
His footsteps were hasty, descending back down the stairs and straight to his room. His thoughts were raging.
His back hit the door the moment it slammed shut, his legs gave out underneath him. His body fell victim to gravity, sliding down the wood. He hid his face in his knees and hugged his legs to his chest. An ugly, broken sob slipped past his parted lips, his shoulders trembling from the force.
Betrayal after betrayal.
Once again, Aether’s naivety had gotten the best of him. Only this time, he wished he’d stayed naive to the truth.