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Arriving at the statue of the seven located in Windrise the traveller slouched in his steps, arms limp, back hunched, movements sluggish and lethargic from the hard and long day of doing back to back commissions. Running between various locations across Teyvat would definitely have a negative effect on a person no matter how good their stamina may be, but being a world known hero meant everyone and their dog wanted some sort of errand done for them with the claim it can't be done on their own. It flattered Aether it really did, it felt good to be relied on so much so it's not like he hated all the attention, he just wished people would start treating him more like a human being instead of a celebrity. Sure he had many upon many great accomplishments stacked under his belt, some of which were considered to be way too inhuman to achieve so Aether understood the hype, he understood why the people of both Mondstadt and Liyue would be so quick to slap a hero label on him. He just didn't understand why being a hero meant he couldn't be treated normally like everyone else.
Was it wrong of him to wish for something as simple as normality? The reactions he received often gave him that impression. Whenever Aether actually had the courage to speak up about the topic instead of just putting on the 'just smile and wave' act, he'd always be met with giggles or chuckles as well as comments thrown in his face. Comments that would normally be very innocent but in truth could not be more painful to the blonde.
"No need to be so modest now"
But I'm not.
"You are the hero a world like this needs"
You're wrong.
"We're so lucky to have you"
I never asked to come here.
Compliment after compliment, praise after praise and whatever words that left his lips were always overlooked or brushed off as him being modest or him being polite. Those ignorant, selfish fools would not be able to fathom the hell Aether has had to endure since arriving in this world. The more people Aether helped, the more word passed around about the existence of a traveller taking down gods, from there more people would know of him and in turn would just increase his vastly growing popularity. Nowadays the poor guy couldn't even walk into ANY populated areas without having random girls stop him for autographs and middle aged men slapping him on the back as though they were good friends.
Why?
Just why?
Everyone here treated an outlander so highly he wouldn't be surprised if they thought of him as one of their gods to praise and worship, that right there felt to be the most suffocating thing of all. Aether liked helping people because that's just who he was as a person, he liked making others happy, putting smiles on their faces to the best of his capability. But not like this. Being kind was one thing, but being treated like one of the archons was something entirely different as well as something Aether did not want in the slightest. Too much pressure placed on the shoulders of a boy who desired nothing more than to be reunited with his beloved twin sister, oh to feel her soft hands touch his face again and to have her arms encase him in that protective hold of hers, to hear that voice so soothing and pure once more would be everything to Aether. Fame? No. Popularity? Not. Fangirls? Definitely not. The only priority on his mind was finding Lumine, nothing else.
Throwing the large backpack to the ground the blonde male took a few deep breaths "I'll just camp out here for the night, I don't think i can handle any more praise… if I hear one more compliment i think I'm gonna explode" he mumbled to no one in particular, at least he had the assuring touch of mother nature's gentle hands caressing the side of his cheeks in the form of a barely there breeze flowing by. Yeah, a quiet night by the statue sounded much better than facing the nightly bustle in the city.
With that settled Aether forced aching muscles to move despite the way they screamed for rest, Paimon had disappeared long ago due to feeling tired so it would be no surprise if she remained there until the next morning. Not that Aether minded since it meant he got time to himself to just ponder over things, everyone needed time to wallow away sometimes and right now just so happened to be the perfect time for such. Once camp had been all set up, tent up, light snack prepared, sleeping bag rolled out, the traveller allowed himself to fall completely at the mercy of throbbing muscles. More so the feet over anything else, the pain emitting from them almost had Aether's amber eyes welling up with glistening tears, it hurt so bad but the most that could be done was to just get as much rest as possible and stay immobile for the time being.
Without much else to do, reading the book he'd picked up, the "literary fan fiction" as Xiao bluntly called it, about the Yaksha as well as the adepti. Liyue always held the most interesting history as far as Aether was concerned, he enjoyed listening to any stories Xiao didn't mind sharing, and enjoyed reading books about the adepti as well as whatever history that had taken place in Liyue. The odd time Chongyun and Xingqiu accompanied him on his travels he always found himself asking questions, expressing an eagerness to learn more, which the two boys found themselves to be exceedingly fond of. Anyone who harboured any sort of interest to learn more about their birthplace definitely earned high respects in their minds, not the same high respects he got as a hero, but the respect Aether was so openly willing to learn more about a place he'd come to love as if it were his own birthplace. Maybe those two would be up for going on more adventures with him, he sure hoped so, it would be nice to see them again.
Faint jingles sounded out piercing the tranquil serenity the male had painted for himself, could the world just allow him time to himself for at least an hour or two without being disturbed? Perhaps that was too much to ask. At first Aether resorted to blatantly ignoring the sound in favour of soaking up the many words displayed in front of amber orbs, it worked for a bit, until the annoying sound grew slightly louder and it did not serve Aether's already thin string of patience very well at all.
"Shut up with that stupid jingling!" He raged finally, slamming the hardcover to the book shut. Caring very little over whoever the sound belonged to at all, all he wanted was for it to stop so he could read in peace .
"What's with that tone huh? Who do you think you are, disgusting" a sharp voice snapped back in response, the dreaded sound apparently came from a decorative ornament dangling from the rim to a very unnecessarily large hat. Oh god.
Aether threw his head back "why?! Just why!?" The boy exclaimed to the heavens "Peace! Quiet! To be left alone for just a little bit, is that too much to ask for in this stupid world!" The words actually caused sharp blue eyes to widen slightly.
"Well excuse me, but had I known you would be here I would have gladly turned in the other direction in favour of laying eyes on that face of yours" Scaramouche retorted, crossing slim arms over an equally slim yet firm chest "besides, who are you to try and dare tell me where I am and am not allowed to go. How disgusting of you, absolutely vile"
Amber eyes narrowed "you're one to talk about being disgusting and vile, you're a Fatui harbinger " he spat, throwing himself over the sleeping bag laid out "not to mention you sounded like fucking Santa claus with that stupid noise you were making, I was damn well ready to give old saint Nick a free ticket out this world and out of my sight" huffing out slight heavy breaths Aether's rationality had long since faded, raging at Scara seemed to be what his mind wanted to do right now.
The sixth harbinger had no idea the traveller he heard so much about could be so hostile when the wrong buttons were pushed, by the looks of it, it was obvious a lot of the wrong buttons had been pushed and for some reason that didn't sit well with Scaramouche. Why, though? Why would he care? And of Aether of all people? The mere notion made the male's stomach flip unpleasantly, this pathetic excuse of a hero was his target to kill, pursuers don't usually feel such things for the one they're aiming to exterminate. Something about seeing Aether scowl, the way soft spoken words were doused in aggression, the tension in those limbs, all of it didn't look right. Not with Aether.
"Hmph, well as you can see I'm no saint nor am I a Nick" Scaramouche stated as a matter of factly. The other bristled.
"I am not in the mood for your shit right now Scara, so do my a kind favour and piss right off, go annoy somebody else with your presence" the blonde hissed, eyes glowering with a ferocity so intense the ravenette almost felt a shiver run down his spine. Key word being almost.
Jutting out a hip with the motion of leaning more weight onto his right blue eyes narrowed "hmph, you're not being very polite right now mr honorary knight. I expected more from Teyvat's-"
"SHUT UP!"
A thick silence blanketed the entire area leaving the air tense, what just happened? Scaramouche felt stunned on the spot, eyebrows arched upwards, eyes wide, soft lips formed a small 'o' shape and overall, for the first time in a very exceedingly long time he felt too surprised and taken aback to really do anything. Turns out any input or comment from him went unneeded as Aether continued.
"Don't you fucking dare! Do. Not. Call me a hero! Don't call me a knight or anything like that because I am sick and tired of hearing those things from people! DO YOU ALL FORGET I HAVE A NAME?! AN ACTUAL NAME!?" the poor boy shouted, in fact it sounded more like screaming, whatever you wanted to call it, this was the desperate cry from someone who has burdened himself with too much for far too long. Someone who carried the pressure of other people's idealisms and expectations.
Tears were already rolling down cheeks tinted a faint pink colour, from anger or the chilly weather Scaramouche couldn't tell, though if he were to take a guess he'd probably pin it down to both.
"I'm the hero of Mondstadt! Liyue! Whatever! So fucking what if I've done nice things for people, so what if I help people when they need it, tell me why that means I can't be treated normally like every other fucking human being in this world! Why? Tell me why! Because I have absolutely no idea and it's driving me crazy, I can't even go into the cities anymore without having strangers waltz their way up to me and act like we're good friends when I BARELY EVEN KNOW THEM!!" Aether was tired, tired of it all. Did being a hero mean he couldn't be treated like a human? If so, then he didn't want to be the hero anymore. He never asked for fame, never asked for hero titles or fancy names, never once did he ask for any of those and yet they were thrusted upon him anyway. Everything action made had one sole purpose, to bring him one step closer to reuniting with Lumine. That's it.
"I don't want this anymore, I- I don't want any of it… No one calls me by my name, almost as if I don't have any name at all other than the ones they give me… I didn't do any of this for fame, none of it was for that… I- I only wanted to find my sister!... b- but if this is what I get for putting the effort into finding her t- then I won't bother… I- I love her so much b- but all this is just too much f- for me and I just can't anymore…" finally Aether's emotions collapsed in on themselves, every fragment applying so much pressure to his chest it caused some difficulty bringing fresh air into aching lungs. Loud sobs rang out throughout the vacant area, the only presence to witness such a scene was the stunned form of the sixth harbinger.
Watching such a usually bright person succumb to the amount of pressure the entire world placed upon them day in and day out made Scaramouche feel sick, none of it felt right at all. Every tear, every sob, every scream, wail, cry, felt like a series of arrows piercing his very being bringing with it an onslaught of agony that ran so deep it could not be patched up with a simple bandage. The only way for such a pain to stop, would be for the intense levels of distress rushing in to cease their hold on the figure rendered nothing more than a broken pile of limbs sobbing their heart and soul out into the material of the sleeping bag.
Swallowing thickly, Scaramouche moved before his mind had a chance to catch up, by the time it had managed to fall into step with the rest of him, he'd taken his large hat off and placed it down. Spying a crystalfly nearby the electro user used quick reflexes to capture it, prying both hands apart to peer down at the small crystal now sitting there. Venturing back to where Aether remained a crying mess, Scara crouched down.
Puffy eyelids cracked open when the looming presence of someone nearby caught the attention of the owner, oh yeah, he'd forgotten about the small male for a moment there. At first it didn't quite make sense why the other seemed to be just staring like that, Aether assumed it had something to do with maybe Scara being a creep who got a kick out of seeing others breakdown like this. Only to be taken by surprise so much the tears halted to a sudden stop at the same time he shifted up onto his elbows "w- what?..." the anemo user sniffled, cautiously taking the crystal core into his own palm.
The short haired harbinger turned both eyes elsewhere, refusing to look into those annoyingly pretty ones "Your crying is annoying so if giving you this means it stops then fine, just this once" he huffed, scowling at a random spot on the ground. Shifting into a sitting position after a while.
Aether alternated between staring at the newly found object, then staring at Scaramouche while trying to process exactly what had just happened. Anyone would be shocked if their enemy suddenly gifted them a glistening crystal, spouting words that were meant to sound mean but… to Aether, he could hear the warmth in them, not to mention the glimmer of warmth in those piercing eyes he'd never really taken the chance to admire until now. In fact now that he had the chance he allowed his eyes to travel up and down, taking in the slim form of the male sat opposite, the paleness of soft looking skin, clothes that complimented Scara's figure very well, etc.
"... T- Thank you.."
"Y- Yeah well, d- don't go reading too much into it" the unusually flustered sixth harbinger stuttered, picking himself up in one unsteady motion "it's late and I'm sure you're tired, so get yourself into bed" he said.
Aether clutched the crystal to his chest "w- will you stay?..." the words coming out barely above a whisper, asking a person like this guy to stay while he slept probably wasn't the wisest of choices but something about it made the long haired traveller feel… safe? In a weird sort of way.
A moment of silence passed before Scaramouche heaved out a sigh "if it means you shut up then fine, just this once, but don't expect anything like this to happen again. I can't even begin to imagine how hellish my life will be if word gets out I've been seen with the likes of you" he stated, only sitting back down once Aether had gotten himself all tucked up under the material of his supposed bed for the night. Not the most comfortable but it'll do for the night.
"Yeah, okay. B- but uhm… thank you, Scara" were Aether's final words, softly spoken, barely there and easy to miss. The current silence made it impossible to miss them and even though Aether couldn't see, he knew there would be a smile on Scaramouche's face if he were to look.
Low and behold a smile was indeed there, only tiny, yet a smile all the same. Staying for a little bit wouldn't hurt, right? The instant dawn came around he'd take his leave so as to not stir up any trouble, for now though there didn't seem to be anything wrong with staying. Nor did there seem to be anything wrong with nimble fingertips trailing through silky strands of blonde hair.
"Whatever, Aether."