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Pieces of Aether’s dripping and shattered heart fluttered away with the wind as he stood before a lonely grave. He knelt, allowing his tears to cascade down his face and onto the mound of dirt. In Liyue lettering read Keqing’s name and two dates separated by a hyphen. Above it all was the title of Yuheng, adorning the gravestone like an earthen crown. Keqing. The woman who had saved Aether from himself, the woman who stubbornly lived with him for nearly three-quarters of a century, and now, the woman who had returned to the ground from whence she came. All the while, Aether had not aged but a day. His spirit was bound to the universe, the gods granting him death only when they allowed it.
His immortality was a blessing and a curse. He would never experience the despair of his own death, but he would see the pain of others. Felled by their mortality or by someone else’s hand, be it his own or otherwise. Today was one such day where the universe’s will forced Aether to witness the brisk burn of the ever-short human candle. The funeral proceedings had already cleared out. The invited guests had long gone, leaving Aether to his lonesomeness.
This was precisely why he did not wish to grow close to the inhabitants of Teyvat. Aether’s presence in their life would be for the entire circumference of their clock. Their presence in Aether’s life was but a mere second for him. Despite his immortality, Aether was still human, and the loss of those he loved would still affect him. He still grieved. He still mourned. He still felt immense pain. There was a difference, however. His pain would last eternally. Time and time again, he would always feel the fallout of losing someone he loved. Time and time again, it would be cemented into his soul for the rest of his immortal life.
At what point would he become callous to death? To pain? When would he become an unfeeling husk, receptive to nothing but basic bodily needs? Aether didn’t want that. He didn’t want to lose his ability to feel. So he shut himself in.
As the centuries passed, Aether closed himself to relationships, platonic or romantic. Save for the few who shared the curse of immortality, he resigned himself from any relationship closer than acquaintances. He drifted to and fro, intervening where necessary and providing gentle influence upon civilisation. He observed from afar, enjoying seeing the world around him grow, fall, and rebuild time and time again. While it wasn’t work by any means, it was still rewarding. Aether attempted to keep a chronology of his adventures but stopped after filling up forty-seven journals. It was millennia of history with excruciating detail. No one was going to want to sift through it.
Aether held true to his self-driven promise to never enter close relationships as the arrow of time trudged forward. Anyone who tried to get close Aether held at arm’s length, preventing them from entering too far into his life. His heart weighed heavily with every rejection, but it was necessary. Necessary to preserve his sanity.
There were multiple times where Aether was close to breaking his promise. Stirrings in his chest set off alarm bells in his head, flashing him back to the monochrome memory of Keqing’s grave. Many women and men alike made passes at him, all of which resembling the sole woman Aether loved in some way. Appearance, smile, personality, tone of voice, something. Something that caused his mind’s defences to relax and open ajar. He simply waved them off most times, letting them down as gently as possible. Those were time times where the person was too different from her.
Too assertive. Not assertive enough. Their smile was just off. The laughter wasn’t full enough. Tiny things that turned him away, retreating back behind his walls. However, there were times where Aether gave in, indulging himself for just a moment. He so longed for the heat of Keqing’s lips again. He ached to hear her voice, commanding yet gentle. He wanted to see her piercing violet eyes that softened just for him. One thing would always lead to another, the allure of the fragments of Keqing that he saw in them drawing him in. It always played out the same. One night of fierce, fiery passion. Years of longing spilling out into their lovemaking. Then, regret.
The morning after, Aether would always slip out unnoticed. He would disappear into the environment, turning his back and never seeing them again. It was an arduous process, and each time it happened, the pain Aether bore reared its ugly head. The following nights were fueled by self-hatred, loneliness, and sorrow.
Aether desperately wanted someone to fill that gaping hole again. He wanted to lay next to someone in their shared bed, to feel their warmth and the drumbeat of their heart. He wanted to wake up next to them, cook breakfast, and kiss them goodbye before setting off for the day. All Aether truly desired was to be someone’s person again and to have someone be his. Aether thumbed the dull yet still shimmering golden hairpin that Keqing had left behind for him. The cold metal felt smooth under his fingertips, marred only by age and mild oxidation. He allowed his mind to wander for just a moment, feeling the contradictory heavy weight that the hairpin ailed his heart with.
His throat closed, and his body instinctively curled into a pathetic, fetal ball. The eternity of loneliness wore down his soul, cracking it open like a fragile egg for its contents to spill out of. Aether cried. He cried for himself. He cried for Keqing. He cried for the relationships that he would never have. His grip went white-knuckled on Keqing’s hairpin. The sole reminder of his first and only lover; the mark of the unyielding void of solitude that he resigned himself to. All he wanted was companionship for the rest of his days, someone he could shamelessly dote on and draw smiles out of.
His throat relaxed, punctuating the end of his emotional leakage. Aether’s sleep was dreamless, the only evidence of his rest being the new pool of tears on his pillow.
As the world entered the modern era, globally swept by new advents in technology and alchemy, Aether found himself taking to heights. There was something cathartic about standing at the top of the tallest building he could find and looking down upon the civilisation he watched grow. Aether stood at the railing, leaning onto his forearms as he watched the world pass below him. A cold breeze blew by, sweeping his hair aside. Another lonely night, but what was one more in the grand scheme of things? He was immortal, after all. Time meant nothing to him. It was an infinite and worthless currency, and Aether had too much of it. He gazed down at the streets from on high, observing the movements of the cars along the streets. He focused on one car at a time, following their path and seeing where they'd go. His thoughts were interrupted by the door behind him opening.
"Sheesh, for an immortal god, you sure like to hide. Do you have any idea how long I’ve been trying to find you?"
Aether felt his chest stir once again.
That voice. That smooth, sassy voice. The same voice that he had lost centuries ago. The voice that was the catalyst for his recession into himself, the one that forced him to deny these feelings for aeons.
No. It can't be.
It's not her.
You're just hallucinating.
Heh , he thought to himself. Immortality really does drive you insane.
"Aether, turn around, idiot."
To humour the voice, he did as he was told, glancing back and rotating his hips for just a moment. What stood in front of him was a woman, no more than two inches shorter than he. Flowing, lilac hair, neatly tied up into a ponytail. Thundering amethyst eyes, shocking him down to his very core. A smug but tender smile that creased the corners of her lips. Everything was there. Everything fell into place. Aether’s mouth froze, hanging agape at the sight he was beholding.
It was just a mirage, a figment of his imagination. There was no way that was her. It can’t be. Keqing was mortal. He watched her die in his arms. How, then? How was she here? An exact replica of her, standing right in front of him, calling him by his name? Aether’s breath hitched as he approached the woman cautiously.
"Have you always been this edgy?" she asked.
“Keqing?” he asked through tear-stained eyes, completely disregarding her cheeky question. “Is that… is that really you?”
“Last I checked, yeah,” replied the woman, miming inspecting herself. Aether took more tentative steps toward Keqing, and upon reaching her, he held out his hand to her. With a gentle thumb, he brushed a stray lock of hair from her cheek and inspected her visage with more scrutiny. There was no doubt about it. It was her. Every facial flaw that he fell in love with. Mild forehead creases from her constantly furrowed eyebrows. The slight indentation on her lower lip from how she bit her lip from stress. Even the gradient of her irises was the same. She was Keqing, through and through.
“Keqing…!” Aether sobbed, latching onto her. His arms enveloped the woman in a tight hug, who giggled and returned his embrace with equal strength. “I missed you so much…”
The man cried his heart out, Keqing’s warmth eroding away the walls he had built and stoically kept. Her familiar scent wrapped him in a second hug, speaking a silent reassurance that everything was okay.
“I missed you too.” Keqing returned his tear-stained sentiment. Feeling Aether, the one man that she had truly loved all these millennia, shudder as he cried into her shoulder, Keqing’s throat began to close up as well. Slowly but surely, tears pricked at the corners of her eyes and streamed down her cheeks. Soon enough, the reunited lovers stood in the other’s arms as they cried. Hundreds of years of unrequited pining, all resolving into one singularity. All of the things that Keqing had planned to say to Aether flowed out of her mind with her tears. It didn’t matter anymore. They had found each other.
Keqing couldn’t imagine how lonely he was in the thousands of years that passed. Keqing was well aware of her effect on the immortal being. The pain of seeing the one you cherished most die, only for the other to live on eternally past that. She knew how unwaveringly faithful he was, too. She knew that he would seclude himself into solitude, unable to truly move on from her. As fate would have it, though, Keqing couldn’t move on from him either. So she set out, with each new life, to find him again. She had gone through trials and tribulations to see Aether again. There were times where the woman came extremely close to seeing him, only to be cast away by circumstance and life. Many times was she reborn, and many times she journeyed to find her lost lover.
“Aether,” Keqing sniffled. The man merely hummed in response.
“No matter where you are or where I am,” Keqing began, forcing the words to leave her mouth. “I will find you. You won’t have to be alone ever again.”
The world stood still as she inlaid her solemn vow into Aether’s heart.
“I promise.”