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While Venti slept for hundreds of years, he was not expecting to have company.
Not that he wasn’t alone at first, he most certainly was. In his small realm of dreams, surrounded by a field of grass and flowers. The sky above switches slowly between day and night as he lays in the middle of it all.
It was peaceful, and as the years pass he drifts in and out of consciousness- which is odd, right? Sleeping while asleep… Though, exhaustion ran deep.
The archon would be staring at the sky in a daze when a star in the sky suddenly glows brightly and begins getting closer and closer. Venti’s eyebrows furrow in confusion and he sits up, still staring up in an attempt to look closer. The energy he felt as it fell made Venti feel warm, and he so clearly recognizes it as another soul- one that was not unkind.
The archon stands and jumps up into the air, taking off and flying up towards the light. Once close enough, he extends his arms and catches it-
Ah…
A young child with light golden hair slumbers in his arms, oblivious to the fact that he had been falling and needed to be caught.
“...Who might you be..?” Venti questions in a whisper, floating down to the ground and landing elegantly onto the field. He sits criss-cross onto the ground, looking over the child with curious eyes. “You feel like the stars… How lucky.” The archon brings his hand to gently move the hair in the blonde’s face away, and he hums at the feeling of a seal embedded in the boy- a curse, Venti thinks. He moves his hand to rest on the child’s forehead and immediately freezes.
…For five hundred years…?
Who would condemn a child to sleep for that long?
He digs deeper, moving his hand to the top of his head,
Ah. He wasn’t supposed to be this age. Then whoever did the seal on him.. Did not want him to necessarily suffer in his dreams.
Venti moves his hand to the back of his head, there it is. Another god, one he does not… Recognize.
As much as he wants to know more.. He would not invade his privacy like that. He rather stands back up with the boy in his arms and eyes the fields around him, he was not expecting this… No one could get into his realm so easily, but as this was as he assumes to be a child of the stars- not from the world he lingers, this was different. How he got here was unknown, perhaps whomever sent him into a slumber did the seal wrong- or maybe they simply wanted the boy to be with someone safe.
…That would bring up the question on how they knew Venti, but again, it was none of his concern right now.
Venti begins walking, shutting his eyes as he does so and allowing the world to shift around him until he opens his eyes again- but this time, there’s a small home in front of him. The archon opens the door with his foot, eying the little living room inside with amusement. He moves towards another door and shoves it open, humming softly as he approaches the bed inside and lays the blonde down onto it. He pulls a blanket over the boy, then places his hands on his hips- proud of himself for forming an obviously perfect house for the child.
Ah… 500 years… Goodness. What did the blonde do to warrant this?
He inhales sharply, what god did this?
…Venti rests his hand atop the boy’s head. All he felt was warmth, no karma debt to be found nor terrible actions in his heart.
Yet again, a god has decided to be cruel- despite the sense of making sure the blonde would possibly land somewhere safe- there’s still the ill intention of a curse to sleep and miss time that’s oh so precious.
Venti makes a decision then, raising his hand away from the boy and sighing softly. He does a small twirl then, anemo swirling around his figure until he gets smaller and smaller- effectively switching onto his natural wind spirit form.
Barbatos.
The now tiny archon flutters above the blonde’s face, and begins to nudge him on the cheek with his small foot until those golden- oh wow, golden hair and golden eyes- open up. The boy sleepily looks up at him- not really processing through dazed eyes and yawning widely. He brings up small hands to his eyes, rubbing them as he tries as hard as he can to wake up completely.
“You’re so sleepy, aren’t you?” Venti coos out, immediately making the blonde squeak in surprise and bring the blanket on him up to his face. “Oh, I didn’t mean to startle you, little star.” He floats over to sit next to the child on the bed, feeling even warmer when those eyes land on him. “I bet you’re confused… Well, that’s okay. I was pretty confused when you fell from the sky, hm? Do you remember that at all?”
The child shakes his head slowly, still not taking his eyes off of Venti and only shyly bringing down the blanket just over his chin. “...Small.” He mumbles out quietly, making Venti giggle fondly.
“That I am. You are too, you know.” Venti’s head tilts then, “...Do you remember anything at all, little one?”
The child’s face scrunches up as he thinks real hard, before shaking his head again and lowering the blanket in order to show the cutest pout Venti has ever seen.
“..That’s quite alright, my memory can be hazy as well sometimes. I always remember my name however… Do you think you can recall your own?” The archon was certainly concerned with the memory loss, but he knows if he dug any deeper into the cursed seal he’d most likely find loss of past entwined within it. Perhaps it was best that he did not remember, to ease the suffering he would have had to bare knowing he was actually asleep and could not escape.
“...” The blonde brings up a small hand to his forehead, as if it hurt to think too much about it- and Venti is about to stop him from pushing himself but then- “..Aether.”
Aether. How fitting.
“A wonderful name for an adorable star.” Venti stands on his small legs, then jumps into the air and floats above Aether’s face. “I am Barbatos. But call me Venti, kay?”
Aether blinks up at him, his face scrunches up, then- “...Batos.”
Venti instantly melts. “...That works too.” The wind spirit flies over towards the window right by the bed, willing it open with his Anemo and sitting upon the window seal. He doesn’t look back to Aether, only waiting until he feels the boy’s energy as the child shifts to sit up and scoot over towards the window as well. “Little star… You’re very lucky you fell here. Although I do not know why… I will make sure you’re comfortable in my realm.”
Aether only scoots closer and leans his head just lightly against the wind spirit as he looks out the window at the fields of flowers. It makes Venti’s chest explode in a fondness he’s unsure what to do with, hm… Such a trusting child.
500 years…
He should be fine to sleep that long.
Venti leans onto Aether’s head in return, shutting his eyes and letting out a tiny hum. “Would you like to hear a lullaby, Aether?” The wind spirit feels the nod, and he smiles. “May this be the first of many I sing to you then.”
And as the years would pass, they’d end up sleeping through months and sometimes a few of those years- however, when they’re awake, Venti is always delighted to play with the child- earning laughter from the star that barely speaks. It’s so very rewarding, as Venti learns quickly that Aether was extremely shy and always had a small frown on his face when he’s unsure on what to do with himself.
It’s a good thing Venti has plenty of ways to make him smile.
…Ahah… Creating a fake bar to sneak into and teaching Aether what good wine was- was just preparing him for the future… In a good way, he swears.
…Listen, it was fun. Aether also got to try some dream chocolate milk. He would never give the child dream wine- it wouldn’t do anything, but still.
The point here… Aether wasn’t bothered by the years that passed. Only focused on Venti as if he’s the entire universe- although Venti senses the nightmares Aether never remembers and the spouts of loneliness that plagues the child- the poor child could not pinpoint why he felt that way, it was as if he was missing a piece of himself that Venti could not fill, though he certainly tries his best. But, the archon can proudly say Aether would get through the 500 years without any real misery.
And he does.
When Venti awakes in 500 years, he’s sadly busy as Dvalin lost his trust in him and Venti- well, the bard hadn’t been in his… Other form- or y’know, even awake in quite a while. It certainly took some adjusting.
His mind never truly leaves Aether, so when he turns to see who scared off Dvalin- he freezes.
Those golden eyes… Ah.. He’s so used to seeing them on the shortie in his dreams. Oh, he was older- certainly, by more than 500 years. But he definitely never lost his round cheeks, hm?
Something pangs in his chest at the confusion in those golden eyes, of course he wouldn’t recognize Venti. In this form.. And the possibility of the curse erasing it all again. He sighs out, and immediately flies away to heal the corruption from the connection he was forming with Dvalin severing, attempting to harm him- then he will try to catch up with Dvalin.
He helped Aether for 500 years, he hadn’t seen Dvalin in all that time… He would come back later.
…Aether can purify Dvalin’s tears…. He finds out, and of course he can. The bard gets help from the child- no, traveler. And he cannot help but notice the way Aether’s eyes linger on him more than others during their journey to save Dvalin from the abyss’ curse.
The bard feels so much lighter once his friend is no longer in pain that he forgets everything around him- smiling brightly at Aether and after they return the lyre to the chapel he grabs the blonde’s hand with a mischievous look in his eyes, “Ahaha… Yeah, that disguise won’t last long on that lyre. We should go.” He giggles out, Aether’s eyes widening in such a familiar way before they roll almost fondly. The traveler chases Venti out of the chapel, everything is right-
Venti yelps when he’s slammed to the ground and Aether is calling his name- and it scares the shit out of Venti when Aether is instantly cut off with a pained noise that makes Venti’s mind instantly clear then fizzle into something akin to anger.
Signora… The Fatui… His Gnosis. No. Hell no. How dare they hurt his friend.
You will not take him away from me again.
When Venti is slapped, he hears Aether’s cry out for his name again- his heart clenches- for Aether to never speak even at this age and say his name such as so…
Venti unleashes a whirlwind of Anemo, sending Signora flying and the other fatui stumbling. Aether falls to the ground with an ‘oomf,’ but stays down as to not get thrown by the wind coming from the bard. Good. Venti thinks, because he was about to do so much worse.
Venti spits out insults that rhyme at Signora as he spins her around in a humiliating way, Anemo not letting her go no matter how much Pyro or Cryo she uses. He orders for her to leave once he drops her, she underestimated the Anemo Archon. What a fool. He slams her to the ground and releases her from his wrath, turning away from the harbinger in order to run over to Aether who looks up at him with a bruised face that makes Venti’s eye twitch.
“Let us go to the windrise tree and heal you.” Venti says quietly to him, helping him stand before merely flying him over towards the tree.
It’s silent for a long while after that, Venti’s hand on Aether’s cheek as they sit under the leaves of the windrise tree. Under the archon’s hand is anemo gently swirling as it heals the bruise under it slowly but surely. Venti avoids Aether’s gaze on him, only focusing on healing with a concentrated look.
…..
“...Venti,” Aether says his name quietly, when Venti does not answer- Aether pouts. His eyes trail towards the tree for a moment, before they focus back on Venti and he huffs. So distracted… His mind wanders, before an idea comes to mind. Maybe… “..Batos.”
Venti immediately freezes.
Uh. Aether brings up a hand and gently nudges Venti’s cheek, essentially asking if he’s okay-
“...Little star.” Venti then sighs softly out, making Aether melt lightly against the hand still on his cheek. “How much… Do you remember?”
“Enough.” Aether answers fondly, he hadn’t been so sure if Venti was the same wind spirit in his dreams at first- but now it’s crystal clear. “..Thank you, for… That.” Aether whispers, knowing exactly how much Venti did for him over those 500 years he had been forced to slumber. Despite a lot of it being foggy.
“I should be thanking you,” Venti removes his hand once he deems Aether healed completely, “A golden star fell from my skies and provided endless entertainment,” He teases, “But also provided so much warmth… I never slept so well in my life. I was happy to protect you through all of that- as you shielded me in your own rays of sunshine.”
“...You’re so cheesy.” Aether sighs out, though it’s not in irritation.
“It’s what I’m best at,” Venti snickers, “Although, now that we’re both awake, I must say…” The bard reaches over to grab Aether’s braid, twirling it through his fingers gently, “...I will not stop protecting you.”
Aether’s head tilts down at that, a smallest of smiles forming on his face. “..As long as I can protect you in return.” He whispers-
“Ah ah ah- no. You’re still a lil baby star in my eyes.” Venti lectures, making Aether huff and his cheeks flush red. “Oh I wish I could have taken pictures of you.. So adorable.” The bard sighs out fondly, making Aether’s face redden further.
But the star does not respond any more, only leaning forward to lay his forehead on the archon’s shoulder. Venti would bring his hand up to the blonde’s head, laying it atop as he smiles brightly.
Aether was truly his shooting star.
Though, he’d only wish upon him for Aether’s own dreams to come true.
//art by me
