Chapter Text
What was the difference between a hero and a villain?
By definition, a hero was someone strong. Someone brave, someone who lived by heavy morals. A hero was someone who'd sacrifice themselves to save the world, a saviour to the people. A hero was someone who was admired for their courage, outstanding achievements, or noble qualities. They were the blinding light within the darkness.
The hero was intelligent, ambitious, and courages. While the villain was someone who was selfish, someone who abandoned all morals, someone who was unreasonable. A villain was cunning, someone who'd do anything to achieve their ends, a villain was psychotic—reckless. A righteous fool.
To the Abyss Prince, there were no such things as heroes nor villains—only victors and victims. They were one of the same, at the end, what mattered most was victory. No one was fully innocent, no one was fully free of sin. Heroes didn't exist, they were white lies created to give hope to the weak and helpless, that someone who shone as bright as the sun would someday save them from their misery.
What history books failed to mention were the actions made in order to lead their nation to victory, actions would be considered sacrilege and brutal. The same actions and decisions villains in a children’s story book would make. After all, heroes were just sugar coated versions of blood-thirsty warriors who managed to survive the war.
Humans were hypocrites, the Abyss Prince had learnt that from his time spent in Teyvat. But if saving the world meant being a villain in their eyes, so be it.
-
A faded photograph, that was all he had left of her.
He looked at his image through the mirror, a boy with golden blond hair slipping through his cold fingers—reflecting the evening glow of the sunset outside his window.
His eyebrows furrowed, did his sister have the same hair as him? Was it just as soft, just as delicate? Was her hair long like his? Or was it short or put up in a ponytail? Did she dye her hair? Was her favourite colour still blue?
Golden, dull unblinking eyes stared back at him.
When they were kids, no older than six, people always commented on their eyes. They said they were as beautiful as the flaming feathers of a phoenix—or, the colour of the golden hue spread across the morning sky. Their eyes were something to be admired, to be looked at with wonder, with fascination, with awe.
Now, people only looked at his eyes with fear.
Aether blinked once. Were her eyes still as bright as before? Did her eyes still fuel people with unwavering hope? Or was she like him? Did people look into her eyes with horror? With begrudging respect? Were her eyes the same shade of golden as his? Was it darker? Lighter? Warmer? Colder?
Aether couldn’t remember.
Turning his back to the mirror, he faced the paintings of her placed amply on his wall.
Empty, lifeless golden eyes stared back.
Then, He looked at the words carved into his wall. Lumine, her name was Lumine. His sister’s name was Lumine. Lumine with her golden eyes, Lumine with her golden hair the same as his.
Lumine.
Picking up a dagger discarded on the floor, he stalked towards the wall—stopping in front of one of his larger paintings of her.
Lumine.
He couldn’t forget.
Stabbing his dagger into the painting, he began to write.
Lumine. He wouldn’t let himself forget.
One day, he would save her. And he would save them all.
-
Their reunion came sooner than he had planned.
Standing on the edge of a platform, the Abyss Prince's golden eyes bored into Stormterror's lair masked with thin layers of fog and dust while cruel and ceaseless winds continued to bluster against his loose braid, causing stray strands to fall and frame his soft face. Despite the centuries he had lived and experienced, he was cursed with the gift of immortality by the gods of celestia since birth. Forever trapped within a young boy's appearance, not a hint older than 16.
Below him, he watched as his sister walked towards the tower with three powerful people of mondstat trailing after her.
Lumine. It was hard to see through the fog, but from above, Aether could make out that her hair was just a little lighter with a soft blue hue shining upon it. Her hair was cut short with two strands at the front. Though it looked just as soft, just as delicate as he remembered.
Lumine.
His sister was finally here.
“ Your highness…“ a familiar voice appeared behind him. “ your humble servant returns. “
A bow.
“ When your homeland returns to this world, we shall revel in its glory. “
When he found a way to defeat Celestia, he would find his way back to her again. No longer would Aether have to spend nights staying up until dawn trying to recall any information about her to write down in his hundreds of notebooks as a way to preserve his memory, no longer would he have to make paint out of the blood of the enemies he defeated in order to get the perfect shade of her golden eyes.
When he found a way to save this world, he would return back to her to create new memories. The two of them travelling through the universe as stars. They would go back to how they were, both of them together against the world—how it always should be.
Without noticing, a small smile slipped on his face.
Within a brief moment, it disappeared as quickly it came.
“ TRAVELER! “
Lumine.
What was the difference between a hero and a villain?
A hero was someone who would sacrifice himself for the world. A villain was someone who would sacrifice the world for someone.
If he had a choice between watching the world fall in ruins, or watching his sister plummet to her death, there wouldn’t be a choice at all. Here, jumping off the ledge and flying towards his sister at a speed rivalling the dragons, he was no longer the Abyss Prince. He was Aether, the brother that vowed to protect her until the end of days. He was Aether, the boy who defied every rule he set up for himself and lived by for centuries in lieu of saving the only one he loved.
That night, within the embrace of his unconscious sister in his arms and a blinding shield between them and the world. The stars reunited for the first time in centuries, and together, they shone brighter than ever before.