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Aether was still reeling from his meeting with his sister. Her accusations of the people of this world had come as a shock, and he still wondered over that she hadn't jumped at the opportunity to come home with him. He can't imagine not wanting to go with home with her, no matter the circumstances. As he dodged the swing of an axe, he supposed it wasn't the right time to be thinking over his most recent familial problems. The woosh of an arrow releasing behind him had him already ducking to the ground, and he used his hands to push off into another hilichurl. No matter how he scolded himself for letting his thoughts wander so, they still managed back on his sister, and Dain. Clearly they'd known each other, but what had he done to cause such disdain from the one he loved the most. He was musing over that for a moment, and he stopped dodging the blows, instead distractedly blocking.
In a half second of distraction, he was flying through the air. Aether landed on his shoulder with what he hoped wasn't a crack, and groaned as he rolled to his side. Blood dripped onto the ground, and he wheezed an, "Ouch." Taking a moment to asses the damage, he noticed the huge gash covering his side, and had but a moment to note what he'd have to do to not bleed out before the last of his enemies was rushing him again. He pushed to his feet and to the side just before the mitachurl landed, its impact throwing dust up. He was quick to step on its weapon and swing his own sword in a wide arc. He felt it connect and took another step forward, thrusting the sword into his opponent.
It dissolved with a thin trail of smoke, leaving Aether alone with his pain and his thoughts.
He sat carefully, holding a hand over his injury with a hiss. It stung and burned, and the alcohol Master Diluc allowed him to buy for reasons like this, only made it worse. Once he'd wiped the moisture from his skin, he placed a bandage over it carefully. It hurt worse now, and he wondered if perhaps the blade had had some sort of residue on it. Even gashes of this severity never hurt this badly after treatment. He stood, using his sword to prop himself up, and making sure that the clothing he wearing was covering it. It wouldn't do to make Xiao worry more than he already did on the daily, his boyfriend often proposed that he do all the dangerous missions for Aether.
However, he was usually more than capable of taking on dangerous foe, and a camp of hilichurls was not enough to even be considered dangerous on a bad day. But clearly, it was a bad day, and he'd taken more battering than he usually took. He made his way back to the Wangshu Inn, teleporting onto the deck and nearly keeling over from the added pressure his wound inflicted. He stumbled past concerned people, up the stairs till he reached the spot he and Xiao usually left the teapot.
Aether summoned it from the space he was allowed in this world, setting it onto the table and teleporting in. This time he couldn't hold it in and stumbled into the mansion straight to the bathroom to throw up. He was feeling woozy, his head spinning and feet unsteady.
When he looked down to the bandage, there was blood seeping through it and onto his clothing again. With shaky hands, he managed to replace it with a new, clean one, but just barely. He heard Xiao enter the mansion, and stood much too quickly, smoothing his hair and clothing again. He tried to look casual, and not like he thought he might be bleeding out when he left the bathroom. Xiao's lips turned up a barely noticeable amount when he saw Aether, but they quickly morphed back into a frown. He looked over his boyfriend, trying to be inconspicuous in his studying. Aether tried to act natural when he gripped Xiao's arm and dragged him over to the couch, flopping in a way that increased his pain tenfold. He winced, and adjusted his top.
Xiao narrowed his eyes at Aether, following how his hand avoided the injury carefully.
"What's wrong?" Aether laughed awkwardly, lifting his arm over his head to rub at his neck sheepishly, and regretting it as a sharp pain shot through him. He rolled in on his side, cradling it gently. Xiao was over him instantly, pulling his overwear out of the sash around his waist and exposing the bandage that was already soaked through with blood. Aether felt weak, his hand had no grip when he brought it up to pull at Xiao's arm.
He looked terrified. His yellow eyes had lost the bit of brightness entirely, only horror echoing back at Aether. He pulled multiple things from what seemed like the air around him, herbs and plants Aether had never seen before. His hands were firm and careful when he pulled the bandage away, his eyes narrowing further at the sight of black-purple blood. Aether had never heard Xiao curse before, and it sounded foreign from the stoic man's lips. He was beginning to drift, the waves of pian becoming simply waves that drew him further from the gentle hands cleaning his wound.
He awoke a couple hours later to Xiao nervously pacing. The moment Aether opened his eyes, he was sitting again, looking bored, as if he hadn't been worried at all. His side still ached, but he could feel healing similar to that of Bennet's all around him. Xiao was holding his hand to his forehead, inspecting his eyes for any more pain than he should be feeling. Aether didn't feel nearly as woozy, though his hands still shook when he held Xiao's arm and smiled up at him. He'd never thought that he'd fall for someone as hard as he fell for Xiao, and though he wasn't even aware of where his sister was, he knew that this was easier. This was kinder. Xiao brought a bowl of something or another to his attention, and though it didn't look especially appetizing, he knew his boyfriend wouldn't feed him something that would cause him harm.
He asked what it was anyway.
"The poison that was used, this is a cure. From Cloud Retainer." Aether nodded up at him with again, a smile. He opened his mouth, then stopped, instead motioning for Aether to move over so that he could join him in what he now realized was his bed. Xiao's arms were careful when he wrapped them around his torso, and he huffed into his neck. Aether giggled a bit, hurting his side and curling up a bit. The arms around him loosened immediately, which only made him smile more. Though Xiao's concern was sweet, he really didn't need it now.
So he pulled the arms tighter again, ignoring the sounds of fake protest Xiao was making from were he was curled behind him.
"Don't ever do that again. Please." Though the last word was barely even a whisper, it brought a half-smile to Aether's face.