Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The request went wrong...That's all Aether could think while trying to get away from the ronin chasing after him. It was Chaos everytime Aether thought he got away, they seemed to catch up to him.  It was getting harder to move the more blood he lost. Aether barely managed to place his teapot down and teleport in, as he set foot into the mansion he finally passed out from his blood loss.

Darkness. .. 

He was left alone. He awoke in the middle of the abyss with his sister running away from him, but Aether couldn’t move. His legs won’t work. The darkness engulfed him and left him with one thought.

 Why can’t I breathe?!

Aether is gasping for air and grabbing at his throat. "..THER!" He hears. "...THER!!" It's loud. Is.. is someone calling for him? He can finally breathe again and the voice still rings in his head. 

Someone must have found me... Aether thinks. He lets the darkness take him once more.   Maybe... Maybe I can finally rest. 

~~

Aether wakes up, but he can't open his eyes. He moves around until he bonks his head against someone's leg. "...Aether..." The voice calls out. It spooks Aether and he slides back a little. "Hey! It's okay! It's me!" The voice says. Aether doesn't respond. The voice sounds familiar but he can't put a face to the voice. 

"...I" Aether starts to say but his voice is gone. "Ah, sorry I didn't realize you had your eyes closed my fault. It's me, Heizou" he says. Aether slightly opens his eyes and he sees the redhead smiling at him.

"How are you feeling?" He asks. Aether hums because he doesn't know. "Mmm, you don't know do you?" He asked. Aether nods his head gently. "Mm" Heizou lets out. "Aether, you scared us. Venti found you and calls of all of us." He explains. "You have been out for a week..." Aether sits up too quickly. He is too shocked to feel the pain in his chest. He feels a pair of hands that aren't Heizou gently hold Aether. 

"Heizou, probably not best to tell him that right as soon as he woke up," Kauzha says, petting the blonde's hair. "I apologize, Aether," Heizou says with a smile. 

He nods. "But Heiozu is right, you scared all of us. Xiao and Scara are pissed, and Venti was concerned, Heizou and I were worried." Kazuha exclaims. Heizou nodded and Aether wanted to cry. 

He does cry. It takes Heizou and Kazuha by surprise so much so that all Kazuha and Heizou thought to do was hold him. Aether sobbed even more. He was tired and wasn't used to being comforted. 

Aether passed out not long after that. He woke up a few hours later to yet another person taking care of him. It was his boyfriend, the Yaksha. "...Xiao.." he whispers, his voice finally returned but it still felt dry. "Aether.." Xiao spoke softly, he placed Aether's head in his lap. "Why didn't you call me?" He whispered. "I... my brain was too foggy to think... I'm sorry." He says trying to keep himself from crying. 

Xiao doesn't respond but holds Aether closer. "Shhh... I'm sorry too, I was pissed that I wasn't there to keep you safe.." Xiao exclaims rubbing Aether's forehead. Tear eventually fall down Aether's eyes. Xiao's face turns into a concern, "Aether don't cry... It's okay I'm here." Aether cries a little, "I'm sorry-" he tried to speak. "Babe.. shh.. sleep, you are still recovering," Xiao whispers and rubs his forehead. He falls back asleep. 

~~

Aether awoke feeling stiff and felt a hand on his head. He jolts from the touch. "Hey, don't move so much." Scara hisses. Aether listens and stops moving. "Sorry... I didn't mean to… well be mean." Scara says. "I'm here to change your bandages and Venti is making you some food." He adds on. Scara is gentle and careful with his work. Venti comes in and greets Aether. Scara has Aether sit up gently. Venti takes over and starts spoon-feeding Aether. 

"This is my first time seeing you awake. How are you feeling? Anywhere on your body hurts?" The bard asks. Aether looks at him and is unable to respond. Venti takes Aether's face gently. "Unable to talk again?" He asked. The blonde nods. "Mm.. that's no good. I wish you could because I wanna know what happened to you." The bard says. 

Aether grabs Venti's hands. 

> We are entering Aether mind < 

"Hey, Venti." He says, shaky and very clearly broken and slightly difficult to understand. "Hi." The bard says back. "I can speak to you like this. My voice just doesn't want to work. I'll tell you what happened." Aether explained. "I took a request from Inazuma and it wasn't difficult from the start, but something unexpected happened and I was injured." Venti just sits and listens. "I had no control of the situation and I almost died, as far as I'm aware. I knew I made it to the teapot, after that it's foggy." 

Venti stares at Aether not sure how to respond. He finally had the words he wants to say. "I heard a loud thud and ran to see what it was. I found you bleeding out and I felt terrified. Once I had you stable enough I called for everyone to aid me in keeping you alive." The bard stops. He has tears in his eyes. "You started to gasp for air, we were so confused and worried, but that didn't startle us."

The bard looks at Aether cupping his face, "you started choking yourself and we had to get you to stop." Venti started to cry himself. Aether put his arms around the bard and squeezed him twice. "I'm so sorry..." The blonde boy says. He looks down and lets go of Venti, so their communication is cut off. 

"Aether... it's not your fault, do not apologize, please! My warrior come here!" Venti says wrapping his arms around the blonde. "You made us worried sick, yes, but please do not blame yourself either. The situation you were in was clearly out of your control. I worry about you." The bard says. "All I ask of you Aether is to let one of us come with you next time... Please. You know we are always here for you." Aether is quiet and enjoying the warmth of the hug: he shifts a bit and ends up falling asleep. 

The next few days Xiao and Kazuha took turns taking care of him, and usually gets a visit from Tighnari every so often to check up on his wounds. Tighnari let Kazuha know that by tomorrow he should be able to get up and walk around. Aether asked if he was allowed to do commissions and Tighnari says no, due to possibly reopening his wounds, but he is allowed to do housework. 

Aether sighs and if that's all he can do he'll take it. It's night now, Scara and Xiao are arguing, and it's causing Aether to get a headache. "You and Kazuha have been looking over him this whole time! I was only here twice! I was able to help him for half a day! Let me take care of him!" Scara hissed, as Xiao crosses his arms. "Do I need to remind you?... I am Aether's boyfriend! I get to take care of him the most because HE.IS.MY.PARTNER." Xiao says in a harsh tone. Scara sighs, "Just because you fuck him doesn't mean you get him all to yourself!" 

Aether chokes out a laugh, and Xiao's face turns bright red. "Mmm... That is none of your business puppet." The Adeptus huffed out. Xiao and Scara continued to argue over this, slowly irritating Aether more and more until Aether chucked a plushie slamming it right into a wall. 

Xiao and Scara both turn and look at the blonde. "SHUT UP! For archons, I love you both BUT SHUT UP! I am well enough to take care of myself for the rest of the night,  you both can  take care of me because I do not care, just stop arguing you have given me a headache!" Aether explained as he shoved his head into the pillow.

His head was bothering him, he was trying to get himself to not cry because they were arguing. Aether tunes out Xiao and Scara. After a few minutes of silence, he felt a pair of hands go around him, Aether lifts his head and Xiao hugs him, he also noticed that Venti, Heizou, and Kauzha are there too. 

"We heard shouting so we came into the room as fast as we could!" Heizou starts "seeing how everyone looks I have a feeling I know what happened." He adds on Heizou's side eyes Xiao and Scara. 

"Aether," Venti says softly, the blonde looks up at him. "I think I speak for everyone in the room. We are glad to see you alive and well, but what happened to cause this, please never hesitate to come to get one of us when you find yourself in a difficult situation again. I know myself and Xiao will be there as quickly as possible." He explains. "As for myself and Heizou, we will drop anything to aid you," Kazuha says smiling, and Heizou nods. 

The blonde looks at Scara. He sighs "me too, dumbass... Don't ever do that again you hear me?" Aether looks over at everyone he starts to tear up. "...I don't deserve you guys..." He says through his sobs, "I don't deserve this..." Xiao pulls Aether closer.

"Aether" Kazuha says, "you deserve this, you have done so much for us already, you made an impact on our lives. Let us be here for you, to comfort you, to help you." Heizou nods in agreement. Aether is overwhelmed with emotions. 

"Thank you..." He whispers. Everyone goes quiet and Xiao holds Aether even tighter.

"May the wind protect you, Traveler..." Venti says breaking the silence.

Chapter Text

Venti enjoyed his silence, writing down some poetry, for him, Kazuha, and Hu Tao to look over. (they made a poetry club down @ me). Venti was startled by a very loud thud that came from the entryway. He got up slowly and walked over to the door, peeking out. 

To his absolute horror, he saw his best friend on the floor, bleeding from multiple wounds. Venti rushed to his side. “AETHER! Can you hear me?” He shouts, no response. He shook the poor traveler to get him to open his eyes. Nothing came from that, so Venti rushed him to the medical room Aether had made for himself and others. 

Venti got to work quickly wrapping and cleaning Aether's wounds. Once he was done, he called Xiao. Xiao was pissed. “What the fuck happened to him?” He huffs. “Xiao, calm down I don't know. I found him passed out on the floor, bleeding out! Get the others.” The bard says. Xiao went and brought the others. They ask Venti a ton of questions and he is only able to answer a few. 

Suddenly Aether is gasping for air. He was not awake as far as Venti could tell. Everyone only started to panic and touched him, when Aether began to choke himself. Everyone was yelling at Aether to stop, but he wasn't responding. Aether finally stops and his breathing is back to normal. A sigh of relief comes from everyone….

~~

Heizou and Kazuha were the first watchers of Aether, due to Venti, Xiao, and Scara had other things to attend to. Heizou was chilling when Aether started to wake up. He didn't speak until Aether bonked his head against his leg. Heizou chuckled. “...Aether…” He says. . It spooks Aether and he slides back a little

. "Hey! It's okay! It's me!" Heizou said. Aether doesn't respond. Heizou noticed Aether’s eyes were closed.

"...I" Aether starts to say but Heizou interrupts him. "Ah, sorry I didn't realize you had your eyes closed my fault. It's me, Heizou" he says. Heizou notices Aether open his eyes and Heizou waves.

"How are you feeling?" Heizou asks and Aether hums. . "Mmm, you don't know do you?" Heizou asked. Aether nods his head gently. "Mm" Heizou lets out. "Aether, you scared us. Venti found you and calls of all of us." He explains. "You have been out for a week..." Aether sits up too quickly. Heizou watches as Kazuha comforts the blonde. 

"Heizou, probably not best to tell him that right as soon as he woke up," Kauzha says, petting the blonde's hair. "I apologize, Aether," Heizou says with a smile. 

Kauzha nods. "But Heiozu is right, you scared all of us. Xiao and Scara are pissed, and Venti was concerned, Heizou and I were worried." Kazuha exclaims. Heizou nodded... 

Aether starts to cry. It takes Heizou and Kazuha by surprise so much that all Kazuha and Heizou thought to do was hold him. Aether sobbed even more. Heizou and Kazuha silently whisper to themselves as Aether fell asleep. 

It was finally Xiao’s turn to take care of Aether. He has been out most of the week due to Liyue becoming stacked with monsters. Xiao was also disappointed he wasn’t there yesterday to see Aether wake up and comfort the blonde. Xiao is here now and also realizes his boyfriend has woken up. "...Xiao.." Aether whispers,

 "Aether.." Xiao spoke softly. Xiao placed Aether's head in his lap. "Why didn't you call me?" He whispered. "I... my brain was too foggy to think... I'm sorry." Aether says with tears forming in his eyes. 

Xiao doesn't respond but holds Aether closer. "Shhh... I'm sorry too, I was pissed that I wasn't there to keep you safe.." Xiao exclaims rubbing Aether's forehead. Tears eventually fall down Aether's eyes. Xiao's face turns into a concern, "Aether don't cry... It's okay I'm here." Xiao says as Aether sobs a little more., 

"I'm sorry-" Aether tried to speak. "Babe.. shh.. sleep, you are still recovering," Xiao whispers and rubs his forehead. Aether falls back asleep. 

~~

Scara was finally able to take care of the traveler. Surprisingly has been looking forward to it. Scara began to change Aether’s bandages when Aether jolts from the touch. "Hey, don't move so much." Scara hisses. Aether listens and stops moving. "Sorry... I didn't mean to… well be mean." Scara says. "I'm here to change your bandages and Venti is making you some food." He adds on. Scara is gentle and careful with his work. Venti comes in and greets Aether. Scara has Aether sit up gently. Scara leaves due to Nahida needing him. So Venti takes over and starts spoon-feeding Aether. 

"This is my first time seeing you awake. How are you feeling? Anywhere on your body hurts?" The bard asks. Aether looks at him and is unable to respond. Venti takes Aether's face gently. "Unable to talk again?" He asked—the blonde nodded. "Mm.. that's no good. I wish you could because I wanna know what happened to you." The bard says. 

Aether grabs Venti's hands. 

> We are entering Aether mind < 

"Hey, Venti," Aether says, shaky, clearly broken, and slightly difficult to understand. "Hi." The bard says back. "I can speak to you like this. My voice just doesn't want to work. I'll tell you what happened." Aether explained. "I took a request from Inazuma and it wasn't difficult from the start, but something unexpected happened and I was injured." Venti just sits and listens. "I had no control of the situation and almost died, as far as I'm aware. I knew I made it to the teapot, after that it's foggy." 

Venti stares at Aether not sure how to respond. Venti finally had the words he wanted to say. "I heard a loud thud and ran to see what it was. I found you bleeding out and I felt terrified. Once I had you stable enough I called for everyone to aid me in keeping you alive." The bard stops. He has tears in his eyes. "You started to gasp for air, we were so confused and worried, but that didn't startle us."

The bard looks at Aether cupping his face, "you started choking yourself and we had to get you to stop." Venti started to cry himself. Aether put his arms around the bard and squeezed him twice. 

"I'm so sorry..." The blonde boy says. He looks down and lets go of Venti, so their communication is cut off. 

"Aether... it's not your fault, do not apologize, please! My warrior come here!" Venti says wrapping his arms around the blonde. "You made us worried sick, yes, but please do not blame yourself either. The situation you were in was clearly out of your control. I worry about you." The bard says. "All I ask of you Aether is to let one of us come with you next time... Please. You know we are always here for you." Aether is quiet and Venti tightens his grip around the blonde hoping Aether is comfortable. 

Venti concludes this because Aether’s breathing is steady and is sound asleep. Venti smiles and lays down Aether so he can rest. 

The next few days Xiao and Kazuha took turns taking care of Aether, who usually gets a visit from Tighnari every so often to check up on Aether's wounds. Tighnari let Kazuha know that by tomorrow Aether should be able to get up and walk around. Aether asked if he was allowed to do commissions and Tighnari says no, due to possibly reopening his wounds, but he is allowed to do housework. 

The following day, Xiao was arguing with Scara, "You and Kazuha have been looking over him this whole time! I was only here twice! I was able to help him for half a day! Let me take care of him!" Scara hissed, as Xiao crossed his arms.

 "Do I need to remind you?... I am Aether's boyfriend! I get to take care of him the most because of HE.IS.MY.PARTNER." Xiao says in a harsh tone. Scara sighs, 

"Just because you fuck him doesn't mean you get him all to yourself!" Scara shouts.

Aether chokes out a laugh, and Xiao's face turns bright red. "Mmm... That is none of your business puppet." The Adeptus huffed out. Xiao and Scara continued to argue over this until Aether chucked a plushie slamming it right into a wall. 

Xiao and Scara both turn and look at the blonde. "SHUT UP! For archons, I love you both BUT SHUT UP! I am well enough to take care of myself for the rest of the night,  you both can  take care of me because I do not care, just stop arguing you have given me a headache!" Aether explained as Aether shoved his head into the pillow.

Xiao gives Scara the side eye as he walks toward Aether. “Aether..?” Xiao calls out while kneeling next to the blonde, but no response is given. Xiao looks back at Scara and then at the open door. The rest of the boys in the teapot had come into the room due to the yelling. 

Aether lifts his head and Xiao hugs him, Aether also noticed that Venti, Heizou, and Kauzha are there too. 

"We heard shouting so we came into the room as fast as we could!" Heizou starts "seeing how everyone looks I have a feeling I know what happened." He adds on Heizou's side eyes Xiao and Scara. 

"Aether," Venti says softly, the blonde looks up at him. "I think I speak for everyone in the room. We are glad to see you alive and well, but what happened to cause this, please never hesitate to come to get one of us when you find yourself in a difficult situation again. I know myself and Xiao will be there as quickly as possible." Venti explains. "As for myself and Heizou, we will drop anything to aid you," Kazuha said with a smile, and Heizou nods. 

Aether looks at Scara, and Scara sighs "me too, dumbass... Don't ever do that again you hear me?" Aether looks over at everyone he starts to tear up.

 "...I don't deserve you guys..." Aether says through his sobs, "I don't deserve this..." Xiao pulls Aether closer.

"Aether" Kazuha says, "you deserve this, you have done so much for us already, you made an impact on our lives. Let us be here for you, comfort, and help you." Heizou nods in agreement. Aether squeezes Xiao a little tighter. 

"Thank you..." Aether whispers. Everyone goes quiet and Xiao holds Aether even tighter.

"May the wind protect you, Traveler..." Venti says breaking the silence.