Chapter Text
Shit shit shit shit. He couldn't breathe right, something in his chest crackling with each sharp intake of overly humid air. He was moving based almost solely on instinct and muscle memory, vision cloudy.
He's not fleeing. He's not. He just... needs some space. That's right. Aether needed to be alone for a while and process what the hell just happened.
It felt like days. It was days? He's not entirely sure how long that dream? memory? vision? was in the first place. He only remembers finally seeing Paimon and Dainsleif after they'd disappeared and feeling almost as exhausted as he did after the samsara.
Gods...
Aether knows he's supposed to be glad that he has more information on Khaenri'ah. One step closer to understanding his sister. Understanding why she would leave him alone, leave him to wander an unknown world, leave him to suffer-
He should be trying to make sense of what he witnessed. These journeys with Dain are to help him. But if they're meant to help, why is he fleeing- running- escaping- gathering his thoughts alone?
Caribert.
Even just thinking of that boy's name had an uncomfortable shiver going down his spine.
What is he... what is Aether even meant to do with this information? Father and son are long since dead. Buried together. Is this supposed to be humanizing the Abyss for him? Have him sympathize with them so he'll better understand his sister's position?
Except it's done the opposite. Instead of understanding, or even wanting to understand what Lumine is leaving behind, Aether just wants to block it out. Forget the inverted statue. Forget the Abyss herald. Forget the Chasm. Forget Halfdan. Forget Caribert.
Except he's still in Sumeru, he's still in Teyvat, and as long as he remains in this world he will never be able to forget Khaenri'ah, even if what he knows is only a single drop in an ocean of information still waiting to be known. But he doesn't want to know! He just- he only-
He can't breathe again.
Aether slipped away from the bustling city of Port Ormos, not even knowing when or how he even got back here, let alone got back in one piece with his mind so absent. Anything could have attacked him. Fatui, eremites, slimes, fungi, hilichurls-
Shit.
There was suddenly a presence near him. Not touching, not attacking, just. near. His vision was still blurry, his head felt like it wanted to split down the middle, and his chest hurt, it hurt so bad, but this presence only stayed near him. It was an almost comfort, to not be attacked on sight when he's in such a vulnerable state. He hasn't been able to be vulnerable in months. Not since Inazuma, at least, when battle was his life while aiding the resistance. Not to mention there are only a select few he's met in Teyvat that Aether would even willingly be vulnerable around.
Blood was pounding in his ears and against his skull, but with the non-threatening, almost comforting presence, his breathing was finally starting to slow.
"...-ther. Aether. Aether, you're alright. Just breathe with me."
A voice was slowly filtering in past the incessant pounding. It was calm, patient and gentle. It's a voice he knows, he realized belatedly.
Aether brought a trembling hand up to his face, swiping some kind of warm liquid from his cheek. Blood? No-
Oh.
He was crying.
That would definitely explain the blurred vision...
When had he last cried? The first night after waking up in an unknown world without his twin? No, he had cried after seeing her but losing her again, watching as she slipped further through his fingers.
"Are you with me, Aether? Hm? You're safe. It's alright."
That voice again. So comforting. So familiar. Sounds like home.
Kaeya?
Finally wiping away enough of the tears to be able to see properly again, Aether looks up into the worried eye of someone he knows very well. In fact, he'd just seen him. How did he forget so easily that Kaeya was still in Sumeru for business? Is that why his fragmented mind took him back to Port Ormos? To find Kaeya. To go home?
"There you are. See? It's alright now." Kaeya brushed a careful hand over Aether's forehead, sweeping some golden blond hair back that had stuck to his skin still trembling with an anxious cold sweat. He had a smile on his face, not his normal grin or smirk, but a genuine gentle smile.
"Home. Please." Grabbing at Kaeya's sleeve, Aether couldn't even think enough to be ashamed of his actions and how childish they were. There was only the comforting presence of someone he knew and trusted being right in front of him while still being somewhere decidedly not safe.
Kaeya didn't seem to think Aether should be feeling ashamed either as he simply nodded and gracefully pulled Aether up and onto his back. He would never force the traveler to walk in this state, but he also did not want them to stay in one spot for too long while said traveler was like this. Best to move now.
The walk was quiet, but not uncomfortably so. It was good. Peaceful. The silence was a gentle buzz in Aether's mind rather than his racing thoughts from earlier. He was in and out of awareness, sometimes catching sight of other people, but never enough to put names to blurry faces. The one constant that kept him grounded was the warmth of Kaeya's back. The tickle of fluff around Kaeya's shoulder. The distinct scent of windwheel asters that most people from Mondstadt carry. Just. Kaeya.
Kaeya was here, and he wouldn't let him drift away to the darkest parts of his mind threatening to take hold again. Kaeya would take him home. Because, while Lumine seems to have moved on from their duo, Aether has started to as well. He's made friends, a family. They're all spread out, sure, but they're his and he loves them. Mondstadt and Liyue are home to him now. (Inazuma tried to kill him one too many times, and Sumeru is too close to Khaenri'ah...)
This flicker of awareness lasts long enough for Aether to finally come to when they're already back to Liyue. Shit, did he hit his head and pass out?!
"Kae-"
He tried to speak, but his voice gave out halfway when he saw a very familiar face that wasn't Kaeya.
"Xiao?" He whispered, reaching out to grasp at the yaksha beside him, needing to touch him. To make sure he's not dreaming right now.
Those eyes that just scream safety and protection flicker to him immediately and Xiao is squeezing Aether's hand.
"You called for him in your sleep. Your secrets are yours, but if you have an adepti who can show up with just the call of his name, I would've liked to know before I had a spear pointed at me in the dead of night."
Aether's gaze moved slightly past Xiao to find Kaeya, the rest of his tension bleeding out of his shoulders with the playful tone.
"Don't kill my friends, Xiao..." He muttered, the corner of his lips ticking up in a small smile as he pulled Xiao slightly closer. Craving more of the safety he brings with him. Khaenri'ah and the Abyss be damned, Xiao would slaughter them all if they were a threat.
Xiao only shrugged, not refuting the fact he'd threatened Kaeya with his polearm. He had been on his patrol when the weak call of his name rang through his head. Appearing on a boat in the middle of Sumeru and finding Aether unconscious had him acting on instinct, taking the stranger as some sort of kidnapper instead of a friend. He doesn't regret it, and Kaeya is still alive so it doesn't really matter.
Knowing that was all the response he was going to get, Aether sat up slowly to further gather his bearings. A soft bed, incense that isn't too overwhelming, wood walls...
"Wangshu Inn?" Aether blinked once, twice, and then tilted his head in question, waiting for the other two to fill him in. Because how he got from Port Ormos to Wangshu Inn is a complete mystery.
Kaeya chuckled and sat on the bed beside Aether, ignoring the pointed look from Xiao as he ruffled blond hair. "Well, I had us on a boat back to Mondstadt when you called for him in your sleep and he teleported us back here. You've been in and out of sleep for about a day, you had a slight fever from the stress that seems to have finally gone down now."
Aether nodded along. Okay. Okay, a day. That's not bad. Definitely better than sleeping for the duration of a normal trip from Sumeru to Liyue. That would be cause for greater concern. And Wangshu Inn is a place he's always associated with safety, so he's okay being here. Maybe it's because it is under Xiao's protection that it feels like such a secure safe haven.
Although, no matter how much like home this feels, he's still missing the rest of his family. Aether looks up at Kaeya with wide, puppy eyes and opens his mouth to speak before the man cuts him off with a knowing chuckle.
"I've already sent a letter to Diluc and Venti, they should be here soon."
A look directed at Xiao.
"Mor- Zhongli has stopped by while you were asleep. He said he will be back when you have awaken."
A more pointed look got a slightly annoyed huff.
"He said he will bring the harbinger."
That had Aether finally relaxing and sinking back into the bed, his eyes fluttering again. The rest of his family will be here soon... and perhaps he'll send a letter to Thoma and Ayaka. And maybe Alhaitham and Tighnari, too... But for now, his overly stressed-out body is calling for more, long-overdue sleep.
"Sleep. We'll get some food in you when you wake up." Kaeya ruffled his hair again, the soft look in his eye putting Aether more at ease. He nodded and turned to curl up against Xiao, knowing the yaksha would protect him in his unconscious state, from both outside forces as well as his own nightmares.
"Sleep..."
Xiao repeated Kaeya's words, replacing his hand with his own on top of Aether's head, scratching lightly against his scalp.
"You'll stay..?"
"For as long as you need me..."