Work Text:
The light was different from the cold stars that dotted the Abyss’s sky. It mesmerized Ajax enough that he could not help but stare. Like a shooting star, it shot across the sky and pushed back the gloom of the Abyss; glowing bright blue before intensifying further, taking on a golden glow, so vibrant and striking that Ajax’s eyes watered.
Someone had told him once: If you see a shooting star and make a wish, it will come true. The memory had faded, the person’s face all but forgotten, buried alongside the monsters he had slain, but despite himself, Ajax wished—
--
The falling star hit the ground with such force that it shook the ground and cracked the earth. Ajax stumbled and barely managed to catch himself.
In the Abyss, there were all kinds of monsters. Some grotesque, twisted in ways that made them look like something that should not be alive, some were humanoid while others looked almost harmless. A few of them even had an eerie glow. Ajax was sure that some looked like boys glowing in soft blue and golden light too.
Boys not unlike the one that fell from the sky like a shooting star and could lay unharmed among softly pulsing crystal shards. Sword at the ready and prepared for the boy-monster to lunge at him at any moment, Ajax slid down the crater, drawn by the promise of light.
The boy-monster at the bottom of the crater didn’t seem to be aware of his surroundings, he simply laid on the ground and breathed. With each rise and fall of his chest, the smallest of shards fell off him, twinkling through the air like snowflakes. Ajax tapped him with his sword, and in a flash, the boy moved— even quicker than Skirk could have managed. One moment, Ajax had him at swordpoint and the next, his sword was clashing with another, and he was forced to brace himself to avoid being pushed back. Had Ajax let down his guard even for a second, he would have been struck down.
Meeting the other’s gaze over their crossed blades, Ajax took in the boy's expression: Harsh yet calm. The face of a warrior. Ajax’s lips curled into a bloodthirsty smile. His blood sang. Just when Ajax was about to lunge, the boy’s harsh expression smoothed out and his eyes — golden and just as bright as his hair — softened. The pressure he was applying to Ajax’s guard disappeared as he took a half step back.
“Hello.” It was a greeting, cordial and out of place, rather than an attack. “It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance. I’m Aether.”
Ajax didn’t answer, only gripped his weapon tighter, thrown by the sudden change. Softness was weakness, and weakness meant—
The boy hummed, letting his gaze flicker from Ajax's tense form to the darkness around him, taking in the twisted landscape of the Abyss. The more he looked, the more distressed he seemed to become, but Ajax didn’t think it was due to their surroundings. The smartest thing to do would be to attack him, to take the boy down before—
“Have you seen a girl who looks like me?”
--
The boy did not linger at his landing site and set off quickly to search for the girl — his sister. The knowledge settled strangely in Ajax’s head, and he found himself following, watching the golden braid swing back and forth at the boy’s back. As they walked, Aether kept talking to him, asking questions that Ajax had discarded what felt like years ago. Hearing the chatter made something inside his chest settle. His master hadn’t been prone to talking, but somehow, the chatter was soothing to listen to (familiar, almost).
“Lumine would look for people,” Aether told him, dropping one of the glowing crystal shards that had still been stuck to him. It shattered further when it hit the unforgiving ground of the Abyss. He didn’t seem any more perturbed by their surroundings than he was by Ajax's dirty and bloody form. “She is amazing at making friends.”
“There are no people here,” Ajax told him, he didn’t add: People die, only monsters live. Those were the words of his master the first time Ajax had hesitated to kill one of the beasts that had come for them. He didn’t think his master’s teachings would help Aether, and from the way the boy had lunged for him upon waking up, he didn’t think that hesitation would be Aether’s problem. He hoped it wasn’t a problem for Aether’s sister either.
At Ajax’s words, Aether turned around, a furrow between his brows. “She’ll be fine regardless.” The way he said it made it sound like he was trying to convince himself more than anyone else. Ajax didn’t argue and Aether’s gaze flickered back to their surroundings. There was a tenseness to his posture that hadn’t been present before, it made some of the lightness fade and caused something in Ajax’s chest to clench to see it be chipped away by the reality that was the Abyss. Aether's back was hunched now, it made him look so much smaller. Shoulders curled inwards, downturned lips, and a pinched form- it was familiar and-
“Maybe.” The word - the reassurance, something that had no place in the Abyss - tumbled from Ajax’s lips before he could think better of them. Aether turned to look at him and smiled. It was brighter than his arrival had been. Ajax could not bring himself to regret his words.
--
Traveling with Aether through the hellscape of the Abyss felt strange. There were still fights and bloodshed, the sounds of monsters in the darkness, and yet, it was nothing like traveling with Skirk had been. Instead of the tense silence and constant vigilance that had characterized his time with his teacher, traveling with Aether felt almost like… a trip. Aether chatted, told him stories and adventures, even as his eyes flickered around, searching.
There was a familiarity to walking with someone like this, and it tugged at Ajax’s buried memories. At times he could almost see the form of a large man, and another boy walking beside him instead of Aether. It made Ajax's stomach churn. Because he knew them. Because he lost them. Because-
There was no way out.
--
Aether’s presence brought a lightness with it.
Unlike Skirk’s teaching which had made Ajax strong and had taught him to survive even as he sank deeper and deeper into the power of the Abyss, more and more away from the boy he had been, it was an uplifting feeling.
Every time Aether’s hand landed on his shoulder, or he bumped their elbows together in a comradely fashion, Ajax felt like he could finally breathe in after a long period of holding his breath. It was almost like a fresh breeze was blowing into Ajax’s face when he knew with certainty that the only breeze in the Abyss was foul and smelled of rot.
It made Ajax realize how much of the Abyss’s miasma clung to him, how much it had likely changed him as it changed everything around it. But with it also came clarity. The realization that while he wasn’t happy to lose parts of himself, he didn’t mind it either. He would lose them again if it meant he could carry on. Aether spoke of getting out of the Abyss, of finding his sister, and it kindled a spark of hope in Ajax’s chest, that maybe, Skirk had been wrong, that maybe there was a way out.
--
After his first week in the Abyss, Ajax had stopped talking about his family. After the first month, he had stopped thinking about them. Aether’s insistence in talking about his sister, telling stories about their adventures together became something Ajax got used to. Especially when they settled down for breaks, Aether’s stories seemed to get more and more fantastical.
“Lumine wouldn’t listen to that of course,” he said with a fond smile, “she grabbed him by his scarf and told him in no uncertain tones that if he had time to redecorate his house, he had time to look for his boss.” When he spoke like that, Aether’s voice took on a different cadence, and Ajax could almost imagine what Lumine would sound like. A bit less soft-spoken than her brother, with firm opinions and a sense of mischief. It reminded him of Tonia.
As Aether chatted, Ajax could almost see his sister’s chubby face and the way red spots would appear high on her cheeks when she was excited or angry. The sparkle in her eyes when Ajax had told her about his make-believe adventures. He missed her. He remembered her. Her face, her smile, the dimple in her left cheek that they shared. Ajax hadn’t thought that he was still capable of it. The realization felt strange, but what felt natural was-
“I have a sister too.” Aether looked at him in surprise, but he didn’t interrupt Ajax when he hesitantly started to speak about his own sister. His brothers. His parents. Each word Ajax spoke felt like a confession, with each word he felt lighter, and when Aether smiled at him and asked him about his home-
Ajax’s own smile was genuine too.
--
Before, Ajax had been sure that he had seen the depravity of the Abyss, that he knew which terrors were hidden in the dark. Now, however, he knew he had been wrong.
None of his explorations with his master or with Aether had prepared him for the sight before him. The monster that had suddenly attacked them in what seemed like a ruin of human civilization, was grotesque in ways that his eyes kept shifting away from. It was so viscerally wrong that it took all he had to even look at it properly, and even then, it wasn’t enough.
His sword screeched against the scales that twisted and shifted, but had no effect, the elemental energy Aether threw at it phased no more than a gentle breeze. This wasn’t a monster they could defeat. Nothing they did could even scratch it, and yet, with every swipe of its claw, and every breath it took, Ajax felt himself get weaker as if the beast was sapping away his strength. Aether’s gaze met his, and in his eyes, Ajax could see the same exhaustion and the knowledge that this was not a fight they could win. They had to run.
Before meeting Aether, Ajax would not have considered it an option. His experiences and Skirk’s teachings had made it clear that the only way to survive in the Abyss was to win, but now, Ajax did not only remember Skirk, he also remembered his siblings, his parents, home - it was enough and it took almost no effort at all to step away from the fight. Or at least to try.
Aether and him ran . They leaped over chasms, scrambled up cliffs - the ground almost seemed to fly under their feet. The beast followed.
It could have been days or hours or minutes when suddenly a light appeared in the sky. It split the clouds and raced across the horizon. Brilliant and bright; It was completely out of place in the Abyss. Ajax had seen it before, he gasped half in shock, half in exhaustion, his eyes snapping to Aether, who must have seen his moment of realization, and with it, there was a desperate hope.
“Lumine.” The words were almost soundless, but the emotion in them was all-encompassing.
Just like when Aether had arrived, the light streaked across the sky pushing back the miasma-heavy clouds, but unlike Aether’s arrival, which had shaken the ground, this falling star split the sky. When it hit the ground in the distance- behind them, where they had run from, where the monster was - Ajax could barely make it out, a shockwave violently exploded outwards, sending out a wave of sheer destruction from the epicenter of the impact.
Even where they were, it was almost enough to send Ajax off his feet. Aether remained unmoved next to him, his chest still heaving from exertion, his eyes fixed into the distance where the light had descended. He would go there, Ajax knew it deep in his bones, even if it would lead him back to the beast they could not hope to overcome. And Ajax- Ajax couldn’t abandon him. He braced himself, took a deep breath, and-
The sky broke apart. Light still lingered in the sky where the star had fallen, only now, those lingering lights, seemed to bite into the sky of the Abyss, tearing it apart. Cracks appeared, branching out from the trajectory of the star’s descent, and splitting the sky and the ground asunder. The sound of it - of the world breaking - hurt Ajax’s ears, and he felt nausea rising in his throat. It lasted only for a moment, then there was silence.
Ajax shook off the disorientation and took stock of his surroundings. The sky was still cracking, and the ground had started as well, but more importantly-
Aether was moving away from him. “Aether!” Ajax called, but his voice came out hushed, almost like a whisper, sounding impossibly loud, yet far too quiet, in the ringing silence left behind. Still, Aether turned and looked back at him over his shoulder, his face unreadable. Around them, the ground was cracking further.
“We need to be careful,” Ajax told him, the words strange on his tongue. They were the words of the boy he had been once, but they didn’t feel as alien as they should have. Golden eyes considered him carefully; Aether hummed, the sound reverberated with the cracking around them.
“Ajax,” he said, eyes flickering around the disturbing scene around him, eyes lingering on one of the cracks, one that looked like a seam. It glowed red and black, and hurt Ajax to even look at. Aether’s face twisted at the sight, something almost like hatred in his eyes. It didn’t fit-
“We need to get away,” Ajax insisted, stumbling over the words. “Your sister, she-”
“I’ll find her.” Aether cut him off. “Thank you. For helping me.” He smiled, and-
--
Ajax made it out, a shortsword in one hand, a vision in the other. He didn’t know how, but he knew: There was a monster in the Abyss, stronger than any other and one day he would slay it. There was a boy lost in the Abyss and one day he would find him.
He had to.
--
Ten years of wishing and fighting later, for the third time, a golden form slammed towards the ground. This time, Childe was at the edge of a crowd of people. Above them the sky was blue and the sun shone brightly.
The impact shook the ground, and as Childe sought out the center of the commotion, he found a girl with golden hair and golden eyes.