| [The last of the Abyss's influence has been cleansed from his blade, and its Mages and Heralds no longer heed his command — but even so, Aether's wounds have yet to heal.
At least, that's what he claims. They'd taken him, bloodied and unconscious and dying, back to Mondstadt, where it all began; Barbara and Jean had taken shifts healing him for a full day and night before he was anywhere near stable, and there was a rough few hours where Barbara would come out of the intensive care room, pale as a sheet with her brown curls out of place, clearly forcing her smile beneath tired eyes. He'll be okay, she'd say, holding Lumine's hands in hers and trying her damnedest, even though it was clear that even she wasn't sure if she believed it. We just have to try.
Then, when she'd let go of Lumine's fingers and thought the traveler was out of earshot, she collapsed into a bench and taken her hat off. It's like he doesn't even want to live, she'd murmured desperately to herself — and maybe that was when Lumine first had to realize that this wasn't going to be the happy ending she'd worked for.
It's been a few days, and nothing's really wrong with him physically, but even so, Aether says his wounds have yet to heal. Every now and then he asks to see Dainsleif, but no one has seen Dainsleif since the Khaenri'ahn Palace collapsed on itself, and the sad truth is that the man might not be alive anymore. It's not what Aether wants to hear, but he knows it's what he deserves.
He knows it's what he deserves.
So he sits in his bed, staring outside the window at the city he once wanted to destroy, and he doesn't react to much of anything, though so far he's indicated that he still cares about Lumine more than anything else in the world. The problem with that is that Lumine might be the only thing he still cares about, and that's no way to be at all.
It's why he doesn't really stir or look over his shoulder when he hears the door to his room open again. He knows it has to be her.]
...Back again?
[He's. Well. At least he's trying, in certain ways.]
...How did the commissions go? |
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