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Tonight… tonight is one of the harder nights for Lumine.
Her entire body trembles and shakes as uncontrollable sobs leave her lips. The blonde girl has her knees brought up to her chest and she’s hugging them as tight as she can. She knows she has awakened Paimon by now, she can hear the fairy talking to her but she can’t focus or understand what Paimon is saying. Lumine has her eyes tightly shut, she’s trying to calm herself down but nothing is working.
The traveler had a dream, no, a nightmare about her brother. This nightmare was different from the one’s she usually has, most of the time what she experiences in them isn’t as dark and sinister. Usually they aren’t as nerving as this one was. The girl is usually able to tell what is reality and what is not. But this one… this one felt too real. Way too real for Lumine to tell the difference.
Aether had met her at the end of her journey, like he promised he would when she saw him in Mondstadt. Thinking about that meeting gives her chills, it was in front of Venti’s defiled statue. In her nightmare, Lumine had fought Dainsleif first and then reunited with her twin after the fight. It was the happiest she has felt since before losing Aether when coming to Teyvat.
They hugged so tight, scared to let the other sibling go again. The twins pull away and take a step back as they look at one another. There’s bright smiles on each of their faces. Neither of them believed their eyes.
“I’ve missed you,” Lumine whispers, still scanning him with her eyes. She’s afraid that he will disappear before her.
The smile on her twin's face grows in size. “I’ve missed you too,” he replies.
Before Lumine could say another word, her eyes widened in horror as she saw a spear being pushed through Aether’s chest. “A-Aether,” she stutters out, reaching for her brother.
The male looks down as his hands come up to the spear, only for it to be ripped out of his body instantly. “Oh,” he whispers with blood seeping past his lips, his voice sounding hoarse. His gaze then moves up to look at his sister and mutters out, “Lumine…” His body falls forward and Lumine is quick to catch him. Her white dress is getting stained with his blood.
The girl’s eyes meet with the person, or rather thing, that stabbed Aether. She glares at the Abyss Herald.
“Did you really think that you two would get the sibling reunion that you always wanted?” the thing laughs. This makes Lumine’s blood boil, she knew the Abyss was awful but she didn’t think they would betray Aether in the end.
Lumine is quick to softly lay her brother down off to the side, promising him that she’ll back and telling him to keep his hands on the wound. She then stands up with her sword drawn. She doesn’t reply to the thing and stays quiet as they look at each other. She makes the first move, running towards the Abyss Herald with a yell, ready to swing. The girl doesn’t miss either, she gets the thing good.
The traveler uses all the elemental power she can as she keeps swinging. Lumine makes sure that the Abyss Herald doesn’t touch her once. The sound of metal hitting metal can be heard in the silence of the room they are in. Screams of anger leave her lips as she does this, until the thing dissipates.
Her chest moves rapidly as she pants and she lets her sword drop to the ground with a thud. Lumine quickly makes her way back over to Aether, panic starts to seep in as she leans down beside him.
“Aether… I-I…” her voice trails off as she grabs his hand. She tries to cover the wound with a piece of her dress, applying pressure as she does so.
“Lumi…” Aether chokes out, weakly bringing his hand up to her wrist. “St… Stop.”
“No! We — We need to stop the bleeding, we need to… to find somewhere to take you and, and save you,” she says, her voice filled with panic and fear. She can see life slowly fading from her twin’s eyes.
“It’s—” he lets out a cough, more blood seeping out of his mouth, “okay.”
“It’s not! We have been separated for over five hundred years and—and this? This is how we are reunited? I—” She gets cut off with Aether coughing more and she starts to panic more. “We need to get you out of here.”
“I-I can’t hold on much longer,” a shaky breath leaves his lips, Aether’s using up the last bit of his strength to say this, “Lumine. It’s okay.”
“It’s not,” she whispers in a broken sob. The traveler hadn’t realized she was crying.
“It is.” Aether sucks in a choked breath, making himself cough more. “I always watched over y-you through your j-journey,” he mumbles with a smile before his body goes limp.
“No no no no,” Lumine chants as she brings her brother’s head into her lap. “Please Aether, don’t go.” Sobs rack through her body as she holds her twin close to her. A scream of sadness rips through her throat… and that’s how she wakes up. The scream is still leaving her lips as she fails to realize this wasn’t her nightmare anymore.
That’s where we are now.
The girl’s hands run through her hair, pulling lightly. She continues to try to calm herself down but nothing still seems to work. Her breathing begins to pick up again. She thinks of someone in her current state, that she knows will help her calm down drastically. She knows she’ll feel bad once she is calm but Lumine needs him right now.
“Xiao,” she chokes, his name coming out like a sob.
A soft noise of surprise leaves the adeptus' lips once he teleports into the room he knows all too well, it’s the traveler’s room in her tea pot. “Lumine,” he whispers.
The traveler looks up at him with tear filled eyes, hardly able to see him. “Xiao,” she whispers as she starts to stand up. Lumine instantly engulfs him into a tight hug, burying her face in his chest. Her body continues to tremble as muffled sobs leave her lips.
Xiao slowly wraps his arms around the girl that he is deeply fond of. It saddens him to see the traveler this way and it only makes him want to protect her more than he did before. “It’s okay,” he softly says as he runs his fingers through her short hair.
After sometime, Lumine’s body begins to shake less as Xiao continues to play with her hair and whisper sweet words into her ear. The blonde girl removes her head from his chest and looks up at him. “Can we sit down?” she asks, her voice coming out quiet and hoarse.
The adeptus stays quiet as she pulls him to the bed to sit down. They face each other as they do and Lumine still has a tight grip on his hand. He sits with his legs crossed and she sits with her tucked behind her. She has their intertwined hand resting on her knee and she’s staring down at it.
“A nightmare?” Xiao softly asks.
Lumine slowly nods her head as she squeezes his hand a little tighter. “About Aether,” she whispers.
He rubs his thumb on the back of her hand and asks, “Do you want to talk about it?”
The blonde nods before she talks again. “The abyss betrayed Aether and… and killed him the minute we reunited,” she answers as her eyes finally meet Xiao’s amber ones. He can see the sadness that passes through her golden eyes. Lumine continues as he stays silent, “It felt so real, Xiao. He — he died in my arms. Aether had—” She stops herself before she gets worked up again.
“It was only a nightmare,” Xiao reassures as he continues to rub circles on the back of her hand.
“What if it comes true? What if I lose him forever?” she asks as a tear trails down her cheek. The adeptus brings his free hand to wipe it away.
“It’ll be okay. We’re in the present right now and you shouldn’t have to worry what your future holds when you still have a good bit of your journey left,” Xiao replies. Lumine leans into the hand that he left on her cheek, her eyes fluttering shut.
“I miss him so much,” she sighs out. “I really hope my nightmare never becomes a reality.”
“I hope so for you as well.”
“Thank you for coming to me when I called your name. I feel bad that I did though.”
“Don’t feel bad. I told you I always will, no matter where you are.”
Lumine opens her eyes as she smiles. “I’ve appreciated it every single time, more so now.” Xiao softly rubs her cheek with his thumb, making the girl smile more. “I’m sorry you had to see me with red, puffy eyes because of crying. I’d rather stay the brave traveler in your mind,” she says with a short laugh. There’s no playfulness behind it.
“Lumine,” the adeptus starts off, his voice above a whisper, “I don’t mind seeing you like this, you’re still you.” The traveler’s heart swells at his words.
“You’re being domestic right now,” she teases with a light giggle.
“I can stop,” he states as he begins to pull his hand away from the blonde’s cheek.
“No!” she semi-yells as she grabs his wrist and then threads their fingers together. Xiao gives her a look and her gaze moves elsewhere. “No,” she starts off calmer than before, “you don’t have to. I like it.” She always has enjoyed the soft touches that Xiao leaves on her. Lumine adores how far the adeptus have come since they first met and beyond glad that she is a part of that journey.
“Then I’ll continue,” Xiao says with a small smile tugging at his lips.
Lumine hesitates for a second before she speaks again, “Can I ask you something?”
“You can ask me anything.”
“Would you care to… stay the night with me? Having you here has been comforting,” she says. She’s still avoiding the adeptus gaze, too nervous to see his expression.
“Yeah, I can do that. I’ll sit in one of your chairs so you can sleep properly,” he says as he lets go of Lumine’s hands as he starts to stand up.
“Wait no,” she says, stopping him by tugging on his wrist. When he looks down at her, she continues. “I mean you can lay down with me, on the bed. Only if that’s something you’re okay with.”
“Oh. Will that bring you comfort as well?” he asks. The blonde girl slowly nods her head as she lets go of his wrist. “Then I’m fine with it.”
“Are you going to sleep?” Lumine asks with a teasing tone.
Xiao shakes his head at the girl as he gets back onto the bed. “You have no respect for the adepti,” he mutters.
“So I’ve been told,” she says playfully.
The adeptus shakes his head again and then says, “How are we going to lay?”
“I have an… idea, but it’ll involve us touching more than what we usually do,” her eyes meet his, “Are you okay with that?”
He nods his head and says, “Yes. How do you want me?”
Lumine’s cheeks have a light tint of pink to them at Xiao’s phrasing. She pushes those thoughts away and says, “Lay back and I’ll lay beside you.” The dark haired male does so and Lumine crawls her way up beside him. She doesn’t ignore the way Xiao intensely watches her as she does this. The traveler grabs his hand as she lays beside him and wraps his arm around her shoulder. She then wraps her arm around his chest. “Is this okay?” she whispers.
“Yes,” he replies immediately. He softly rubs circles on her arm with his gloved thumb.
“Are you comfortable?”
“I am,” Xiao breathes out. “Do you think laying like this will help with your nightmares?”
“Mhm,” she hums as she hesitates to say her next words, “you bring me a lot of comfort.”
“I shouldn’t,” the adeptus replies. Before he can say anything else, Lumine cuts him off.
“But you do.” She tightens her hold on Xiao, and he does the same to her.
“You… bring me comfort as well,” he whispers, even though it is just them in the room.
Lumine smiles softly and says, “I’m glad.” The exhaustion from crying is finally creeping up on her and she lets out a short yawn. “I’d hate to fall asleep on you when we are now just getting comfortable.”
“You need your rest,” he starts as he plays with a strand of her hair, “I’ll be here whenever you wake up.”
The traveler softly hums and says, “Thank you again, for being here. Goodnight, Xiao.”
“I’ll always be here for you. Sweet dreams, Lumine.”