In The Midst of Snow

Sweet Madame For Your Broken Bones

Before anyone could even say anything, as much as utter a sound of surprise, Shimu's figure shattered into thousands of glittering stars.

The after effects of his death were instantaneous. The air became easier to breathe, the thrashing wind calmed down and the sky cleared. Streaks of shy sunlight fell upon the battlefield, gradually revealing the damage to nature the battle between the two gods had caused.

Horrible wasn't even enough to describe it. Trees had been uprooted or burned into smithereens and the ground dented with dozens of craters. In addition to that, giant pillars of metal and rocks protruded from the ground from Morax's attacks.

The entire landscape was totally unrecognisable by now. But at least...

"We won," Aether breathed out. It was almost unbelievable. It was expected for Morax to win, but still...the battle had been so intense, both sides neck to neck, that Morax only barely scraped his victory.

So this was how the world was in the Archon War. Compared to the future Teyvat, the current Teyvat was truly a very hard place to survive - for both mortals and immortals alike.

Now that the fighting has concluded, the uninjured, Guizhong and Ganyu, went to treat the wounded. At first, they had insisted on patching Aether up, but Aether rejected their kind offer. It was hard to, especially when Guizhong and Ganyu got really fired up with those that needed help, but Aether finally managed to get them off his back to sneak a bite of Sweet Madame from his bag to heal his wounds.

After a few minutes of resting, he decided he would help out too. Morax looked like he was faring fine, what's with how he was already starting to ramble about ten ways to kill your enemies with a pebble to a fervently nodding Ganyu.

So Aether decided to check up on Alatus, who refused to look Guizhong in the eye no matter how gentle of a voice she used. He did, however, perk up when he saw Aether coming.

"Ae-" Alatus started, but apparently decided against saying anything and shut up.

Aether waited for a few moments for Alatus to continue. When it seemed that he did not want to, Aether sat himself down beside him. Panicked, Alatus tried to move away, but Guizhong planted him firmly on the ground.

"You will not move while I clean your shoulder up. Is that understood?" Guizhong smiled. Even if Aether was not the target of said smile, he could feel the menacing aura behind it. He could not help but want to hide behind Alatus, but refrained from doing so; Xiao had not been open to touching after all. So instead, Aether just quivered on the spot like the wimp he was.

Alatus, on the other hand, looked more depressed than scared as he mumbled out a quiet "yes." At least, true to his words, he stayed as still as a statue. But that was what freaked Aether out. Who the hell could stay that- is he even breathing?!

"Alatus, you can breathe, you know!" Aether exclaimed worriedly. Wanting to shake him to knock some sense into him, but remembering Guizhong's terrifying smile, Aether ended up flapping his arms nervously.

Alatus only stared at him. Then, like a miracle, he threw his head up and laughed. Oh, how the sunlight fell perfectly on Alatus' figure, making him glow. It almost made it look like there was a halo around Alatus' head as he directed his laugh to the heavens. The scratches on his skin and dirt on his long eyelashes didn't matter. In fact, it only made him look so much prettier that this time, Aether was the one who forgot how to breathe.

Forget about angels. Alatus existed.

A cough brought him back to earth. Guizhong was hiding her coughs behind her sleeves, but the way she sneakily looked at him told him that she had seen through his thoughts. Aether can't help but blush. Those thoughts were totally unexpected! It wasn't as if he was infatuated with Alatus.