➜ " 𝐌 𝐄 𝐂 𝐇 𝐀 𝐍 𝐈 𝐒 𝐌 " 𝐑. 𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐫

ᴍᴇɴs ʀɪᴀ

But when she looked into her eyes, the sun was no more.

✰

"Are you sure she's alright? Paimon was so surprised!" A squeaky voice spoke out her concerns for the individual currently bedridden. The goddess nodded and smiled reassuringly. "Y/n has a rather long story, but this often happens to her. Do not worry, this occurrence are none of your faults." The two travelers both unleashed a sigh of relief at her words.

At last night's night market, their newly introduced ally had seemingly fainted out of the blue. Aether was about to offer to carry her back to the dorm, when a familiar figure practically materialized himself from thin air and dragged (very gently carried) her away. He didn't answer anyone, and just left like that. At their insistence and Nahida's agreement, they had visited the private dormitories of the akademiya as soon as the sun arose over the horizon. With Paimon worrying about the girl all night, Aether barely got a wink of sleep.

"Oh, look. She's awakening." A pair of e/c irises blinked softly as she sat up on the mattress, looking around her surroundings. After a long moment of silence, she contacted eyes with the blonde. She appeared to think for a while, before her eyes squinted in suspicion.

"Lumine...?" She spoke out as her voice cracked slightly.

With only a single word uttered seemingly half asleep, the poor girl got all eyes around her widened in disbelief.

"You.. You know my sister?" Aether carefully spoke as he took a hesitant step towards the bed. She tilted her head as focus came back into her line of sight. The blurry golden figure only happened to be someone who was similar to her former companion. Wait, sister? "Lumine, I know her." Agreeing with his question, she nodded her head. She had a brother?

Matching description discovered

Her systems rang in her head, as she checked the memory storage further.

"Hey, hellooo- anybody home? Nahida, is she really okay?" Paimon flew around her frozen figure in concern before she returned to her friend's side. Nahida placed a hand on her chin as she seemed to be in her own thoughts. Y/n suddenly snapped out of her trance and glanced at the two. "Sorry. I got distracted."

Aether's eyes shone with hope. Perhaps he could finally get some whereabouts or information on his sibling after all these years. "It's alright. But may I ask, do you know anything about Lumine? Anything, really. Your relationship with her, her current state-" He stopped himself when he found his mouth to start go blabbering off. "Ah, apologies. I don't mean to be rude. It's just... I haven't seen her for so long."

He reminded her of a pot of dandelion flowers that suddenly drooped down from lack of sunlight. "I understand. Lumine was my... My.." She trailed off, looking blank. Lumine. She was blonde, shorter than herself, and.. And...

"I apologize. I can't seem to remember much about her, all I can remember is her appearance and her name." Y/n spoke sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her nape. She had observed other mortals do the gesture when they were apologetic or awkward, so she decided to try it out herself. Aether's expression fell slightly, but he composed himself. "No need to apologize, it's not your fault. But please tell me if you happen to recall anything about her." "Orders received."

Paimon tilted her head. "The way you speak is so- what's the word for it... Artificial? You speak so smoothly as if you know exactly what you're planning on saying." She stated while making a gesture with her hands. Nahida chuckled and smiled at her. "Technically, you do have to know what you're planning on speaking before you say it out loud. Are you hinting that you don't think before you talk, Paimon?" The said girl huffed and stomped her feet in the air, speaking in a too squeaky tone for Y/n to catch onto. Aether joined in. "She does that on a regular basis."