"Paimon! Paimon! Oh, please wake up!" Lumine cried, holding the limp fairy in her arms, despite being tied up. She managed to worm herself over to the bag Paimon was left in, get her arms in front of her, awkwardly got her out, and pulled the gag down. The one thing guarding her was a Ruin Guard, but it didn't really do anything while she was doing this. "I promise to make you any kind of food you want once we get out of here! Y-you just... have to wake up..."
Whether it was the mention of food or just good timing, Lumine didn't know or care, but Paimon groaned and slowly started opening her eyes. "Uuuuuuh... Paimon hurts all over..."
Lumine let out a sob. "Oh... oh, thank the heavens that you are alive..."
"Paimon remembers screaming out a name... then something continued to hit Paimon over and over... How long was Paimon out?"
Lumine was about to answer when a portal opened... along with the screaming voice of Diluc. Aether stormed out of the portal, angry as can be, followed by the Abyss Herald, who was carrying Diluc. "I WAS GOING TO MAKE HIM PAY! WHY DID YOU STOP ME!?"
"BECAUSE, Diluc!" Aether snapped as the Herald dropped Diluc on the ground and closed the portal. "If you would have destroyed the statue first, then I would let you go nuts with Kaeya and the rest of them. But noooooo! You had to focus all your rage on a blue-haired IDIOT! Ugh, whatever! The tree in Windrise is the last thing we need to burn to the ground. Do that, and you can go and get yourself killed for all I care! UNDERSTAND!"
"But Kaeya-"
Aether went and kicked Diluc in the face as hard as he could. "UNDERSTAND?!" Diluc held his nose and just nodded.
Paimon couldn't take her eyes off the Abyss Herald. "Th-that thing is scary... it looks like it can eat-"
"Aether?" Lumine breathed out, staring at him. Aether turned to her and realized that he never coded his voice after coming back. No worries, he can play off this.
"Oh? Is this the voice of someone you know?" He asked, accidentally hitting Diluc with his wings.
Wait...
"AETHER, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ARE YOU DING?!" She screamed. "Y-YOU ARE THE PRINCE OF THE ABYSS?!"
"This is your brother?"
Aether groaned and yanked off the mask, revealing his face. "Yeah, yeah, Lumine. It's me." He banished his wings and gives a quick order to the Abyss Herald to take Diluc somewhere to rest. "Didn't want this family reunion to go this way..."
"Didn't want-? Aether, what has that god done to you!?" Lumine demanded. He walked over and knelt in front of her.
"That doesn't matter. What matters now that we are back together again." He said.
"Yeah! I'm back together with my brother who is dressed up as a monster from what I understand is basically the underworld in this world as well as leading an organization that wants to kill all human people!" She yelled, hot angry tears running down her face. "Diluc is my friend and you turned him into... THAT! Paimon is my friend and you nearly turned her into roadkill! I want – no, DEMAND an explanation!"
He puts a hand on his chest. "Prince of the Abyss." Then he put a hand on her head. "Princess of the Abyss."
"Well, that doesn't answer her question at all," Paimon commented.
"Scream the Adeptus's name, pipsqueak, and I'll slice your throat." He threatened.
"Eep!"
"AETHER!"
"What? I don't need Mr. Wind-Demon-Guy-Who-Is-Emo-To-Death-And-Loves-Stupidly-Sugary-Plant-Matter-And-Nuts shoving his spear up my ass."
"Do NOT call Xiao that!" Lumine snapped. "You have no idea what he is going through!"
"Oh, and you do? Has your preference in men changed from ASMR talking, stupid-with-money, older men to angsty, emo, hateful edge lord boy who is not as old as the freaking dumbass earth god?!"
Lumine was flabbergasted. "Aether... what has happened to you? You used to be such a sweet boy... you helped me make flower crowns, a swear never passed your lips, always a child-like wonder with the worlds we visited... hell, your normal get-up was a freaking braid, and a shirt that exposed your stomach! What has that god done to you?!
"I'm the older twin here! I know what's best for us!"
"You are acting like a jackass! Not to mention that we promised not to take over the worlds that we visit! You know... like you're doing with the Abyss Order?!"
"You don't just understand... yet," Aether said, standing up. "Like I said, I'm doing it for the both of us. I am the prince; you are the princess."
"Not of this world!"
"Lumine..." He sighed. "Once everything falls into place, you will understand. Until then... you are going to have to say out of the way."
"AETHER!" Lumine screamed. Tears rolled down her face as Aether locked eyes with Paimon, who has been quiet all this time.
"Poof away to warn someone and I will gut you."
"Why are you acting like a psychopath?!" She then remembered something. "X-!"
Aether grabbed her mouth. "Bring him here and I'll do the same thing to him that I did to Diluc!" Aether snapped, knowing full well he can't threaten her with death. "I've been meaning to try the poison out on an Adeptus." He slowly removed his hand from her mouth and – once he was sure she wasn't going to scream – walked away. "Everyone! Rest up! The day after tomorrow we will burn the tree in Windrise to the ground!"
Lumine sat there in disbelief as Paimon, too weak to float, snuggles up to her. She held the fairy close, tears running down her face. "A-Aether... why...?"
"I feel like an idiot!!" Venti screamed, kicking the feet of his statue in anger. The sun was starting to rise. Since the headquarters blew up, the knights took to resting in the church as well as getting patched up. "I should have said something when he nearly took my hand off! Ooooow..." He held his foot.
"I should have done this. I should have said that...." Jean said as she walked over from the bench she was sitting on. "We can't change the past."
"Yeah, yeah, I know." He flexed his foot to make sure it wasn't broken.
"Even then..." Lisa said as Sucrose, Amber, and Klee came out of the church. Klee ran over to the overlook. She had her arm in a sling. "Diluc normally works alone. Even if you told me about I doubt we could have done anything to help him."
Jean sighed. "Who can still fight in case they strike again?"
"Razor is completely out. Broken ribs, a concussion, and he tore one of his muscles in his leg." Amber said. "You have a broken arm. Albedo was smacked in the head but thankfully no concussion. Barbara said he should be fine in a few hours. And Kaeya..." She paused.
"C-captain Kaeya i-isn't... hurt... but..." Sucrose began but couldn't finish. Jean sighed before Klee yelled something.
"Klee sees Diona! And the girl with the bird! And Bennett! And Noelle! But... I don't see Mona..."
"How did they get over the broken bridge?" Jean asked. "You know what? Never mind. Lisa, do you mind talking to them? I need to talk to Kaeya."
Lisa nodded. "I will. Last I saw him he was sitting in the first pew on the left." Jean thanks them and went inside.
She walked by the nuns who were taking care of the wounded. Razor was passed out on a pew, Albedo was holding a block of ice to his head, and Rosaria was being patched up. The Dandelion Knight found the Calvary Captain just where Lisa said, staring at the front of the church. She slid in next to him. "Kaeya?" She asked after a pause, putting a hand on his shoulder.
He didn't say anything for a while. "Hi..."
Jean gave him a soft smile. "You can talk... I'll be here to listen. You can trust me..."
Kaeya sighed. "Diluc... Diluc is alive..." He said, fidgeting with his fingers. "And he's... I..." He put his head in his hands. He was trying to pick up the pieces of the mask he wore for so long, but it was close to impossible. Seeing Diluc like that combined with the fact that he ignored the Abyss Prince's Orders just to try to burn him alive... "He really does hate me, doesn't he...?"
"Kaeya... that isn't true," Jean reassures him. "That wasn't Diluc talking, that was Durin's poison. Don't let his words get to you..." Kaeya pulled his legs up to him.
"How do you know that...?" He asked. "How do you know that he doesn't hate me?"
"Kaeya... I don't know what happened four years ago between you and Diluc... But if he really hated you, he would have never let you in Angel Share." She started rubbing his back.
And if you knew, you would leave me... and you would have me arrested as well... He thought. Since Kaeya didn't say anything, Jean continued.
"We've dealt with the poison before... we can do it again."
"Lumine is nowhere to be found, though..." He said. "How much do you want to bet that the Abyss Order has kidnapped her?"
"We will worry about that later. We need to be strong for Mondstadt... for Diluc. They will attack here again and we-"
"Sorry not sorry for l-listening in on your conversation..." Rosaria interrupted, wincing in pain. "But I don't think that they are attacking the city again."
"What do you mean?" Jean asked.
"I mean is that the Prince mentioned about destroying everything a nation care about." She said as Razor yawned awake. "They already destroyed the Dawn Manor, Springvile, the headquarters, and the statue... what else could they aim for?"
"What the most faithful nun is hinting at," Fischl's voice rang out. "Is that the most devious Order of the Abyss, their nefarious supervisor, and the owner of the once most renowned Winery of Dawn is aiming for the burning of the symbol of Mondstadt. So, I, Fischl, Prinzessin der Verurteilung, have returned with my fellow companions to warn the Favonius Knights of this impending doom upon this land."
"Explain to me again why you can just say exactly what Mona said?" Diona said before Oz could translate, riding on the shoulders of Noelle. Bennett waved to everyone.
"Okay... I get everyone else, but why...?" Jean points to Diona as Klee, Lisa, Amber, and Venti came in.
"Hmph. I could easily leave you to know."
"The symbol that the Prinzessin is talking about," Oz begins. "Is the tree in Windrise."
"Vennessa's tree?!" Jean shouted.
"Is there another important tree in Windrise that I don't know about?" Bennett asked. "If not... then I'm pretty sure that is the one."
"Yeah," Noelle said. "Mona did her... water magic and saw something urgent that she sent us here."
"Then..." Razor said, slowly sitting up. "We sh-"
"Razor, no," Barbara said as stars exploded in front of his visions and he collapsed. "You are in no condition to fight."
"B-but... the lupical of my lupical is also my lupical." He grunted as Bennett walked over to check on his friend. "Diluc is Kaeya's lupical. Kaeya is mine. So Diluc is my lupical too."
Kaeya, who's been quiet this entire time, choked up a bit at this. "R-Razor..." He's been around the wolf boy for long enough to know what that means.
"You aren't going to help Diluc if you can't even sit up, boy," Rosaria said. "Only the alchemist here is going to Windrise."
Wheels were turning in Jean's head. "Alright... Klee... you and Diona stay here..."
"Awww.... I wanna help..."
"Hmph."
"And everyone who can still fight, get prepared to head to Windrise. That includes you three. Albedo, as soon as you can, meet us there."
"Awesome!"
"Gladly."
"Yes, Grand Master."
She then remembered something. "By the way... where is Mona? Is she already at the tree?"
"Actually..." Fischl began.
"So that is why I came here to warn of the impending doom that will befall Teyvat unless we stop it at Mondstadt," Mona said to the assembly of the Qixing plus Xiao, who had done as he was asked by Lumine, Hu Tau, who just happened to be there, trying to sell their coffin services with Zhongli. Childe was there as well but was listening through the door for about half of it before Mona called him out.
"I already knew that Mondstadt was in trouble, but I didn't think it was this bad," Ganyu said.
"I saw the Pyro User in question," Xiao commented from the wall he was leaning on. "He was exhibiting a similar aura to demons I'm used to exterminating."
"With a fight this big, I can-" Hu Tau began.
"Hu Tau," Zhongli said, pinching his nose bridge.
"We can easily give the civilians a temporary place to stay, but we can't do much more than that," Ningguang said. "Taking the normal route we would be in Mondstadt in about a week."
"A possible shorter route would be cutting through Dragonspire..." Zhongli began. "But the monsters that roam there are far stronger than the ones here. On top of snowstorms, dangerously low temperatures, and sheer cliffs. Even if one was prepared, it's still very dangerous."
"Nonsense!" Childe exclaimed, waving his hand dismissively. "In Snezhnaya, we deal with all of that all the time!"
"Yes, but the people of Liyue haven't."
"Why did you invite him in...?" Keqing groaned. "And who said that you were coming?!"
"Well, first and foremost is that the Abyss Order is Snezhnaya's enemy as well." He said. "Second, Lumine was captured and she owes me a rematch. And three... the giant monster that Miss Hat lady mentioned... I wanna fight it."
"So... what kind of coffin would you like?" Xiao commented. "We got a funeral lady here."
"Yeah! I can set you up with a nice deal!" Hu Tao exclaimed, her eyes sparkling.
"I'm being bullied, Mr. Zhongli. Please come to my rescue!"
"Ahem!" Ningguang cleared her throat. Zhongli chuckled.
"Well, I could try to teleport people there," Mona said as she started a reading. "but the most I've ever done was three people, including me, plus a bird and whatever Paimon is. Let me do a quick re-" She stopped, stared at the reading, then dispels it and summons her spellbook, causing the others to summon their weapons.
"What is it?!" Ganyu asked as Childe questioned why almost half of the people here had spears.
"Come on out!! I know you are here!" Mona yelled.
"I mean no harm, ma'am." A suave voice said as the owner walked out of the shadows near Childe. Zhongli's eye slightly widened as he recognized his attire. "My name is Dainsleif. And I would like to offer my assistance."