tears fill aether's eyes, and he grips the back of lumine's dress as his sister's legs give out and she falls forward into him.
"aether, i'm-" she's cut off by aether pulling away, smiling softly as he wipes the tears from her cheeks. as soon as she sees aether's smile, lumine begins to sob again. "i'm so sorry." she reaches out to brush her fingertips against the burn scar on her brother's right arm- no doubt from a nasty face-off with an abyss mage. she gazes at the myriad of small marks on aether's neck, cut open by flying debris as the result of a near-miss by a ruin guard's laser. all of these scars from fights with the abyss order.
all of this pain that she had caused.
lumine shuts her eyes, repeats herself in a trembling voice, "i'm so, so sorry." she feels aether grab her hand; it's a familiar warmth that she hasn't felt in what feels like eons.
"look at me, lumine." aether's voice is calm and firm; lumine feels like such a mess compared to him, and the feeling is only slightly alleviated when she looks up to see that aether's crying too. he's grinning, though, and when he speaks he can't keep the joy from flooding into his voice. "it's okay. i'm just…" he laughs, and it's bubbly and warm and contagious; lumine, through her tears, starts laughing too. she and aether speak in unison as the joy and relief of seeing each other again fills them:
"i'm so glad to see you again."