Aether's breath got heavier as his grip on Ariel's hand got tighter as the nervous energy of the doctors seeped into his very bones. The feeling of wrongness came back. Deep in his gut he felt it swirl and fester like a creeping darkness. Goosebump erupted over his being, and he shuddered as he was gently pulled by Ariel to the front desk of the hospital.
"Excuse me, miss?" Aether practically stuttered out. The woman behind the counter was young, but not terribly so, perhaps about her mid-thirties, with her long brown hair tied in a bun, ruffled strands framing her face, and a frown on her lips as she too watched the scurrying doctors. "I'm here to visit someone."
The woman sighed and looked at Aether with something akin to annoyance and pity. "Now's not a really good time kid," His stomach clenched, and he had to take a deep breath. "Everyone's outta order."
"What happened that's got everyone rushing around?" Paimon's shrill voice, tinged with anxiousness, rang in his ears.
The woman sighed again, and her frown got deeper. "A patient went missing last night. No signs of breaks ins, break outs, struggle... nothing but a note left behind." The woman shrugged. "The doctors are rushing throughout the hospital to check up on all the other patients and inquire about if they heard or saw anything last night."
"If- if I may ask... what patient went missing?" There was a hand squeezing Aether's throat. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. His mind was screaming at him. Something is wrong.
"Uhh... the patient in room 103. [Y/n], I believe their name is?" The woman shrugged once more, her voice riddled with annoyance, like a missing patient was simply an inconvenience.
Aether mind blanked. He didn't notice his breathing get so hysterical it made his head go fuzzy, he didn't notice his eyes tearing up. He could only focus on how that grip around his throat tightened exponentially once those words left the woman's mouth.
He couldn't breathe.
He couldn't breathe.
His gasping breaths were strangled as his throat bloated and constricted leaving little air to his brain. Every last thought was squeezed from his mind as tears dripped down his face. His voice croaked, unable to speak a single word as his mind fuzzed to the point he instinctively felt like he was going to pass out, like he was going to die.
He was going to die, he was going to die, he was going to die, he was going to die-
"I can't breathe!" He cried hysterically, hands reaching to grip his collar. "I can't breathe! I'm going to die! I'm going to die!"
Hands pushed on his shoulders, multiple sets. One familiar and warm and the other cold and tinged with the scent of cleaner. He was pushed to his knees, to sit on the cold floor of the hospital reception room as words tumbled from his mouth without his say, the tears staining the cloth parts of his armor.
He sat there for a while. He didn't know how much time had passed till he grew so exhausted he couldn't cry, so lightheaded he was leaning on something - someone - just to stay sitting upright. His throat slowly unclenched, his eyes drooping from weariness.
There were taps against the back of his hand, he realized. 1 2 3 4 pause, a drawn circle. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 pause, a circle. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 pause, circle. 1 2 3 4 -
He recognized it. A breathing exercise Ariel had taught him to try to help him manage the pain in his back on days that got worse but not bad enough to waste some of his medicine (they were for the really bad days only, can't have any more money gone because of-).
He followed the pattern once it circled back to four, inhaling, holding, and exhaling as Ariel's ghostly fingers tapped the rhythm to the back of his hand. His heart calmed, his eyes growing more aware of their surroundings.
He was leaning on a doctor. The doctor's tanned hands were pressed lightly against Aether's back to keep him upright as he breathed, dark eyes looking down at him with concern.
Aether leaned back and sat by himself. His hands ran over his face, the heels of his hands digging into his eyes for a moment before he looked at the doctor with the most grateful smile he could muster. "Thank you, doctor, for stopping to help me. I apologize for causing a scene."
The doctor shook his head. "Don't worry about it. Are you alright?"
"Fine." Aether said. "I'm fine."
The doctor looked unconvinced, but Aether gave him another reassuring smile and some sweet words till the kind doctor was back to his work.
Aether sat there for a moment, gathering his bearings and thinking. He absentmindedly held his palm out flat. "Ariel... a note. The woman said something about a note being left behind."
Ariel's deft fingers moved easily in his palm. 'Y-E-S. S-H-E D-I-D.'
"We need that note. Polaris might've left something important on it. Or maybe it was ransom." Aether mumbled as he stood on his shaky legs, Ariel's hand wrapping around his forearm to steady him.
Aether walked back up to the receptionist. "I need the note from the missing patient."
The woman raised her eyebrow, pity lingering in her gaze. It made Aether uncomfortable. "I'm sorry. For one, the note cannot be given to just anyone who wants to see it, and two, I don't have it. Their current doctor took the note."
Aether felt his fist clench. "I'm their brother. I should be able to see the note."
The woman scoffed and brushed some of the curled strands free from her bun out of her eyes. "I don't have it, sir."
"Then may I speak to the doctor, please?" Aether gritted, a nervous anger coiling inside him.
The receptionist rolled her eyes and stood from her plush hair. She walked from her desk and down the many hallways of the hospital. She was gone for only a moment before Aether saw her once more, this time with a prime woman by her side. The woman - the doctor, he assumed - stood with perfect posture with sharp behind thin, circular glasses.
The doctor stood in front of Aether; a head taller than him. "I was told you wanted to see the note left behind by my patient."
Aether nodded. "Yes. I'm their sibling and I wanted to see if there was anything of importance in the note."
The doctor reached into her pocket and took out a folded sheet of paper. She held it out to Aether, and he tried not to look too eager when taking it.
He unfurled the note and the corner of his mouth unconsciously twitched up when he was met with the messy scrawl. He felt Ariel's chin resting on his shoulder as the angel too, read the note.
Aether's eyebrows scrunched. "I don't understand."
He felt the angel's fingers in his palm. 'L-U-M-I-N-E. T-H-E-Y A-R-E W-I-T-H L-U-M-I-N-E.'
-
Your wrists were aching. Vaguely, you could feel blood drip from where they were cut up, jagged scratches made from the tight metal cuffs. Your feet were dangling, toes hardly touching the ground as your arms were stretched to the point where they felt like they would pop out of place.
You had no choice but to hang from the dirty dungeon ceiling. Head flopped to the side, breathing heavy, and stomach grumbling.
You knew what she wanted from you. It was ever so obvious.
How were you supposed to explain that you couldn't do it?
-
Venti had never stretched himself this far.
He had flown to the tippy top of Dragonspine, the highest point he knew. Bare feet cut against the cold rock, the freezing wind of the blizzard shaking his feathers and forcing a shiver from him.
His eyes were closed, hands behind his back as he settled, letting the violent sounds of the storm fade from his ears.
He listened, closely, quietly. He let every strand of wind, every heartbeat, every breath, every murmur, every gasp, every laugh flow around him like an orchestra. The music of sound whistles through his mind as he expanded his range to every point of Mond.
He slowly gained more and more distance. Bells, blades, animals, bickering, kites, waves, storms. It caressed him, soothing the growing anger as he kept pushing himself to hear a sliver of you.
-
There was something to be said when the people of Mond could feel the very intentions of the wind change, when they could notice the once soothing breezes turn to sweeping gusts, like eyes gazing over every inch, taking in every detail.
It made them uneasy, worried.
Diluc felt himself shuddering as one of these sweeping gusts came through the window of the Angel's Share, left open as it was a particularly hot and humid day. His hair stood on the back of his neck, and he paused in his movements, momentarily distracted.
He saw, from the corner of his eye, Kaeya's tense form. Long, tanned fingers curled around the glass of Death After Noon that he had not taken a single sip from.
They locked eyes, and for once, there was no malice, no hateful intentions, annoyance, or irritation.
They could feel something wrong in Mondstadt's winds.
-
Remember that cutscene that made me want to punch a hole through my computer because it made me so irritated yet sad? I'm not sad anymore.
P.S - Aether, try using your purification on Xiao (with his permission of course). I'm curious about where that goes.
Sincerely,
Your Polaris