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It's hard to tell time inside the domain, still, Lumine decides that it's probably late.
It didn't take long for the group to settle down after Yanfei suggested resting. Despite the domain's best efforts (or perhaps because of them), they were all tired. Her friends lie asleep around her as Lumine stares into the fading remnants of their campfire.
She couldn't fall asleep, or maybe she didn't want to. It's too hard to tell the difference these days. Besides, sleep hasn't come easy since she tried to leave Teyvat - since they tried to leave Teyvat.
Lumine stands without noise. Paimon is snoring softly, sleeping soundly with both Itto and Shinobu curled protectively around her. (It warms her heart. It's easier to leave knowing that her closest friend is safe) Yelan and Yanfei are sleeping closer together than when they laid down, maybe she'll tease Yanfei about it in the morning (whenever that is), most likely she won't. If Yelan notices her moving, which Lumine is sure she does, she doesn't say anything.
She can't see the path anymore, there's no light except for the faint glow that radiates from her very being. (Paimon has taken to calling it a Blindness- "because it's not a vision". Lumine won't admit how sweet she really thinks it is) The walk back to the door feels instinctual as if her body is drawn towards it. The walk feels longer as well, like it takes hours instead of minutes.
It's the domain, she decides as her hands hide a tremor, Not fear.
She doesn't hesitate this time, standing in front of the door - she has to open it, she has to. Because she felt him in there, she could feel him so close and Lumine would destroy every archon and ally in Teyvat if it meant getting to hold her brother again, even if he isn't real.
Lumine opens the door. She expects the abyss - that isn't what she finds.
There's no sky in Khaenri'ah, but there is an infinitely high ceiling full of ever-glowing lights. She doesn't realize how much she's missed it until that moment. She barely registers the door closing behind her as she steps onto a soft mossy ledge, high above the ground. It reminds her of the moss she used to sleep on during the long slow days when neither she nor Aether had anything to do. It takes her a moment to look down, but when she does Lumine sees life. Khaenri'ah, alive and vibrant - the closest thing she had to home since she and Aether decided to travel eternity together. She can't stop the sob that rips itself from her throat as she falls to her knees. (She can't tell if she's feeling overjoyed or crushed - but she sure as hell is feeling something)
She feels him sit down before she sees him. Aether sits next to her on the mossy ledge, looking towards that shimmering not-quite sky.
"Do you miss flying here?" he sounds too causal, too cheerful.
Lumine leaps at him, even though she is terrified at what she'll do if she can't touch him, if he ends up being just an illusion.
(Part of her knows that she'll raze this domain with her bare hands if it denies her this one simple wish. She pointedly ignores it)
The hug is far from comfortable, she hugs him hard enough to bruise or break bones (she would know), there's an elbow digging into her ribs, and hair in her nose and eyes - but it is warm and safe and perfect and it's him. It's her brother, her baby brother whom she loves more than anything. She doesn't let go until Aether beings pulling away. Lumine is still crying, but it's okay because at some point he starts crying as well.
"You aren't real, are you?" her voice is thick - but it doesn't tremble. (It hasn't trembled for anything since she was 13 and killed a man for looking at her the wrong way.)
"Maybe. I feel real, but that may just be the domain. Does it really matter?"
"No." She says it with more confidence than she feels. "It doesn't,"
Aether smiles at her and turns his back. For a terrifying moment, she thinks he'll leave. Terrifying, because she could never bring herself to stop him if he really wanted to go.
"Braid my hair?" He says it like a question, as if Lumine could ever refuse him something like that. And maybe her relief is palpable because he laughs and Lumine feels so alive.
It's only after Lumine is almost done with the braid that she notices his wings. Her gasp startles another laugh out of him.
"Took you long enough" He smiles as Lumine stands up and frantically bends her neck to look at her back, then squeals with excitement. She's missed her wings - hasn't been completely whole without them.
Aether stands, stretches his arms above his head, and holds out a hand.
"So, flying?" he asks for a second time.
(He doesn't have to ask again before Lumine is pulling him by the wrist over the ledge)
It's hard to tell time inside the domain, but Lumine knows that it hasn't been long enough by the time she sees the dark red clouds and cubes (fucking cubes - she hates them now) gathering above Khaenri'ah.
Aether has his hand on her shoulder as they hover above the city.
"I knew this was coming - but it forgot how much it hurt, you know?" Lumine tries to grasp the hand. But there is no hand, and there is no reply, and as she whips around there is no Aether. She is alone - unable to do anything but witness as Khaenri'ah is destroyed again.
She screams as the archons descend. As the people (her people) are cursed again, as her wings are ripped from her back.
She falls from the sky as the world falls apart. She falls for a second, or maybe forever, until she once again crashes into the small lake by their camp.
For a second she can't bring herself to swim to shore. But Paimon is there and she can't leave her, not yet. Maybe not ever. (Paimon will never be Aether, but she would be lying if she said Paimon wasn't her sibling)
She trudges up on the shore, dripping wet and shivering. She stops just short of crashing into Yelan, who is standing on the shore looking at her (scrutinizing, judgmental, concerned). Lumine knows what she looks like, her red eyes and blotchy cheeks are pretty damning evidence.
Neither of them speaks, Yelan simply meets her eyes and nods, almost imperceptibly. Lumine doesn't doubt that Yelan understands, perhaps better than anyone, that there are some secrets better left unspoken. She staggers back to camp and falls heavy on the ground, too tired to wrap up in blankets. When she wakes, there's a blanket around her anyways.
(Yelan stays awake through the rest of the night, observing Lumine as she squirms in her sleep. By morning she's back to her usual confident self, all smiles and sarcasm. Yelan keeps an extra eye on her anyways. There was something haunting about the way she looked as she was stepping out of the water. Dangerous and powerful enough to make her hesitate. Yelan has never seen an archon in the flesh, but she imagines that she may just have come close.)