#shape au

If only Lumine could see him now.

Curled up on his side, hugging nothing but the empty air, Aether allowed himself to losely cross over one another as the shakey sigh of longing left him. Paimon slept soundly, small, deep breaths filled his ears while the wind blew gently against the tent.

But other than that, there was an empty silence.

A silence that made Aethers mind swirl with doubts and longing.

His heart felt cold, hollow, the pain of not having the last of his family within arms reach grew into a destructive and depressing force. Strong enough to cut through the ice that slowly to frost over the hope of finding Lumine again, the 'what ifs' started to build, and the tears started to build behind his eyes.

The subtle shift felt like nothing, deep and long golden locks became short and in the color of lemon and daffodil, eyes losing the peach tone of warmth and now becoming solid and sharp. The browns, golds, and dark colors of Aethers clothing shifted into a dress, white as freshly fallen snow and tained with the shimering teal and honey that could only be found in celestial planes.

A small whimper leaves his throat, but it isn't his, it's hers. Her voice, filling her ears, but it's his mind that suffers in the lack of her real presence.

God's, even with everyone in Teyvat- Mondstat to Snezhnaya, he can't seem to fill that hole in his heart. Bit how could he? Aether has only had Lumine, and Lumine alone, since his birth. They traveled worlds together, had breaks without one another, but in the end they came back. They always came back to each other.

But there's a doubt in his mind, it lingers, and settles into the darkest parts of his mind.

It's there as he fades into sleep, his delusion of comfort with it, and hes back to the look that he was born with.