Author's Note: I can't wait to show you guys the next chapter. Also yes, I love teasing you guys with SHIPS but it's probably never happening. Maybe. Feel free to leave a review!

"Aether, watch out!"

It was a close call. Lumine managed to avoid her attacks again, but as she glanced back she couldn't say the same for her brother. His golden eyes looking up in desperation as the strange matter slowly engulfed her twin.

"Lumine..!"

"Aether..!"

Lumine flew with records speeds to his side, grasping his hand, trying to pull him free but to no avail.

And as the strange matter began to engulf them both, the twins glanced at the unknown figure that was the cause of it all. With a swing of her hand, everything became darker.

"Don't let go!" The twins said in unison before darkness completely enveloped the two.

--

Lumine jolted herself awake, spooking Merno who was inches away from her face.

"Woah, holy crap..! Sheesh Lumine, I was just going to wake you up. It's morning."

It was just a dream. Lumine took a couple of seconds to shake off her hellish nightmare before getting up and exiting the tent. Keqing was also there waiting, using her fingers to twirl her hair out of boredom. Paimon greeted her with a hug to her midsection, which she gracefully accepted with a small giggle.

"Sorry guys. I guess I'm just a heavy sleeper. Did you two sleep well?"

Merno and Keqing looked at each other before shrugging in unison.

"I guess." Merno responds.

"Not too bad." Keqing also responds.

Lumine shifted glances between the two, perking an eyebrow at their odd responses.

"Uh.. did you guys do something I'm not aware of?"

"It's uh.. complicated?" Merno states, rubbing the back of his head.

Paimon joined in on the little investigation.

"Paimon bets they smooched! I knew they liked each other!"

Merno groaned and covered his face. Keqing's face didn't change much, crossing her arms to show how much she disapproved the idea itself.

"That's.. not it at all. I think it's easier if we just showed you."

Both Paimon and Lumine followed the two to the top of the cliff. When they got there, Lumine and Paimon gasped in unison.

"Oh my.. How the heck did I sleep through all of this?"

The path below contained dozens of Hilichurl bodies and other species alike scattered everywhere in fire and destruction.

"The thing is." Merno starts. "We weren't awake for this either. We don't know who did all this."

"Well seeing as there's fire everywhere, it must of been the work of a pyro user of some sort. Any ideas?" Keqing adds.

Merno scrunches his nose at the thought.

"Could be Diluc. Then again, it could also be Amber but I don't see any arrow injuries. Besides, I doubt Diluc would go out of his way to spend his time destroying wild Hilichurls."

"Well I guess it can't be helped. Shall we continue?" Keqing asks.

Merno nods, quickly packing up his stuff along with the tents, putting all the contents in his trusty travel bag.

Paimon led the front this time, her face more determined than ever as she swung from side to side for any signs of danger. Both Lumine and Keqing had their weapons materialized, oddly enough, while Merno looked like he was going to pass out from exhaustion any minute now like always.

Keqing perked an eyebrow upon noticing.

"Merno, did you not sleep well?"

Merno shrugs, not saying a word. Keqing catches up to him, taking a closer look at his face. He reeled back out of instinct, blinking at her sudden closeness.

"I'm fine Keqing. I'm always tired."

Keqing doesn't press on.

"If you say so."

The last few hours went pretty smoothly just like before. Although they did find more destruction along the way just like in the cliff. They didn't think much of it, in fact, they were glad they didn't have to get their hands dirty, except for Keqing who felt a little stiff. Wasting Hilichurls always made her limber and ready after all.

But now they had a minor obstacle to face that wasn't part of their plans. The bridge up north was completely demolished.

"Well, what now?" Lumine asks, shuddering at the thought of being swept away by the water current below.

"Mmh.. I can easily use my vision to teleport to the other side, but I don't know how you two will make it."

"I can try to use my geo abilities to connect the paths.. but it looks too long. I'm not sure if I'll have enough energy to create a full path."

"Oh! Paimon has an idea! Maybe you can just create it thinner rather than bigger! That way you won't use up all of your energy!"

"That's actually a good idea." Lumine says through a smile. "Here goes noth-"

Lumine was interrupted by Merno, who grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her close to his body. He did the same with Keqing. Both girls reacted with a similar yelp, not knowing what to make of it, but before they could say anything, they were already in the air.

Merno used some type of anemo booster implanted on his boots, which made them leap gracefully across the gap and land softly on the other side, Merno once again using his controlled bursts to land.

"Woah I'm.. impressed." Keqing admits.

"I actually wanted to try out my idea." Lumine pouts.

Paimon joined the group, complementing Merno on his quick thinking.

"That was awesome! Maybe now you can join Paimon so we can fly together!"

"I don't know if that's going happen anytime soon, little buddy." Merno jokes.

"A little warning next time would of been pleasant as well." Keqing states.

"What, you're not used to men sweeping you off your feet?" Merno smirked as they continued along.

"W-what? I uhm-"

This time it was Merno that purposely got up close to Keqing, a playful smirk on his face.

"Breaking character again, are we?" Merno continued to tease.

Keqing cleared her throat before speaking, Paimon giggling to herself before floating between them.

"Paimon thinks you two make a cute couple!"

Surprisingly, neither Keqing or Merno reacted to such a claim first, Lumine did.

"Paimon what are you on about?!" Lumine asked, covering her mouth as soon as she did.

Merno simply snickered to himself, Keqing regaining her elegant composure as she les the front.

"Nice try, Paimon." Keqing starts. "Even if I had the time to involve myself in such relationships, I wouldn't pick a man of such caliber."

Keqing gave a short glance to see Merno's reaction, but he gave off none. Simply walking with his hands in his pockets in a nonchalant fashion. Lumine was still behind them beating herself up mentally for making such a stupid outburst.

As funny as it all was to Merno, he brought focus back into their quest again as they continued to walk the path up north. There were little to no enemies as the trail of destruction continued from place to place, arising even more questions. Eventually they found the cause of it all on the area that splits into two paths. Merno knew he had to choose between the Dawn Winery area and Wolvendom.

"Well this is an easy choice. We should be able to take a small rest in Dawn Winery as well, don't you think?" Keqing brought up.

"As much as I hate the man.. Yeah, let's go through. First we got to deal with this mess though."

"Agreed." The rest said in unison as they witnessed the absolute destruction a small girl was causing right in front of them. Slime after slime exploded into smithereens as the girl continued to freely toss out explosives like they no tomorrow.

Eventually the girl noticed the group, her big smile widened as she ran towards them.

"Uh guys, she's coming this way."

"Hi there, nice guy! My name is Klee! I didn't know you were friends with other Mr. Nice Guy!"

Merno groaned heavily.

"I recognize you." Merno states. "Aren't you supposed to be in Mondstadt?"

Klee innocently puts her hands behind her hips swaying from side to side. Admittedly, Keqing thought this was adorable.

"Please don't tell Jean! I was testing my new super-duper-crazy-boing-boing formula! And I got lost.. But then I found a nice man that saved me and led me back here! I knew he was nice because my friend Razor was also with him and they-"

"Woah woah woah." Merno interrupts. "I get the gist. Why don't you go back with Diluc? You know where he is don't you?"

"Mmh.. Yes! But then I saw the Mr. Nice Guy behind you and I wanted to play more!"

Merno raises an eyebrow, stepping away to see Lumine standing there even more puzzled. Keqing had no idea who this girl was or what was going on so she just stayed away from the whole ordeal. Paimon seemed like she couldn't contain herself any longer, clutching onto Klee's arms as they both began to laugh like they have been longtime friends.

"You mean me?" Lumine points towards herself. "But I'm a girl."

Klee approaches the blonde, hand on chin as she deeply investigated the girl.

"Oh.. You looked exactly like Mr. Nice Guy from far away! But you are very pretty, Miss!"

Lumine blushed at the gesture from the little girl, noticing Merno take her by the hand away from them for a moment. She tilter her head a bit, mentally asking Merno what was wrong.

"Lumine, do you think she confused you for your brother?"

And then it dawned on her. That made sense.

"Does that mean he's close? Do you think we can meet him soon?"

"If what she said about being with Razor is true, then there's no doubt in my mind. He's very close."

Keqing also walked up to the two, curious about what they were discussing.

"You did mention you were twins, yes?" Keqing asks, Lumine nods in response.

"Then it's settled. We'll head to Wolvendom and hopefully find your brother there."

"Hey! Klee is that you?"

The trio, Klee, and Paimon turn their heads towards the direction of the voice. Klee immediately ran to Merno and handed him a couple of explosives, pleading him to hide them for her. Merno didn't like the idea of holding such sensitive items honestly, but by the time they could even discuss it, the figure stopped short in front of Klee.

"Klee.. don't tell me you are the cause of this.. mess. I was worried sick looking all over for you!"

In an almost mother-like tone, the acting Grand Master of Mondstadt herself started scolding Klee like the child she was. Merno scoffed to himself, joining the pair while holding the explosives.

"Actually, Jean, it was me. Klee was just chasing after me. I couldn't help it, these explosives were so fun after all."

His tone clearly didn't match his face. He wasn't even trying to sound convincing.

Keqing, Paimon, and Lumine had no idea what he was up to. Jean raising an eyebrow at the strange man with Klee's eyes glistening from upcoming tears of joy.

"Is this true, Klee?" Jean firmly asked.

"Y-yes!" Klee responds.

"She can have these back. I'll be on my way now." Merno states, handing the bombs over to Klee.

"Say.. you do look familiar." Jean pondered, Merno already walking away with the group following behind, Paimon waving her happy goodbyes at the two.

"No I don't." Merno said bitterly, glancing back for a moment before continuing.

Jean decided not to question it any longer, deciding to just leave it at that. She was glad that Klee was safe, but she wasn't stupid. She knew Klee was the cause of this, but why would that man take the blame for Klee's misadventures takes heart? It was almost adorable, really.

Lumine actually brought up the situation after they were a good distance away.

"Merno that was.. cute. Who knew you had a soft spot for children?"

"Well I'm already babysitting all of you, so get used to it." Merno joked.

"Hey!" Both Keqing and Paimon protested.

--

Meeting Klee was probably the best thing that has ever happened. They have been walking along the forest for a while now until they have finally stumbled upon a dome-like area below. There was one with long silver hair setting up some objects below. Another figure joined them soon after, Lumine's eyes widening realizing immediately who he was.

"That's him! It's Aether!" Lumine said excitingly.

"Well then. Go on, Lumine. We wouldn't want to get in the way of your reunion." Merno said, smiling at his companion.

"I'm almost a little saddened really." Keqing adds. "This was a wonderful journey. Frankly, I have become quite fond of you, Merno. And you Lumine, you could easily pass as one of the heads of the Liyue families. And how could I forget you, Paimon."

"Don't say things like that or I may pick up the wrong idea." Merno joked.

Keqing chuckled at his response, Lumine facing them with tears swelling up in her eyes and Paimon pressing her cheeks up to Keqing's face with a hug.

"Guys.. I.. I can't thank you enough." Lumine said softly.

Paimon was also in tears.

"Paimon is going to miss you Lumine!"

Lumine threw herself in Merno's arm, making sure that Paimon was in the middle of it all. Merno didn't protest this time, a smile appearing on his face as he recollected the hardships they had to go through just for this moment. In a way, he was happy. Happy that he could finally count this as a success and not a failure.

And as they slowly parted away from one another, Lumine gave the group a final nod before jumping onto the stone floors below, running towards the two figures.

"Consider their debt repaid. The Yuheng family will welcome you with open arms if you ever decide to pay me- us a visit. I look forward to our next adventure together."

Merno smiled and extended a hand, bowing down a bit.

"It was an honor, Keqing. You went out of your way for us when you didn't have to."

Keqing looked at his hand, deciding to throw herself just like Lumine a second ago, this time departing just as quickly. By the time Merno could even say anything else, she was already out of sight.

Paimon elbowed the poor man between giggles.

"Hehe. Paimon thinks she likes you."

"It's not happening, Paimon."

The two watch from above in anticipation as Lumine reunited with her brother. A sense of accomplishment. He has finally discovered the fallen stars.

/

"Aether! Aether it's me!"

Lumine caught the attention of the two males, looking up in astonishment almost as if they were not expecting anybody to barge in like that. The silver haired man took a slight stance before the blonde twin's grin made it apparent that they knew each other, thus calming him down. Aether ran as fast as he could to meet his other half.

"Lumine!"

They both caught themselves, Lumine hugging his brother tight in between tears with Aether doing the same.

"Lumine I- How did you find me?"

"It's a long story! Aether I'm so glad you're ok! I have so much to tell you!"

"I'm so glad you're ok too! I also have a lot to tell you.. unfortunately we may have a bit of trouble."

Lumine looked up at his brother.

"What do you mean? Did something happen?"

"You.. Alerted.. Andrius. Andrius mad." The silver haired man interjected.

"Lumine, this is my friend Razor. We're here because I thought we could use the Wolf of the North's wisdom to find you.. but it looks like I didn't need it after all." Aether said that last part with a grin.

"It.. is too late. Worship.. broken. Andrius angry." Razor states.

And as the ground began to shake and a huge, ominous howl filled the air, the twins' reunion had to be cut short.