It was a late Mondstadt night, and Aether had already worked out the details to have missing person posters taken down. Paimon suggested the two of them rest on top of starsnatch cliff to avoid all the traffic of people.
It was a great idea, especially after what they both witnessed near that corrupted Statue of the Seven. Some peace and quiet, away from the rustle and tussle of Mondstadt city. Even Paimon knew the gravity of the situation, especially seeing his expression after the fact, so she decided to sleep without annoying or inconveniencing Aether. But to be completely honest, that's the opposite of what Aether needed.
He needed the sounds to distract him. He needed Paimon to act like her normal self. He needed Paimon to overreact when he called her emergency food. He needed out of his own head.
Aether was afraid. Afraid that if he fell asleep, that nightmare about Lumine would show up. You see, on the road to Mondstadt, his "normal" nightmare became progressively worse as the trip went on. It went from Lumine leaving him and saying "you're too late," to brawls to the death, leaving one of them bloody and beaten and the other to hold that burden for the rest of near-immortal lives. Seeing the one person Aether truly cared about like that traumatized him to no end. The early nightmares paled in comparison to the intensity of his current ones.
He shook his head. "Distract yourself," he thought. Aether got up and headed towards the very peak of the mountain, the very peak he often saw couples laying. In the perfect world, he could fly to multiple worlds and share these wonders of sights with Lumine. Aether could see it now. A picnic of Teyvat foods on starsnatch one hour, then a whole new planet and cuisine the other!
He half chuckled, half laughed at himself. He really was pitiful, huh? He surveyed the rest of the mountain, memories of his early Mondstadt journeys rushing back. Aether truly envied those times. A sad, yet hopeful Aether. Believing that, this was going to be a small hitch in the twins' endless journey.
But it never could have been that easy. He had found his sister, yet she refuses to go back to him, nor hold a normal conversation with him. Lumine was also the "Princess" of the abyss, which was powerful organization which could evade Aether in every way. Not to mention, he was now one of Lumine's new enemy after working with Dain. On top of that, to get any clues on how to take down this "Celestia" he still needs to explore 5 more nations, with his next journey being postponed due to a lockdown in Inazuma.
This was the first time Aether truly felt hopeless. He turned back towards the peak to reset his mind. Aether sat and hung his legs over the ledge. "Pretty long drop," he thought. It was lit, only by moonlight, which made the waters and land look very romantic. It was getting pretty late, and the more he stared into the waters, the more drowsy Aether got. Then finally, his balance had loosened to the point where he leaned forward and fell. Aether closed his eyes, peacefully.
It was quiet, only the sound of air whistling by to break the silence. 5 seconds passed by. Then 15. Now 30. And... nothing. Aether, much to his surprise, was floating atop a pillar of wind, just a mere few meters above the ground.
He let himself down from the gust and laid on the rocks above the oceans. "Thank you, winds!" He yelled out. Though, his expression turned to sadness and disappointment. He had only taken a few deep breaths until the stream gates opened. It took a few minutes of sobbing into his palm for Aether to recuperate himself.
He looked towards the moon and cried out.
"Why, why must you do this?!" "I-i've been so good to Mondstadt, the archon, and it's distraught dragon friend!" He took many deep breaths and sniffles within his speech to seemingly nobody. "So, just allow me to do this, please!" He thought his fit of crying was over, but a few streams managed to slip out of his eye.
The moon had no answer.
Aether was so very tired. He sat in silence with a sad expression while looking downwards, and once again, he was left to his own thoughts.
Maybe it was all for nothing.
He knew it himself. That he wasn't physically tired, just emotionally drained. Aether had let himself fall, in hopes of what? He was nearly immortal, just like his twin, so what would a fall do?
He didn't understand himself. How, with eons of life under his belt, how does one become depressed from not even a year of travel from being away from a loved one? Aether knew he was a disappointment. Aether knew he was pitiful. He stared at the ocean somberly.
Then he finally understood what the gods wanted from him, what a terrible person like him truly deserved.
He climbed back up the mountain with a neutral expression on his face and laid next to Paimon.
He was ready for his life trapped in commissioning.