Aether frowned. "You were supposed to be at home, Lumine. But I can see that the parents I found weren't enough to hold you back. I should've figured. I'll write better ones next time."
"What are you talking about?" Lumine stepped forward. "You're him, aren't you? The Honorary Knight's twin, the Prince of the Abyss—"
"And your twin brother." Aether's expression softened. "You're not supposed to be here, Lumine. You were never supposed to know about me."
He glanced back at Ajax. "I'm glad you two found each other—focus on that. The star-fall, the memories—those were just mistakes, ones I'll fix soon enough."
"Don't listen to him!" Cried the boy in green, and the winds picked up around them. "Though he may wear your brother's face, he's the one who stole your rightful place!"
"And you—" Lumine pointed at the boy in green. "I heard you on the phone the other night—who are you?"
"An old friend." The boy in green stepped forward. "I know you can remember my name, please try for old times' sake!"
The boy standing on the edge of the cliff, pleading with the dragon made of storm and glass. The friend who she sat with under Windrise with cider stolen from Dawn Winery. The one who helped her in the final stand, at the Dandelion Sea at the edge of the world.
"You're Venti." Lumine couldn't help but smile.
"Yes, that's it!" Venti shot Aether a mischievous grin. "I told you that you wouldn't be able to keep our hero out of it forever."
"Maybe." Aether stepped back and let out a heavy sigh. "But I also won't give up on my wish that easily."
"Aether, wait—"
She reached, as if through time itself, through a ruined city in the clouds, through the darkness underground, across the Dandelion Sea, and now—
It seemed that all of the life she could remember, she'd been reaching out for her brother as he did exactly what he did now.
He walked away, disappearing into the storm.
Lumine took a few steps forward, only to be stopped by Ajax taking her hand.
She whirled around in fury. "Let go of me! Let me see my brother!"
He froze. "I'm sorry, Lumine."
"Then let go of me!" She tried to tug herself loose, but his grip remained strong.
There was a fog in his ocean eyes, a slight tilt to his head. It was the exact pitying look that made Lumine go cold.
"I don't think he wants to see you." He was stumbling over his words, trying to sound gentle even though 'gentle' was never the way he did anything. "I—I don't know why. Maybe he has his reasons. Maybe he has to go. But I don't think he's going to give you the answers you want. Not right now."
She tried to push him away, then and now, but he only pulled her closer into an embrace. Something inside of her snapped completely, and she began to cry. She could see now that Ajax was right, a hundred years ago and now, for that was one thing she could consistently remember about her mysterious twin.
He was always walking away.
"I'm sorry to interrupt, but now's probably not the right time to hug in the middle of the street." Venti looked up to the sky. "I happen to have a few tickets back to Liyue, where all of my friends are meeting up. I think the old blockhead said he was going to talk to you?"
Lumine broke away from Ajax. It took her a minute for her head to clear and figure out who he was talking about. "You mean Zhongli?"
"Ah, he's reusing the names too?" Venti shook his head. "And to think he keeps getting on my case about it!"
"That's right, he's. . . important." Lumine and Ajax shared a glance.
"One of the divine, I think." Ajax paused. "You are too, aren't you? You don't look it—but you've got something weird about you."
"I'll take that as a compliment!" Venti winked. "And you're right on track! But I think we can talk more about this in the train—we'd better hurry up, there's only one more leaving for Liyue Harbor tonight!"
With that, Venti gestured for them to follow him.
Ajax glanced at Lumine. "You gonna be okay?"
Lumine swiped at her face again. "Venti's right—we can talk about all of this when we're out of the storm."
She glanced back at the street where she grew up. Her parents were nowhere in sight, but they'd closed the door again. She hoped they would stay inside—she didn't want them hurt, the weird spat aside.
She then took Ajax's hand, and the two of them sprinted to catch up to Venti.
The private cabin of the train was far nicer than any of the accommodations Lumine had come to know on her prior trips in the star-rail. There was a television screen, a mini-fridge of snacks and drinks, which Ajax and Venti had started the work of depleting as soon as they'd entered the room.
"Ah, I love it when Morax shells out for us Archons," Venti declared as he flopped into the seat-bench opposite to Lumine and Ajax.
"Archons—so that's what you are?" Ajax sounded bemused.
It vaguely resonated with the murky memories in Lumine's mind. It felt like an Anemo slime had activated a Swirl reaction up there—but more and more was coming to her. It seemed that meeting Aether and seeing the wedding in the Ballad of Ascension had awakened more than she'd realized.
"Yep, but there's only six of us left." Venti popped off a cap effortlessly. "Aym died a hundred years ago, and no one really replaced her. So it's just me, Morax, Baal, Focalors, Buer, and Asmodeus."
"I remember them," Lumine marveled. Faces popped into her mind's eye, clear as the scenery of a stormy night in Mondstadt rushing by her. "Zhongli, Ei, Nahida, Rosa, Vasilisa—"
Her throat grew tight at the memory of Murata, of the god that had given her power to her.
"They're all coming, then?"
"Yeah, Zhongli sent out the call last night, after the star-fall." Venti giggled. "Of course, I knew what was happening as soon as he did, so I did what I had to."
"You were the one who interrupted my call with my mom last night." Comprehension dawned on her.
"Yeah, I also didn't think it would be helpful, talking to the parents Aether found for you." Venti shrugged. "I think you saw that back in Mondstadt."
Lumine bit her lip. "Yeah, I did."
Reflecting back, she wondered if the signs were there sooner, like when she ran away to the Tyrant's Tower. She couldn't help but also think of the revelation that Aether and Venti had brought her: her parents weren't hers by blood, but rather were ones 'found' for her by Aether.
"What happened, that he left me with them?" Lumine asked. "I—I'm the Honorary Knight, aren't I? The Keeper, the one who Ascended? Shouldn't I be a god or something?"
Venti grew uncharacteristically sober.
"I'm not sure," he said after a long time. "I think I have a theory, as does Morax. But only Aether really knows why he did it."
"What are we going to do about him, though?" Ajax's knee started to bounce. "I mean, we're going to fight a god?"
"With the help of several other gods, we hope." Venti stretched and yawned. "I don't know about you, but I'm tired. I bet you two are too, after all that running around. Might as well get some sleep before we go visit Morax."
With that, the boy-god curled up n the seat and use his backpack as a pillow, promptly falling asleep.
"That was fast," Ajax muttered. He glanced at Lumine. "I guess we should do that too."
Lumine shook her head. "I don't think I could sleep right now. Not after everything."
Ajax paused a moment, then nodded. "I think I can understand that. It's hard to take it all in myself. I mean, I dreamed of greatness as a kid, but nothing like this, like being the former husband of a god and one o fate Fatui Harbingers."
"It does all seem a bit far-fetched." Lumine saw the Vision hanging off of Ajax's belt and ran her fingers over the smooth surface. "And yet the proof is in front of us."
"Yeah," Ajax echoed. When Lumine glanced up at him, he wasn't looking at the Vision.
There was only a moment of hesitation, a confirmation in each others' eyes.
Then Lumine went for the kiss, one that rang out through time, a century ago and now.
