Hello, here's the new chapter in the story!
A little anecdote about the Hydro Archon nation, I don't know if you know this, but there really is a town in the south-east of France called Fontaine, which is quite a coincidence.
As for the comments, here are my replies:
Serengon4k: I wanted to make it clear that Aether was quite mentally exhausted, especially as we saw in the last Archons quests (excluding 4.0 and 4.1) that he really needed Paimon's support as all these problems started to plague him.
christianvirtudazo07: I don't know if I'll go that far with Aether's mental stability, but I'll certainly make it difficult for him to return to normal.
f46adpg: So, I was thinking the same thing when I started writing the story, because the Traveller could just refuse to help if he wanted to, and it's true that from the reader's point of view he just gets brutally angry. But I didn't want to give away all the information about the first two chapters. I do intend to talk about them, but that will come later.
The fanfic is also available on AO3, like the rest of my stories, if you prefer to read there. With that said, enjoy reading and best wishes to everyone for the release of 4.1!
Later in the night, while the discussion progressed more or less gradually, with Paimon who despite the pain, gave information on the past adventures during their travels, the death of Teppei and the Traveler's brothers in arms in the Watatsumi's resistance, the escapades which ended with a farewell during their meeting with Kazari in Narukami, then Ruu in Tsurumi, without forgetting their passage to the Chasm where they still have not heard from Zhiquiong, before ending on the loss of Arama in Old Varanara, and Jebrael, Jeht's father, who sacrificed himself in the desert so that they could escape safely from the labyrinth that was the mausoleum of King Deshret or from the fact that they still haven't heard from Arana and Rana, who left to explore regions other than the Sumeru forest.
Everyone on this table did not expect to hear so many people missing or dead before their eyes, helplessly witnessing all these events.
Ei didn't know what to say other than the word "sorry", deeply moved by the trauma she created for them in Inazuma, wondering if she had truly deserved to be saved by him and to be considered like a friend by him. She felt so guilty for not being able to give her more assistance, and was even more angry with Yae, who knew social relations well compared to a recluse like her, for not telling her anything about it.
As for Xiao, he blamed himself for wanting to sacrifice himself to the Chasm, and was grateful that Zhongli had once again saved him because he now thought about what would have happened if he had died. Perhaps another Traveler's acquaintance died would have made things worse, and his death would also have a detrimental effect on Liyue's fate, because he was like a guardian for this land.
Zhongli, Venti and Nahida couldn't do much except listen to the little fairy talk about the deceased not without emotions, understanding that Aether could also be affected in this way, the only problem was that he had been very good at handling emotions until recently. Moreover, the Anemo Archon was really touched by these declarations, and spoke:
"If I had known everything that had happened, I would have taken my role as Archon more to heart. And I feel like I betrayed him as a friend."
"Me too Barbatos, me too…" replied Zhongli, who was in the same state.
"However, it is not too late. With all that information we have, we are able to take stock and understand the reason why Aether broke, and it is both due to the losses on his journey, which has affected the emotional level, mixed with the constant enemies he must face and the length of the journey which makes him feel like he has found more questions than answers." said Nahida, trying to motivate the troops.
"I think Lord Kusanali said it all, it's true that we tend to forget that Aether hardly ever rests. But let's not try to contact him right away, because right now his instability is too strong." suggested Xiao.
"So when?" added the Dendro Archon.
"In my opinion, it is easier to talk with him after a period of a few days, so that the energy dissipated by his rage diminishes and he can even come to his senses. We are lucky that he did not choose the side of evil and that he doesn't want a vendetta regarding what Teyvat did to him."
"I understand, indeed, it seems logical to me."
When Nahida finished her conversation, she saw Ei slumped on the table, looking at Paimon who had dozed off, exhausted from the tears she shed, her emotions being strained. The Electro Archon had said almost nothing and even though Zhongli and Venti listened to Nahida's assumptions, she felt drained, emotionally exhausted, guilt gnawing at her.
"Ei, how are you? You seem depressed for a few minutes!"
"It's nothing Nahida... It's just that it's partly my fault... If I hadn't closed the borders of my country, a lot of things could have been avoided. " she said, running her hands under her hair, frustrated at having contributed nothing except the mental disorder of the man who had introduced her to the new Inazuma.
"Ei, I can tell you that it's not your fault, you didn't know, and you were in a bad situation. It's you who should understand better than me, after all, closing in on yourself after the grief of bereavement is something normal."
"It's not just that! Even now, what I contributed to the discussion to help Aether, ?Nothing, all of you looked for a solution while I only cried like a child whose toy has been taken away."
"Ei..."
No one knew what to say to what the Electro Sovereign had said, other than to sympathize with her, and even though Nahida was not good with words, Nahida approached to give Ei a hug, which surprised her and the others.
"Nahida?"
"I know it's not much, but if there's anything I've learned from Aether, it's that there's always a way to save a lost friend. And I know you need it."
"How ? How do you manage to be so strong?"
"I'm not..."
"Yes, Ei is right, how do you manage not to have emotions? I know it hurts you like we all do, but it's impressive..."
Venti had asked the question not without a certain tear rolling down his cheek, wondering how the youngest Archon could be so mature without shedding tears for Aether. He didn't doubt Nahida's emotions towards the situation, but her olympian calm impressed him, and even for someone like her, not losing her composure was a feat.
"It wouldn't do any good to cry. I'm afraid too, just like you, Barbatos. But now is not the time, and Xiao understood the same thing."
"But it's not the same thing, Xiao is devoid of emotions!"
"This is absolutely false."
Everyone turned to Xiao to see him trembling, and he was looking straight at them all, displaying a face that only Zhongli had ever seen, and it looked almost identical to the moment he saw the other Yakshas disappear before his eyes.
"To say that I am calm is one thing. But to say that I'm not worried about Aether is absolutely false, and I hope you remember this, Barbatos. Aether has helped me reconnect with humans in ways I thought impossible, and even if it's small, I thank it for it. He saved Liyue twice when he was under no obligation to do so, out of pure altruism. So I have deep respect for him and it also annoys me to see him in this state without doing anything about it. Don't you dare say otherwise."
Venti looked at Xiao with surprise, like everyone around him, and he understood that Xiao had changed too, for the better. As for Zhongli, he smiled sincerely and replied:
"I see that you are no longer the same as before..."
"Morax..."
"It's only an observation, but I'm happy for you... After all, we're all in the same mess, so why get upset over trifles."
"You're right... Sorry Xiao... I didn't mean to insult you, but I admit that this situation is beyond me..." apologized Barbatos.
"It doesn't matter, I showed my point of view and everything was resolved."
"Thanks. And sorry to you, Kusanali."
"No problem. I think everyone is exhausted by all this information and surprises, and that's normal. I suggest we meet again tomorrow. Besides, Paimon is exhausted and has been sleeping for a while."
"You're right. It is better to continue when you are rested."
The four Archons and the Yaksha separated, Xiao leaving to continue his nocturnal escapades while reflecting on the new information brought by everyone, while Nahida and Ei took a room for two at the inn, bringing Paimon with them. As for Venti and Zhongli, they returned to Liyue, not without a certain sadness at having learned of all these events.
Before she could sleep, Nahida comforted Ei one last time:
"Nahida, do you really think everything will get better?"
"Yes, I am sure of it. Aether never let us down, now it's our turn to help him."
"You are probably right."
"And one last thing. Don't think you're useless. You have the desire to help Aether anchored in you, and he never blamed you because you were leading your country badly at the time. So don't think the worst, and don't worry, like Paimon says, tomorrow is another day..."
"It's true. Nahida, you may be the youngest, but you are the best among us..."
"Don't say that, you all have your qualities."
"But if there's one thing I envy about you, it's your maturity and your way of handling the situation."
"As I told Barbatos, I prefer to think before letting my emotions take over. But I'm also worried about him."
"I know that well, in any case thank you for comforting me, I needed it."
"You're welcome, Ei. And good night."
"Good night to you too." Ei said to Nahida before sleeping, hoping that everything would be better the next day.
Not far from the Aozang Mountains, a woman with short royal blue hair, equipped with Hydro vision, had done her best to get to this place as quickly as possible, after having learned through the rest of the conversation that Keqing was having with Xiangling that the Traveler was more precisely at this location. When she arrived more or less at the observed location, she could see, even at a certain distance, high effusion of energy, and she understood that he was not holding back.
It wasn't far from where she was but when she got a little closer, she saw the colossal damage caused by the blond-haired man.
"It's not possible... It's not him who could have carried out this massacre..."
She saw as far as the eye could see the corpses of Geovishap, Hilichurl, Lawachurl, Fatui, Treasures Hoarders, as well as Ruin Guardians in pieces and minimal remains of slimes. Everything had been decimated down to the last trace, as if it were a genocide. Even the Whopperflowers the Fungus had not been spared.
A path of blood had been created, a red now darkening with time, and Yelan had not expected so much of an explosion from the hero of Liyue, but it terrified her. She truly feared his reaction when she was going to speak to him and Ningguang was right to have warned him, but it was too late to back down. Yelan moved forward along the bloody path, hoping to find Aether at a time when it was calmer.
Toward Cloud Reitainer's home, Ganyu and Shenhe were still watching in which direction their friend was going to go, and even though they had been standing like watchtowers for more than three hours, and they didn't know what to do, they needed to see him, as if to tell themselves that he could have protection.
They were surprised when they saw a woman dressed in blue heading in their direction, and Ganyu recognized her directly.
"Miss Yelan? What is she doing here?"
"Is this someone you know?"
"Yes, she's a colleague and a friend, but don't tell me that Ningguang told her to go find Aether?"
"Do you want to intervene?"
"I would like to, but it would be imprudent. Besides, Yelan is on a mission, and you can try, but it's impossible to stop her from achieving her goal. All we can do is hope that Aether will be calmer when he sees someone he knows well."
Ganyu wholeheartedly hoped that Yelan would find a solution, and prayed to Rex Lapis for it, and meanwhile, Yelan got closer and closer to her target, She wanted to understand why Aether was like this, her eyes reflected the worry, far from her usual seductive and smirking smile. As she continued on her way, she wondered how this man destroyed everything in his path.
She now saw him in the distance, killing yet another enemy without any hesitation, crushing his already lifeless body, as if to show that he was definitely dead and that he would no longer have a chance in the afterlife. The blows were sharp, and Aether was completely stained with blood, not to mention sweat and his hair disheveled. She knew better than to lose her cool and run to warn him, so she opted for a calmer approach, as she usually did with criminals, except this time, the goal being to be courteous to him. The slightest hiccup, and she knew that even though she was very close to him, he could give her a fatal blow in the heat of emotion.
She approached slowly but surely, and she had never been caught off guard like this anyway, well... until today.
"Oi, get out of here!"
"So you saw me..."
Yelan was surprised that Aether had noticed her presence. She remembered that the first time, he was very surprised to be followed by her. She understood that over time, his reflexes had improved, and not just a little. She came out of her hiding place and walked with her usual gait, although a little surprised when she saw the Traveler up close, seeing him in a more chaotic state than what she had seen from afar, but what he saw had noticed, it was his eyes whose glow had faded, and that was what had upset him the most.
Aether turned to face her, approaching her, then looked at her with his arms crossed, after putting down his sword, with a displeased look.
"Can you tell me what you're doing here, Yelan?"
"I could ask you the same question, Aether."
"Don't beat around the bush, you're an intelligent woman, so explain to me what you were doing just now."
"Usually it's me who asks this and who does the interrogations..."
"The tables have turned. Now answer."
Even though he was unstable, Aether was quite calm, and that was Yelan's luck. She wanted to solve his problem, not just for Liyue, but for herself, and she hoped to have answers. She understood that the best option was to respond to Aether first, and she found it legitimate, she was spying on him, so it made sense that he would be irritated by this.
"I came to see you. I heard you haven't been doing too well lately."
"I see... Did Ningguang send you?"
"Yes and no. Ningguang only gave me permission, but I was the one who asked to see you."
"You mean you came of your own free will just to check if I'm okay? Do not make me laugh..."
"Yes, it's the truth."
"What is your interest in doing this?"
"None. I come as a friend."
"Stop your nonsense, if I understood anything correctly when I came to Teyvat, it was that everyone tried to be nice to me to get something in return."
These words were a lead in the search for clues that Yelan was trying to find, she whispered to herself, as if to confirm her thoughts: "So he thinks we're just using him... Maybe I should know more by asking him..."
She immediately spoke again, questioning Aether:
"I don't want anything, I assure you. But why do you think that?"
"You know very well why, don't act stupid. Every time I go somewhere, my fame turns against me and everyone asks me for help."
"Just refuse to help."
"If it were that simple, I would have done it already, don't you think?"
"You were right. However, what does that have to do with the damage you caused? You have seen all the bloodshed you have caused. It's true that the area is cleared of monsters and that's good, but this is the first time I've seen you kill human beings. Normally, you would have just let the Fatui escape or hand them over to the authorities."
"I'm just reducing the work, anyway, whatever happens, they come back and continue their misdeeds without stopping. Might as well kill two birds with one stone."
"What are you talking about ? You would never normally think that way. They could have provided us with information if they were alive and could have guided us to the devices they would have put in place."
"See, what I said was right in the end."
"What are you talking about ?"
"You are no different from the others, Yelan. You want to use them to your advantage like this continent used me to do the dirty work."
"But it's my job and they're bad people, you're mixing everything up."
"On the contrary... Do you think that because they are bad people, you can consider them as an object? And that means that for you, people consider me bad, because they continue to use me as their lackey?"
"No, but it's just that the information they have will be used for everyone's safety, it's also in their interest if they don't want to have a bloody future and to have a reduced sentence. And then, you know very well, no one sees you as a bad person, you saved four countries, you are the hero of a very large number of people!"
"So tell me, why do they continue to be so hypocritical?"
"I ..." tried Yelan to reply, in vain, as she couldn't find an answer to his question.
"You see, you don't know anything about it. So I would give you one last piece of advice, as a "friend"…"
Aether approached Yelan, without any emotion, as she trembled when he reached her. She didn't know why, and it was the first time this had happened to her, contrasting with her usual personality. When Aether was in front of her, their faces inches apart, he looked at her deeply, as if he were going to devour her soul, then took a deep breath and placed his fingers on her chin, under the blue-haired woman's incomprehension, then he whispered authoritatively, making it clear that his advice was more of an order than anything else.
"Don't follow me anymore and mind your own business, sweetie... And don't worry, everything will be in order... If you really worry about me and don't use another one your facets, as you do during your missions. If it turns out that you continue and have lied to me about your intentions..."
Aether caressed her hair up and down, as if to tame her, which was ironic considering he was using her methods against her, and it turned out to be effective.
Once the fear was definitely created in her, he said a little sentence which indicated that he was really serious in what he was saying, and whispered in her ear very softly, the sound of his breath barely touching her, confirming his domination on her.
" ...I wouldn't be gentle with you, Yelan..."
Yelan felt the greatest thrill of her life, before seeing Aether heading north with a determined step, still with his sword in hand, while she continued to see him, sitting on the ground because her legs could no longer hold her up due to the excess of emotions and the Traveler's warning.
"Aether...Why are you doing this?...Why to me? ..."
Yelan had an overflow of emotions in her head, and couldn't really manage them properly unlike usual. She wasn't happy with the result because she made him be even more vigilant and gave a lot less information than she thought. She was both sad to have seen her friend's blank look and to see that he was doubting everyone, including those close to him, and that he was ready to threaten them to stay calm, but she noticed that she was blushing slightly, and knew there was nothing to suggest that, but she couldn't help but find the way he effortlessly dominated her, the woman who never let no one above her, especially when it came to work, quite attractive.
She felt that she had no right to think that now, and quickly pushed away her lewd thoughts, while feeling guilty for thinking such things at that very moment, and quickly thought about where Aether could have gone. Yelan knew she wasn't going to spy on him right away, he would find out the minute she started moving, but she didn't want to give up, no matter how risky it was, she had never started a mission without completing it, and she wasn't going to do it now.