pairings. childhood best friend!aether x fem reader
synopsis. as the abyss queen, you decide it's finally time to put an end to aether's journey.
genre/warnings. angst, lingering feelings, best friends to enemies, mentions of death and murder
wc. 722
a/n. brb gotta go wipe my tears
[700 years ago]
somewhere only we know - keane
"is this the place we used to love?
is this the place that i've been dreaming of?"
"aether!" you groan. "you've ruined everything."
the blond boy standing just a couple feet away from you scratches his neck and gives you an awkward smile. "...sorry?"
you throw the juice-stained cloth at him and it smacks him in the face before landing on the floor.
both you and aether abruptly look towards the door when you hear loud footsteps approaching the room. "what is happening?" demands an annoyed-looking lumine.
"aether spilled juice all over my brand new blankets," you whine. "i was so excited to sleep with those."
lumine rolls her eyes and walks out of the room. aether meets your eyes and a laugh spills out of his lips when he looks at your sulky expression.
he nudges your shoulder. "come on... forgive me?"
"no," you glare. "now go do the laundry, you loaf of bread."
you hear aether sigh before you stomp out. "you and my sister are becoming more similar by the day."
[present time]
war of hearts - ruelle
"i can't help but love you
even though i try not to"
"you've ruined everything," the familiar boy finally says. hearing his voice after all these years brings you a sort of pain that twists your heart until you feel you cannot breathe.
you close your eyes for a moment. just a moment to relive the past.
growing up with the twins. your last journey together. the unknown god separating you and lumine from aether. the cataclysm. becoming the abyss queen.
you allow yourself to let one tear fall. one tear for the boy you once loved.
"y/n!" he shouts. you can see his floating companion peer up at you with half confusion half horror. seems like aether hasn't told anyone about you. but maybe that's just because it hurts too much.
"your journey ends here, aether."
"bring back lumine," he shouts. "i know you're with her!"
you give him a look of pity. "she no longer wants anything to do with you. as do i."
"you liar-"
"wake up, aether! you don't know the truth of this world. nothing will ever be the same, we will never be the same," you shout.
a look of hurt flashes in his wide eyes. then sadness. then anger.
"just bring lumine back to me," he says as he unsheathes his sword.
"it seems you haven't heard a word i just said."
"the abyss queen?" he glares. "i will stop you if it's the last thing i do in teyvat."
aether strikes his sword, lunging at you before you easily dodge his attack and paralyze him in the air. he's unable to move his body no matter how hard he tries. his expression goes taut. "y-you haven't lost your power-"
"i'm not like you, aether." you walk closer to him. "we don't originate from the same world. have you forgotten?"
"you're not y/n. you'll nev-"
"the y/n you knew is long gone," you say softly. "and don't assume lumine is any different. she's the abyss princess after all."
aether doesn't say anything.
"join our cause, aether. become the abyss king. my king."
he struggles to get his words out as his body goes numb. "i will never- be like you."
"it looks like i was wrong about you then. i was a fool to think i'd be more important to you than those stupid lies you've been told."
he can't speak anymore and you can see it in his locked jaw. just kill him now, you tell yourself. he's only setting everything back. he's destroying everything you've worked for.
you grip your power harder against his taut body. he can't move and oh, but he's in so much pain. he's in pain because of you. he can't even scream when he wants to. he hates you. he's going to die because of you-
the hysteria clouds your vision and then-
and then...
you let him go.
aether falls to the ground with a cry.
"you can't stop me," you say. "you're powerless against the abyss. the natlan war was nothing. you are nothing."
"i-i hate you," he pants.
"oh?" a sudden pain fills your heart to the brim. "then let's hope we'll never cross paths again, traveler."
pairings. scaramouche x fem reader
synopsis. scaramouche swore to himself to protect you from dottore, but in order to do so, he must abandon you. before he leaves though, he makes sure to put a smile on your face.
genre/warnings. pure angst, written in scara's pov, reader is energetic and childish, she/her pronouns used for reader, mentions of blood, stabbing, and death
wc. 1.1k
a/n. i actually shed a tear while writing this and listening to summertime sadness.
playlist. die first - nessa barrett, summertime sadness - lana del rey, train wreck - james arthur
[2:39pm]
today is y/n's birthday.
i can see her in the near distance, skipping around like an excited little kid. she's always had too much energy for me to bear, but perhaps i've grown used to it, seeing that she's always glued to my side for some reason unknown to me.
that bliss however, will change today. dottore knows about where she's from. a planet far from the depths of teyvat. a globe dominated solely by the human race with no room for elemental power. a planet currently known as earth.
very little is known about this planet, which only causes dottore's interest to peak. her origin makes her the perfect test subject for the doctor, but i will not let him lay a dirty fingernail on her.
we cannot continue to travel as one; dottore will find her if she's with me. i don't have any cards left to play.
i do worry that leaving her alone would put her in another danger. she carries no vision, nor any strength that could compare to the creatures of teyvat. however, nothing is more dangerous than becoming an experiment of the second fatui harbinger. on the inside i know she'll be okay. she can find-
she can find my replacement. a new companion.
my only option is to watch over her from the shadows. that is the only way i can protect her.
sometimes i can tell that i hurt her feelings when we converse. but my personality is something i can't change, and she's never seemed to want change from me. perhaps that's why i've enjoyed her company more than i could ever enjoy another human being's. she understands me more than i think she does.
since i made her cry on her last birthday, i've decided that i could attempt to make her smile this time around. in my defense though, the cookies she made for us to share together were truly detrimental. but... maybe my words were too harsh. i forget what i said exactly... "you wanna poison me? are you so dumb as to have forgotten that i'm not human?"
my eyes trail back to ms. craziness and my eyes widen when she trips over a tree branch. i actually have no idea how i've been traveling together with a girl who has two left legs without dying. i don't notice the tears streaming from my eyes until she looks my way and spots me.
she runs over to me, and i quickly wipe the useless, hot tears. when i see her happy expression, i need to make an effort not to let the guilt eat me alive. i think i've admitted it to myself a while ago, but i love y/n. i'd presumed just as everyone else that i'm a puppet incapable of anything close to love, but if what i feel for y/n isn't love then i'm not sure what it is. i am positive that it is love. when you experience pain, you don't doubt it and assume it's something else. you just feel. and when i'm with her i feel.
"SCARA!" y/n exclaims as she topples me over in a hug. i nearly fall to the ground, but i'm able to catch us before it's too late. gosh, can she even contain her energy for two rational seconds?
i shove her off of me, but before i can say anything, she excitedly holds up a compass-like trinket in my face. "look! a sweet young boy gave me this lovely compass! it's supposed to lead you to wherever you'll be the happiest! and~ it led me right to you! we are just the perfect little duo, aren't we scara?"
i scoff, "and you believe that? it led you towards me because i'm standing north from where you were earlier."
y/n's excited expression drops.
"oh..." she pouts. "well... we can still pretend, right?"
pretend. maybe i can pretend she'll always be with me.
"pretending won't get you anywhere in life," i respond flatly.
"oh, but you pretend all the time," she responds. "i know you sometimes pretend that you can't hear me when i ramble about random things. although it hurts my feelings, you're still my best friend, scara."
what she said is actually not true. i in fact remember everything she rambles about in great detail. like that one time she was complaining about how she hates her hair because the wind blows it in an unattractive way. it was just so annoying because she needs to set her priorities straight. her appearance should be the last of her worries.
"give me your hand," i say. my voice is softer than i intended it to be. when she extends her hand, i slip a diamond bracelet around her wrist. on it is a charm with her nickname for me engraved in the center: scara.
please don't forget about me.
"oh, scara... it's beautiful! I'll never take it off. i promise."
"i have a matching one," i respond as i hold up my wrist for her the see.
she smiles when she sees the nickname engraved on my bracelet: princess.
there it is. her smile.
i sigh. "human, i know that you have your other shenanigans to deal with today, as do i. but meet me up that hill in the forest at sunset."
"oh, okay? scara, why are you being extra nice today?"
"um," i attempt a half smile. "it's your birthday, isn't it?"
[6:03pm]
i pick up the sword from the wet grass of the forest mountain beneath me. it's raining hard tonight. y/n is going to catch a cold, and i won't be there to care.
i walk over to the puppet standing across from me. my puppet. the puppet i've created to fake my own death. isn't it funny? the puppet of a puppet. both abandoned by their creators.
i take my bracelet off and slip it on its wrist. she has to believe it's me.
"i'm sorry," i whisper before stabbing my clone in the chest. i close my eyes when i hear my own voice cry out in a short-lived pain. it falls to the ground, lifeless as i walk away into the forest.
the bloodshed spreads with the heavy rain, and moments later, i see y/n approach the dead body. there she is.
and i feel as if my nonexistent heart has cracked in half when she screams. my eyes close in a sort of pain i've never experienced before. i'm sorry. i'm so sorry, princess. it's the only way you wouldn't look for me.
i wish that a day will come where we can be partners again. but on the inside i know that her human lifespan is not long enough to fulfill that silly wish.
scaramouche fanart credit: X (Twitter) : llxx88103769
