TAKE ME BACK. [aeventi] ✔

to the night we met

Doors to an awkwardly shaped apartment creaked when two people walked through it. The rest of the housings already hid in the cover of night and silence, as each clock was already heralding a late evening and there was no soul to be seen in the corridors.

A short child was running happily around a tired young adult who bustled around the house, trying to get them both ready to sleep after a whole day of their absence. She was so busy ranting about her day spent at school and with her babysitters that she didn't even notice how absent her brother was, as he was just nodding at her words and yawning from time to time, wondering how does this kid still have so much energy.

Regardless of Paimon's protests about how she's not tired at all yet, Aether quickly picked the kid up and headed to her temporary room. Paimon reluctantly climbed onto the bed, still scowling.

"Sorry kid, but look how late it is already. You have school tomorrow!" he reminded, patting her head goodnight and getting ready to leave to take care of himself, before Paimon asked one last question.

"When will Lumine come back from Inazuma? It's sooo boring with you!" she bragged, probably complaining about the blonde's constant absence and having to spend time with his friends — who she didn't even like that much — each day as soon as she finishes classes.

With those words her brother got brought back to Earth. But he shouldn't be surprised, he thought. He should've expected her to ask about it again sooner or later. Not that he was dying to tell her.

"Be more patient, Pai. Just a few more days, okay? I promise it's gonna be a surprise!"

Paimon growled, trying to hide the curious smile that appeared at the mention of a surprise. Aether smiled back at her, happy it worked again. It was always the easiest way to convince that kid to something, she adored unexpected things.

The positive ones, at least.

After the noisy creature finally got put to sleep, Aether stayed on her bed for a little longer, just blankly starting at some point between Paimon's head and the window above her bed. He drowning in his thoughts again. Their seemingly innocent conversation brought him back to something he realized more and more every day, and what was eating him from inside.

Paimon still had no idea about Lumine and he didn't come up with any way to tell her yet.

She had always admired Lumine, of course she had; she was her big sister after all, someone she could look up to from an early age and have trust in. Who knows how she would react to an information like this? She barely turned seven, does she even know what does it mean to pass away? To be gone and never come back? These aren't things a seven years old should be thinking about, even if she deserved to know the truth, but Aether knew he wouldn't be the one to tell her this.

But if he wouldn't be the one to break the ice, who would? If their parents were willing to take this responsibility on their shoulders, Paimon would never end up with him in the first place. But there she is, being lied that Lumine is visiting her friend in Japan so she can spend the weekend with their brother whilst staying in her big sister's room.

It quickly turned into more than one weekend.

They texted or called him from time to time, true, but always refused to meet up in person ever since Lumine's funeral. Seeing someone who looked exactly like their dead child would probably be too much for them to handle. And Aether never blamed them for it, simply because he just came to acceptance with it.

It's not like that fate didn't hurt — it hurt as hell. After his beloved sister passed away, he thought he could at least count on their parents now; it would be reasonable for them to stick together after a tragedy like that, right? Well, he miscalculated, and he learned it at the funeral when the twins' parents were avoiding their son's gaze as much as possible, sending him just fleeting looks filled with pure grief and compassion. The best he could do to not make the situation worse was accepting his parents' boundaries. After all, they were traumatized as well, and if that was their way of coping, he couldn't help much more.