𝙄'𝙡𝙡 𝘽𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙠 𝙔𝙤𝙪 𝙄𝙣𝙨𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙙 • (𝙈𝙤𝙞𝙧𝙖 2) 𝙑𝙚𝙣𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙧 𝘼𝙐

𝙈𝙮 𝙖𝙗𝙮𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙡 𝙥𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙚~

The tiny city of Mondstadt started to fade into view after flying for what seemed like forever. Venti flew down to the top of the city gates and perched there, scanning the area for a certain blonde boy. Unfortunately, luck was not on his side.

He draped his cloak over his head, followed by his wings and recited a silent spell to hide his horns. He walked a distance away from the entrance and when no one was looking, he scaled down the wall and dropped down on the ground without a scratch.

He strolled around the city, admiring the sights and taking in the scent of flowers and food and even grapes from wine. He went towards Aether's home and found a little note taped onto the door. It wasn't in normal English, but it was written in Abyss language, or a Latin related language.

It read:

𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢,

𝐈𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐢𝐧 𝐌𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐝𝐭, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐦𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬, 𝐬𝐨 𝐈 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐲𝐬𝐬. 𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐰𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐦𝐞, 𝐈 𝐥𝐞𝐟𝐭 𝐚 𝐧𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐉𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐬𝐚𝐲 "𝐓𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞." 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐭'𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞. 𝐀𝐥𝐬𝐨, 𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐦𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐈 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲.

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐈'𝐥𝐥 𝐚𝐝𝐦𝐢𝐭, 𝐈 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞.

- 𝐀𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫

Venti felt the blush creep onto his face and he stood there, speechless. Aether purposely left the note for him? Venti tucked the note into a pocket and went around to the back of the house, where he found a window slightly opened and another note in Latin. It was from Aether telling Venti that he left the window open on purpose so Venti wouldn't have to use his powers to go through the door. He also set a barrier on the house so no one could break in. The barrier allowed Venti to pass through without problems.

Venti felt light, but in a good way. It was sweet of Aether to be considerate of the fact he was an archon, and using his powers would be a massive risk of revealing his identity as Barbatos.

He grabbed onto the window ledge and hoisted himself up through the hole. Once inside, he closed the window and went to the kitchen, heart beating in his chest like a plea. It kept saying "find him" over and over again. Venti almost felt drunk again, but it was the good kind of drunk. He wanted to puke, but lovingly. It didn't even make sense, but at the same time, it did.

He finally approached the necklace laying on the counter and as he picked it up, he could feel a tugging sensation from the pit of his stomach. The necklace had a blue gemstone in the middle that sparkled like endless stars in the night sky. Venti could stare into the piece of jewelry forever, but he couldn't. There was a better piece of jewelry to stare forever at.

He donned the necklace and held the gemstone in his hands tightly before whispering the phrase.

"Take me to the Prince."

...

"My prince."

The world swirled together in one big blur before it all faded into assortments of blues and purples.

Before Venti could register, he was standing in front of the abyssal castle.

________________

The guards were starting to tick Venti off.

"Who are you, Traveler? What is your business in seeing the prince?"

"Look, I'm here to turn your little prince into a king, you understand? And I yearn to be his king too. Now please, let me in or I'll tear your guts out and relish in your life ESSENCE."

His form shifted from a simple traveler to a demon, his horns popped out of his head and his wings sprouted out his back. His hands turned into black talons from his fingertips to his wrists. A deep growl escaped his throat as the guards dropped their weapons and back down quick.

"U-Uh! Yes sir! We u-u-understand, j-just head on in!"

"Good!" Venti's hands returned to normal but his wings and horns stayed. He skipped into the castle with glee as the guards continued to shake and cower.

____________

Venti began to grow weary from walking around and looking for his dearest prince. He found a chair in a hallway next to a room with a fancy door adorned with constellations and a crown atop the head of a boy looking to the side. Venti sat in the chair and sighed to himself as he tried fighting sleep, he only wished to rest for a while, but not full on sleep. To his dismay, he was already starting to nod off...

He jolted awake when he heard the door open and a figure stepped out. Venti was too tired to properly look but he felt a hand place itself on his head and he could see a smile on the person's face.

"You did come for me...what a determined little bard you are underneath your silly nature. I like that about you. I knew you were the right one to...ah, nevermind. I'll tell you when you're more awake."

"Eh...Aether? Is that you...?"

Aether giggled and gently picked Venti up and held him in his arms. He kissed Venti's cheek and watched him grow red and bury his head in his shoulder.

"Let's get you inside."

_________

When Venti awoke, he was in a comfy bed and his cloak was hung on a clothes rack. He sat up and spotted Aether resting on a chair and looking at the fireplace burning in front of him.

"I can sense you're awake." Aether leaned forward and got up, walking towards the bed and helping Venti to his feet. He held his waist and smiled at how cute he looked.

"Come sit by me. There's something I want to tell you."