Stardust

E P I L O G U E (C R A C K E D I T I O N)

Present day, the Abyss, Favonius Cathedral

The gentle clack of pieces on a chessboard. The whispers of people long forgotten. The sound of a door opening and closing.

Lumine let them surround her, twirling the Inteyvat in her hands. Her heart longed for the surface, for Mondstadt. 'Not yet.'

The pitch black atmosphere pressed in around her but it did nothing to disturb the comforts simply being in the Cathedral provided. Lumine longed for the light, but the darkness had been her home for so long now, she could not help but feel affection for it.

The Abyss was such a place where anything was possible. Palaces could be rebuilt in a moment, with a simple thought, if only you knew how to control it. Palaces were not people, and despite her expertise, Lumine was helpless to find Aether in the darkness.

Still, she could not help but feel thankful. Seeing them, grown up and living, friends with the brother she told them so much about–perhaps Kaeya was right. Perhaps there might be another way, but that would be for Aether to decide.

Until then, she would wait. She would always wait for him.

But that did not stop her, the memory of the stained glass fresh in her mind now, from recreating this place. It had been one of her and Dain's favorites, once upon a time. Despite how fresh her memory was, the Abyss still twisted its colors.

Here, the rose window was steeped in the colors of blood instead of the calm blues of a clear sky. The usual reds of the Favonian banners twisted into the bluish purples of Khanri'ah. The black fogs of abyssal corruption curled in the shadows even the chandlers could not vanquish. The Abyss was a constant thing, hungry and conniving. So similar to a starving child, crying out for food.

It was so beautifully tragic.

"I didn't think you were the sentimental type," Dainslief said, heels clacking as he ascended the aisle to where Lumine rested, her feet dangling off the altar nestled against the Cathedral's templon. "It's been a long time since you dreamed of Mondstadt."

"Dreams huh?" Lumine said, holding her hands up to the darkness that spilled in through the stained glass windows. This could be a dream, she supposed, however unlikely. "Khanri'ahns cannot dream. This is only a memory."

"Why not go back?" Dainslief asked. A question he posed a million times. His voice held firm, the pleading in it had expired around two hundred years ago. He knew she would never listen. 'We are both far too stubborn to do anything remotely sensible,' Lumine thought affectionately.

"It's rather pathetic of you to suggest Lumine do anything," the Wanderer said with a smug wave of his hand. "What with how you two turned out."

"Keep your mouth shut Kabukimono-" Dain snapped.

"Didn't Aether say his name was baby girl now?" Kazuha asked, another marble knight touching the chess board in a beautiful recovery after losing his queen on the f6.

"Good one, baby girl," Alice cackled, the laugh echoing off the walls. Kazuha's lip jerked up at that one.

"The baby girl would be him, not me," Kazuha said sweetly. Scaramouche just grumbled, taking to the skies. God what Barbatos was thinking letting him have that vision, Lumine would never understand.

"He said that was a joke," Scaramouche said. "I'm just a Wanderer now."

"So what did Aether name you?" Lumine asked, curious. Her brother was...notoriously bad at names. She could only imagine what he came up with.

Still, Scaramouche could not hide the soft smile that graced his lips, fingers trailing the stained glass as he hovered in the air. Scaramouche had always been like that, so curious about the mundane things of the world. Who knew a godling would be one of first allies, finding each other in the darkness of the abyss by mere happenstance. Even now, after the violence he committed to Iriminsul, he came here to check on her.