My son ♡

Backstory/epilouge

The Twins Lumine and Aether traveled to a strange world. There, they joined something called the Astral Express. They rode the train and had fun on missions until one day, Aether walked back into his quarters (idk if that's right) and saw a young child with grey hair and gold eyes. He was confused and slightly concerned as to why there was a child in there, so he walked up to him. He was conflicted on whether he should ask who the child is or how they got there, though he ultimately decided on the latter. "Hello there, little one. How did you get here?" He got as close to eye level as he could with the child and smiled softly, hoping the child wouldn't be scared of him. "I-i... w-ww...walk...walked h-here...!" The kid was having obvious difficulty speaking, so Aether assumed he either didn't know how to speak very well just yet, or the language was newer to him.

Right before Aether could ask his second question, Welt walked in, looking for something. Aether stood up straight and looked at Welt. "You looking for something?" Welt nodded. "Yes, I seem to have lost a certain child..." Aether looked over at the child in his room and pointed. "That child?" Welt looked over and nodded, smiling softly for a brief moment. "Yes, thank you, Aether." Aether was still pretty confused about the whole child thing, so he decided to question Welt a bit. "Sooo uh... who's kid is that?" Welt picked up the child and turned to face Aether. "Technically, yours." Aether felt completely floored by this news. He was super confused, and he had every right to be. "W-what do you mean he's my kid!?" Aether was completely flabbergasted by this revalation. He knew he had never had a relationship serious enough to have kids. Heck, he's hardly even dated anyone! "Well, I made him in a lab, and I guess when you were cleaning the lab, some of your DNA got mixed in with his" Aether was still shocked, but it was starting to make a little but of sense now. "And you never thought to tell me...?" He didn't sound as mad as his words might suggest. He was still more confused than anything. "Well, you and Lumine will be going on a mission to Teyvat in a year or two, and by then what I made him for would most likely have happened already, so I figured might just tell you after you got back" he shrugged it off, as if it wasn't a big deal. "... wait a second... why were you making a child in the first place!?" Welt adjusted the child that he held on his hip. The child pulled at his hair in an attempt to convince Welt to put him down. "Well... we need someone to hold the stellarons we collect since the stellaron hunters keep stealing them" (ik it's not cannon, but I've hardly even played hsr 😭) Aether seemed a bit angry at this for a reason he himself didn't even know of. "So he's just an experiment? A test to see if you can create a human that can withstand the power of a Stellaron?" Aether had a calm tone, though he was obviously not too thrilled. It was just so much worse that they were doing this to a living being instead of some sort of lifeless machine. "Look, Aether, we don't have many other options..." Aether made a.small gesture, as if asking permission to hold the child, and Welt gave it. "So what if his body can't withstand the power of the Stellaron, then what?" Welt stayed silent and looked down slightly. "..." Aether took his silence as a tell tale sign something not very good would happen to the kid. "C-... can I at least take care of him...?" Welt looked at Aether, slightly surprised that he wasn't going to press further, but he smiled softly. "Sure."

From then on, Aether took care of a kid he named Caelus. Lumine was a tiny bit jealous at first, but she soon adored Caelus as much as Aether did, taking on the title 'Auntie Lumi', which Aether found so adorable and hilarious. Aether taught Caelus how to speak in the native language of where he and Lumine come from, as well as another language of whatever was most commonly used in the Astral Express. Lumine taught Caelus how to write, insisting that she do it since Aether's handwriting is 'atrocious', which sort of annoyed Aether that she would insult his handwriting in front of his child, but he laughed it off, quickly getting over the tiny bit of frustration when Caelus hugged him. Soon though, Aether and Lumine had to leave for Teyvat for a mission.

"Don't worry, Caelus, we'll be back before you know it! We only have to be gone for a week, and time passes differently on that planet than it does here, so it might even be less than that!" Aether tried to reassure his upset son, which seemed to calm him down a little, but Caelus was still pretty sad "W-well what if something happens and I don't see you again! I don't want you to go, Papa! And not you either, Auntie Lumi!" Aether and Lumine bent down and hugged him tightly. "Don't worry, nothing will happen to us, little bud" Lumine reassured him and rubbed his head adoringly (is adoringly even a word?).

After a tearful goodbye, Aether and Lumine got their wings out (idk if that's the correct terminology) and flew down to Teyvat, landing in a place called Khanri'ah. The rest is history as normal, except Aether really wants to hurry back because he had no clue how long it's been since he left his dear son behind.

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This is my first story and I'm writing it really late at night, so I hope it's not too dry 😔
Anyway, if you liked this (I doubt anyone will even read it tbh) let me know, and I might make another part, but I really have no ideas.

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