"Are we there yetttt?" Paimon whined.
"No. Now stop whining." Aether sighed.
Aether was now walking a lot faster, clearly wanting to get away from Paimon and her whining.
"HEY! Slow down! Aether!!" Paimon called out attempting to catch up.
"You fly so slow! If you keep up this pace we won't make it in time!" Aether scolded.
"Huh- Sorry Aether!" Paimon apologised sadly.
~~~~~~~~
"It's dark already!" Paimon said surprised.
"Good thing we made it to Wangshu Inn!" Paimon beamed giggling.
Aether ignored Paimon and walked inside to get a room. Aether rushed Verr to get him his room not wanting to talk.
"Welcome back Traveler!" Verr greeted with a smile.
"Just give me a room." Aether sighed in frustration.
"Here you go Traveler, have a nice stay!" She spoke as she handed Aether the keys to the room.
Aether walked quickly up the stairs to find his room with Paimon slowly catching up behind him. Once he found his room, he let Paimon in and left to go to balcony.
Aether stepped outside and slowly made his way to the edge on the balcony. He rested his arms down and leaned against the balcony. Aether was stood staring at the stars in silence for a few minutes until someone joined him.
"Traveler." They spoke calmly to not startle Aether.
Aether turned his head around to face them, it was Xiao, he smiled slightly but turned his face away quickly. Aether did not reply to him but instead continued to stare at the stars.
"Look at the stars, Aether." He smiled as he joined watching the stars.
"It reminds me of the lanterns." Xiao spoke as he turned to face Aether.
"I heard from someone before that mortals wish on stars. Do people wish on stars, Aether?" He spoke with slight happiness in his voice.
"Yes, people do. But it's not true." Aether answered with no emotion in his voice.
"It's not? Why is that?" Xiao questioned.
Aether let out a sigh before answering their question.
"Everyone is selfish." He started.
"They always want something. Eventhough they want it, they don't do anything about it."
"So they make these petty wishes on stars, hoping someone would get it done for them." Aether finished.
Xiao stood next to Aether, watching and listening to everything Aether tells him. Aether was stood silently for a few minutes before Xiao spoke up.
"What did you wish for, Aether?" Xiao questioned with a smile.
"Xiao, I just told you it's not-" Aether said with confusion before he was interrupted.
"You do a lot for everyone and you work hard. You should a make a wish."
"It's okay for you to be selfish too, Aether." Xiao continued.
"I'll always be here for you."
Xiao's words left Aether speechless. Everything he said was true which broke him. The only reason he is helping everyone was for his sister. He only wishes for one thing and that is to be reunited with her. This whole journey was for her.
"Thank you, Xiao." Aether said smiling slightly.
"Rest well, Traveler." Xiao spoke before vanishing.
Aether sighed and slowly made his way back to his room. He opened the door to see Paimon sprawled over the bed fast asleep. He smiled sorrowfully at his friend but immediately pushed all his thoughts aside and went to change before bed.
Aether had now changed and was staring at himself in the bathroom mirror. He looked lifeless. He had large eyebags from all the sleepless nights after nightmares of that event. He was pale from not eating much. The scar from the event still very noticeable and painful. He let out a tired and sad sigh as he stared at the scar left by the Raiden Shogun.
He knocked himself back to reality and dragged his feet to the bedroom. Paimon was still fast alseep so Aether gently laid down beside her trying to not wake her up. Aether was really tired and wanted to sleep but he couldn't, he laid on the bed staring at the ceiling waiting for sleep to take over. Which it did eventually.