Chapter Text
Kaeya had to hand it to her, for a murderous and very possibly corrupt goddess, the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles that Aether occasionally spoke of had impeccable style. Her ‘style’, of course referring to the actual cracks in the ground that appeared upon her entrance. A brilliant entrance, at that. Still, he plucked his sword from his side like everyone else was doing and held it in her general direction.
Well, everyone other than Istaroth, who span around and smiled pleasantly. “Sustainer. You’re here.”
“As are you. Morax, too. Now, the Geo Archon, I expected. But Istaroth? I heard the rumours, I just hoped for your sake that they weren’t true.” The woman tossed her hair over her shoulder, lifting her head.
Istaroth’s smile dropped, and Kaeya noticed the way Venti glanced between his husband and the woman in horror. The goddess of time, however, only took a moment to recover.
“I wouldn’t rise above your station. I outrank you by over a thousand years.” She hissed. “Now, what did you do to Jean?”
The Sustainer cocked her brows, peering around Istaroth in an almost comedic manner. Jean looked even worse, now, sweating heavily.
“Her gnosis, do any of you have it?”
Aether reached down to the ground beside Jean, picking up the box he had brought with him and opening it. The small, oddly shaped thing on the inside was mostly glowing teal, but parts were flecked with red.
The Sustainer smirked. “And there’s your answer. And, Istaroth, even someone as naïve as yourself must understand what this means, correct?”
Istaroth nodded gravely. “Only you can remove it.”
Diluc let out a faint noise of anger, but Kaeya was quickly to very violently kick him in the back of the leg.
“Indeed.” The Sustainer seemed rather satisfied with herself. “And I originally only inflicted the wound in order to track Marbas. To find out who she was working with. But now, I have a better idea. You see, Istaroth, you have never conformed to our high expectations for one of the remnants of Phanes’ disciples. And I believe this to be a good opportunity to fix that.”
Venti let out a sob, even as Istaroth’s expression remained stony. “Stop.”
“I’ll stop all of this, and your ‘Jean’ can live on. If you, Istaroth, sacrifice yourself in her place.”
Istaroth scoffed. “Absolutely not. What do you take me for? I know your games, and I refuse to play them.”
“This is no game, Istaroth. You have committed crimes, here. You murdered Andrius, supported criminals and outlanders, and interfered with human life. Taking your life would be nothing short of justice.”
Istaroth summoned her polearm to her side, the gold glistening in the light. “Then, so be it. Kaeya, Diluc, Hilda. Take Jean to the clock, we’ll be there in a minute. And, Aether, chuck Venti the gnosis.”
“Are you sure?” Zhongli asked worriedly, as Diluc carefully picked Jean up and led her and the others away into the wilderness. “If it’s causing Jean’s illness—“
“I’ll be fine.” Venti stepped forward, holding up a hand. “Pass it here.”
Reluctantly, Aether agreed, and Venti was quick to slam the thing into his chest with a shudder. He unclipped his cape, throwing it to the ground, and wings erupted from his back. He grinned.
But the Sustainer did not seem impressed. Instead, she only scowled. “Even the four of you couldn’t possibly stand before me and come out triumphant.” She raised her hand, and a plume of red burst up from the ground. “But I do invite you to try.”
Venti pushed Aether out of the way with a strong wind just as the red came crashing back down into the grass, sending shockwaves into the surroundings and causing birds to fly up from trees in alarm.
This was quickly followed by an attack from Istaroth, who threw herself at the Sustainer and swiped at her head. Venti rushed over to Aether, helping him off the ground and retrieving his sword.
“We’ve got to go. Get moving.” He whispered, knowing Zhongli could probably hear. “The closer we bring the Sustainer to the clock, the more desperate she’ll get. Her fighting will have a weakness.”
Aether nodded, scrambling to get up and then beginning to run in the direction of the wilderness. The Sustainer looked up from where she was battling Istaroth, eyes ablaze.
Venti hopped into the air, beating his wings and drawing his bow. His arrow was quickly deflected by a pulsing red cube summoned at the last moment as the Sustainer joined him in the air, throwing out her hand to one side and directing a swarm of even more red in his direction.
“You know what?” Venti shouted down to Zhongli, who was doing his best to try and direct small stone meteorites towards the Sustainer from who knows where.
“What?”
“There’s a very small, and I mean minuscule, chance that this may have been a bad idea.”
Venti caught sight of Zhongli rolling his eyes before his gaze returned to the Sustainer, locked in a constant cycle of summoning new arrows and firing them, only for them to fall unsuccessfully to the ground.
Meanwhile, on the ground, Aether looked to Zhongli, rapidly signing a string of words that he still didn’t understand. Luckily, Istaroth was quick to translate.
“He wants you to get him up there.”
“I see. Brace yourself.”
Zhongli smoothed his gloves, before flicking one hand upwards and sending a pillar of rock shooting from the ground under Aether until it was as tall as the trees of the forest, and Istaroth used a free moment to fling him even further.
Aether, used to flying from back when he actually had wings to do so with, used the air to gather velocity before swooping upwards, bringing himself down on one of the Sustainer’s red cubes.
Venti stared at him warily for a moment before catching on as the cube began to shift and shrink beneath his friend. He shot another arrow, this time slightly above the Sustainer, and sure enough, another manifestation of her power appeared. Aether jumped over to it, but that too quickly shrunk as Venti held off the woman.
What next occurred was a swift string of arrows shot, barely missing, but all providing a place for Aether to stand as he attempted to fight the same goddess from behind. Zhongli’s attacks continued from below, as Istaroth kept watch to make sure none of them fell. And slowly but surely, they grew closer and closer to where they knew the clock could be found.
In a matter of minutes and superficial injuries to everyone, they had reached the structure, still half embedded into the ground, and the Sustainer appeared to have finally had enough. She let out a great roar, swinging her arm behind her and sending Aether flying downwards, luckily caught midair by Istaroth and lowered slowly.
And then she turned back to Venti, holding a hand out, red bubbling at her palm. “You. The others are cowards, they will not face me directly. They know the fate that awaits them up here.”
Venti didn’t back down from the thinly veiled threat, instead raising his bow again. “Maybe I’ll kill you first?”
“Hah. A likely event. An ancient goddess and a false Archon. What a tale of victory that would be for you. Such a shame you shan’t be able to tell it, hm?”
The Sustainer moved her hand downwards, creating a platform beneath the two of them, an island in the sky, an arena for a battle to the death. Venti lowered himself onto it, taking a step closer.
It didn’t take either of them even a second’s pause to get back to sending small missiles at each other, until an arrow finally sliced through the side of the Sustainer’s shoulder. She looked up in anguish, pulling the arrow out of her flesh and throwing it to the ground, allowing herself to bleed as she threw herself froward towards Venti.
In one flawless movement, she hurled a thick string of red his way, and it hit him square in the stomach, forcing him to let his guard down just long enough for the goddess to wrap her arm around her neck. Venti felt the platform crumble away beneath him and a blade against his neck.
He prepared himself for the sudden pain.
“Stop!” Istaroth cried, suddenly. The Sustainer obliged, lowing both herself and Venti to the ground, her dagger still pressed to his throat. Zhongli stood a few metres away, enraged, but still maintaining a protective stance before the room holding the clock.
“What have you to say?” The Sustainer commanded.
“Don’t hurt him.” Istaroth’s voice didn’t waver, and she allowed her polearm to dissolve into the wind. A sign of surrender. “I will hand myself over to you, but leave the others alone.”
“Good. Peace can at least be restored.” The Sustainer dropped Venti to the ground, slowly and deliberately making her way over to Istaroth. She leaned forward as she got close, blankly staring into the goddess’s eyes. “You know, I’m sure Phanes would have been proud to know how willing you were to die for your people.”
“Oh, would they?” Istaroth grinned suddenly, stepping back.
The Sustainer stumbled away, turning around to reveal a dagger plunged into her heart. Her eyes shine a bright gold, her hands stained themselves with the colour of her power, and yet she could not bring herself to summon anything. She quickly fell to the ground, landing on her side. Istaroth stood, a new dagger in her hand.
Istaroth quickly stepped over her, bowing as if she had simply performed in a pantomime. “Is everyone alright?”
Aether chuckled, and Kaeya scoffed from inside of the room, where he and the others had been watching the ordeal. “Thank the Gods.”
Hilda nodded from where she was stood beside Jean, pressing a hand to her forehead. “Her fever’s disappearing. I think you did it.”
“Well, I certainly feel a lot lighter now that I’m not harbouring a corrupted gnosis.” Venti pointed out.
“Something that you’re going to have to explain later.” Kaeya added.
“Sure. I’d love to, just as soon as we get out of—“
“Istaroth!” Diluc suddenly barked, a moment too late.
Venti cried out in horror as the weapon pierced Istaroth’s chest, attached to an arm that was attached to the Sustainer, sprawled on the floor. Jean, only just awake and trying to overcome her dizziness, looked up from where she had been laid in the tilted room, a room that was supposed to be a sanctuary, and found herself sobbing, too.
(“Ah, well, that’s what happens when you get exiled. I’m actually pretty excited for that. Can’t wait to see what I do.”)
Someone was grabbing her, shushing her. Someone was pulling Venti into the room. Istaroth was saying something, seemingly concealing her pain as she stood there, motionless and in tears. Jean could just about read her lips; a goodbye.
(“What’s happened here will always have happened to me, no shortcuts.”)
She had helped. She had helped everyone. How was this at all justice?
Someone was trying to usher someone else out of the room, providing a much needed oasis of time spent with Istaroth out of view. Istaroth, with the dark colour seeping through her white dress, surrounded by the chaos of the ruined landscape. But the figure wouldn’t leave, instead crouching beside Jean and pressing something to her stomach.
And then, the room jerked, pressure moving and seeming to suffocate Jean. Venti was still crying, long sounds of torment. But then, Jean’s head hit against the floor, and she slipped away.
———
Approximately two thousand years in the future, Lisa was worrying about her girlfriend. She’d been gone for over three hours, since Aether’s funeral ended. And, apparently, so had Captain Kaeya (the first person she looked for in order to find Jean), Diluc (the second), and even the bard that Jean occasionally met with around the city (actually, the seventh, but he was still on her list).
And, sure, she did have half the Knights out trying to find her (something she didn’t actually have the authority to do, but nobody refused Lisa when she was fretting). But that didn’t really help her anxiety. What if something had happened to her? What if she’d gone away in a panic? What if—
“Miss Lisa?”
Lisa looked down from her cup of tea, finding Klee, still dressed in her funeral attire, but now carrying a backpack. She forced a thin smile.
“Yes, dear?”
“Mika told me to tell you to go to Albedo’s workshop. And he said the the one on Dragonspine, not the one upstairs.”
Lisa stood up quickly. “Did Mika tell you why?”
“Uh… he said that Albedo found the people. But when I asked which people, he said it was a secret. Speaking of people, do you know where Master Jean is? I want to go fish blasting, and I need her permission.”
Lisa rushed out the room, forgetting to answer the child’s question as she did so.
Klee huffed. “Fine. I’ll just go without her permission. Kaeya always says that what she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.”