Archive of Our Own

“That’s enough for today…” Skirk quietly pronounced after one last clash of blades, lowering her sword as Aether did the same, yet he didn’t turn his gaze away from her as he let out a sigh, just in case Skirk was trying to teach him the importance of keeping his guard up today. “Good job, Aether… I learned a lot today.”

“Likewise, Skirk.” He responded finally, sheathing his sword as Skirk disposed of hers too, relaxing his stance. She liked to hide it, but she was just as exhausted as him after almost a whole day of clashing blades. He had seen much and learned much through his life, so Skirk could learn from him as much as he could learn from her, and she was conscious of it, so after ruminating on it for a while after defeating Skofnungr together, she invited him once again into that little space in the Abyss that she had carved out for herself.

She had even given him the means to reach it whenever he wanted, one of those crystal contraptions of hers like the one that let them share their dreams with each other. He was awed at how much Skirk had changed after rediscovering her emotions. Not outwardly, mostly, but inside. She might not be all smiles now, but she was more trusting of him, less guarded. More willing to understand and learn about this world.

Though he figured that if she trusted him to help her fight off Surtalogi when the time came, then this didn’t seem as weird. He was putting himself at risk too, if Surtalogi was really as strong as she says he is.

“Hey.” Her voice snapped him out of his own thoughts, the white-haired woman having walked closer to him, her face just a slight move away from his face. She lifted one of her abyss-purple hands to his face, touching his forehead, an almost imperceptible smile playing at her lips. “You seem fine. Are you just spacing out?”

Aether blinked, feeling her hand on his brow, amazed by the smile on her face. But he decided not to comment on it, for risk of making her uncomfortable. “You can feel with those?”

She lowered it again, crossing her arms under her chest. “Of course. Anything that isn’t pain. Not because they’re incapable of feeling pain, I just don’t feel it anymore…”

Aether lowered his head, thinking about her words. “I see…”

An awkward silence manifested itself for a couple of seconds before Skirk simply took his hand in hers without any shame, pulling him towards her portal. “Come with me. I am loath to admit it, but I’m exhausted after fighting you for so long, and I can see that you feel the same. Let’s do our stretches and then get something to eat.”

He couldn’t refuse her even if he had wanted to, his arm halfway into the portal before being taken to that little space where a small bonfire crackled quietly. Skirk turned her head to look at him, the smile on her face accompanied by a small pink tint on it as she squeezed his hand with her abyssal limb, moving him closer to the fire. “Come on. There’s no time to waste.”

Her words were outwardly as cold as always, but he could feel the subtle change in them. How she wanted to help soothe his fatigue after he taught her so many things. And as she helped him bend himself into that strange plank position she had talked about, he couldn’t help but wonder just how deep Skirk’s feelings went.

This wasn’t the first time she had done something like this, showing him her pure kindness, the almost childlike desire to help always disguised by a cold manner that used to be unintentional but now was completely purposeful.

He wondered why she hid it. Was it really to hide her feelings from him? Or an effort to distance herself from them, even after what they had promised? And if so, was it conscious, or just a defense mechanism that came deep from within, trying to shield herself from the possible consequences of getting close to someone else?

He felt the need to find out. After all, he felt a certain affection for the woman himself, having witnessed her story and having helped her find herself among her purposeful apathy and ignored trauma.

So he immersed himself in his own thoughts as Skirk coached him on those miraculous stretching exercises of hers, before presenting him with some more of those strange fishes that she had brought to him the first time they dined together. He had an idea already, but it’d have to wait until they were done eating. “Hey, are these fishes from here?”

Skirk looked around before shrugging. “It’s just a normal fish.”

“Then why do they look so weird? I’ve never seen a fish like this…” Aether responded before taking another bite of the strange little fish.

“Do they?” She lifted the fish, taking a good look at it, its sharp teeth and protruding horn. “I think it’s just a predator…”

“No, seriously, where did you even catch it?” He asked again, lifting his eyebrow questioningly.

And to his surprise, Skirk gave him a little wry smirk that made his heart skip one singular solitary beat. “Wouldn’t you like to know? I can’t tell you, or you’ll steal my recipe.”

Her teasing words left him confused. He didn’t know if she was trying to hide her feelings or not anymore. But he knew that he could tease back. “All right then, keep your secrets. You should come dine at my home one of these days; I’ll show you some real fish.”

“Is that a challenge I hear?” Her voice came out almost high, as if her child self wanted to escape.

They continued with the pointless back-and-forth through the rest of their dining. Useless, where nothing was said with words, but each could feel their relationship deepen, each little jab and joke making Skirk’s smile grow wider before she hid it again, be it on purpose or not.

Eventually, the conversation died down, letting them sit in silence for some time, just keeping each other company, until Skirk finally broke it. “There’s… No need for you to stay. You can go home now, if you wish…”

He knew that now was his time. “I want to stay a bit longer if you don’t mind… Would you lend me one of your instruments?”

Not having told her which one, Skirk almost mindlessly gripped the guitar sitting right beside her and threw it to him, which he caught perfectly, immediately starting to test its strings. “The craftsmanship is exquisite…”

Skirk turned her face, hiding the pink blush that engulfed it from his compliment. She was sure he wasn’t even thinking about it, just making an observation. But she appreciated it all the same. That he saw more than just Skirk the warrior. Not that she had let anyone else in this world or any other see what was beneath her surface layer. And with the way her brain liked to make her feel about him, she wouldn’t show it to any other.

And then, without any warning, Aether started playing, slightly off-tune before getting accustomed to the resistance of the strings, the soft notes reminding Skirk that she was not the only one with the knowledge of her homeland anymore. That she was not alone anymore. “That song…”

Aether lifted his face, looking at her with a sincere smile on his face. “Am I playing it right?”

Her face changed for a moment, some of her cold self wanting to return and smash this farce to pieces. But the new her wouldn’t let it. She regaled him with a simply beautiful smile before walking around the bonfire and sitting beside him. She looked at him up close, her red eyes studying his expression, before looking down at how he played her guitar and song almost as well as her already, even without her having taught it to him. Though she had played it for him multiple times, and his good eye and ear did the rest. “You’re playing it perfectly…”

He closed his eyes, keeping the music going. It was a short melody, the notes repeating after a couple of minutes, but he kept on with it, seeing how Skirk enjoyed listening to it. “But something is lacking…” he added without stopping.

Skirk tilted her head, her smile shrinking. “What is?”

Aether slowed down the notes, making for a more melancholic sound. “The vocals.”

Her breath caught on her throat as she watched his smile, a pink tint playing at his face too as he spoke of what he wanted. It was something so obvious; she had always played it while humming the rhythm of those lyrics that she could no longer remember, and yet, the way he said it… It left clear for Skirk that he wasn’t asking just because he wanted the song to be complete.

The implicit meaning was clear for Skirk, and it was something that she wouldn’t have caught back when she first invited him here: I want to hear you sing.

She wondered for a moment, conscious of her own feelings ever since she had reunited with herself. She was more than aware that what she felt for Aether wasn’t only appreciation for his skills as a fighter. It wasn’t just that he was her one and only friend; she knew it was something more. She had never experienced it, her feelings buried as they were. But now… She felt what she hadn’t felt since her childhood, almost five hundred years in the past.

Skirk felt a little burn of shame, but she cleared her throat all the same, watching Aether’s smile widen as she started to hum, accompanying the song that he played on her guitar, having so perfectly learned it from hearing her play it so many times in the past. She closed her red eyes, losing herself in the music and in the memories of her past, both antique and recent. Only those memories, the ones that gave her happiness.

No training until her limbs were reduced to broken heaps of flesh and bone that she would end up discarding, no following a Master as he committed atrocity after atrocity, no wandering the wilds alone under the cold night sky by herself in search of beasts to slay. No, she remembered herself as a child, running through the plains and the forest, skipping her classes and playing with the beasts of the wild. She remembered herself sharing a meal with Aether and Paimon, and fighting together with him to defeat Skofnungr.

She had never met an equal, one she could fight with side by side, shoulder to shoulder, and she relished the feeling of having done so. But it wasn’t all that she appreciated about him. She remembered how he cared for her when she was hurt, how he helped her reconcile her own feelings, and how he consistently came to visit her for more and more training, helping each other build themselves up.

Skirk had never felt stronger than right now, not only because of her own strength soaring thanks to him, but because now… She saw him as part of her strength.

As she relaxed more, losing herself in her memories as she let out the sweet hums, Skirk scooted closer to Aether, pressing her side to his and resting her head on his shoulder, the softness of his white scarf caressing her face as he kept on playing the song, the tone of it switching from melancholic to hopeful with just a slight change in the rhythm and the addition of Skirk’s beautiful voice, the synchronization of it all letting them communicate wordlessly to each other.

Skirk understood it now, what Aether was wanting to tell her. And she understood what she wanted too. She was not the most well-versed in this kind of matter, but from what she had gathered, Aether knew a lot of people, a lot of notable and strong women. There was no more space for hesitation in her heart. Hesitation is defeat.

And she would not be defeated.

As Aether finished the song, Skirk closed her mouth, swallowing saliva before licking her lips, lifting her head from Aether’s shoulder, and looking at him, a small, contented smile on his face that still easily reached his golden eyes. Before, she wouldn’t have believed that just playing a song together with someone else could evoke such happiness in a person, but now… she did. Because she was experiencing it herself.

She lifted one of her hands towards his face, and he didn’t shrink back, letting Skirk tentatively touch his cheek, before placing her palm on it. She looked on, her red eyes examining him, the smile on her face not going away as she slowly moved closer.

“I…” Skirk mouthed as she moved closer and closer to him, finally pressing her forehead to his own and closing her eyes, feeling his warmth, and feeling closer than ever to him. Aether lifted one hand too, passing it behind Skirk’s back and touching her skin, myriad faded scars crisscrossing her back. The same kind that he had, the ones that can’t be noticed unless you look from very, very close, that healed almost perfectly. Almost no human had this kind of scar, the kind that was gained by long-lived warriors.

“Skirk…” Aether muttered her name, making her heart beat faster.

“Aether…” And she responded in kind, moving her hand from his cheek to the back of his head.

He could feel her breath on his face, hot, even hotter than the nearby bonfire. He wondered if he’d have to close the gap, but Skirk decided to act first, throwing away her hesitation and pressing her lips to his, joining them together in a chaste, loving kiss, resting against each other before she tentatively let her tongue out to play, touching his own before they slowly twined them together, basking in the warmth of each other, arms wrapping around bodies as they pressed together as much as they could, wanting to feel it all.

This continued for long, the two being able to hold their breaths much longer than any human could, letting them indulge in each other for minutes and minutes on end, Skirk’s repressed passions mixing with Aether’s desire and love to form a perfect storm of mutual affection, the couple holding each other as close as possible through it all, until the lack of air finally caught up to them, forcing them to separate, looking to each other as they panted and gasped, red against gold, telling each other just how much more of the other they wanted.

Which only made them resume their kissing, making Aether have to shower Skirk with all the love he could give with his mouth until she was satisfied, the smile on her face content and beautiful, one that he seldom saw.

“I’ve never done this before…” She whispered, resting her head on his shoulder in a hug, her hands playing with his blonde braid. “So I… I would like it if you could teach me about this too. Slowly…”

It’s not as if Skirk didn’t know how love works. She knows, and she feels it. But she has never been in a relationship, for reasons that were more than clear to Aether. “Skirk… I will… Don’t worry about that…”

They held each other for a long time, basking in the warmth of each other. Aether could have sworn that he felt a wetness on his shoulder more than once, but he chose not to say anything. Just being there was enough for Skirk; she didn’t want more. Just time to process it all.

And he gave it to her.

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“Well, what do you think of this space?” Aether asked as he showed the wide-open arena that he had prepared inside of his adeptal abode, spacious and without any obstacle, a bright golden barrier surrounding it completely.

Skirk nodded as she examined the sphere that delimited the perimeter, discerning the layers upon layers upon layers of spells that composed it, mostly belonging to the adeptal arts. “To say that it’s sturdy would be an understatement…”

She turned, giving Aether a small smile. “This is perfect. Thank… Thank you for making this.”

Aether just smiled. Skirk had talked to him about how fighting in this space could be dangerous for it, but she also wanted to practice in a space with low abyssal energy density, and according to her, his adeptal abode had even less concentration of it than Teyvat itself, so it would be a perfect environment to practice efficient use of energy. After all, that would mean she could use it even better when she had access to more.

So with the help of tons of his acquaintances, he reserved a big island inside his teapot as a designated arena for him and Skirk to go all out. They could still break it, but they’d have to concentrate on doing it for it to actually happen. Collateral damage should be fine.

Though the most important thing for Aether is just how happy she looked, almost as if it was a birthday gift or something of the sort. He loved seeing Skirk happy, and she had shown that face to him a lot more through the months they’d been together, deepening their relationship and relying on each other. Deeper intimacy was something that came slowly, but one of these days it would arrive, Aether thought. He wouldn’t want to force Skirk into anything.

But she did love kissing, as she demonstrated when she walked right up to him and placed her hands on his face, taking him into a deep kiss that had his whole face red in just a few seconds of it, their tongues playfully touching each other as Skirk did whatever she wanted with him, mirth showing in her usually cold red eyes.

“Muhhhaah…” Until she pulled back, licking her lips as she looked at him, taking a step back before constructing her sword in her hand. “Get ready.”

Aether shook his head, a smile on his face as he took out his own. “Always am.”

Skirk smirked too, preparing to jump. “Let’s go, then…!”

…

By the time they were done, the golden barrier cracked and splintered, but it still held. Taking a whole day to spar with Skirk outside of her abyssal home was not something he would be able to do every time he wanted, so he relished the chance. About nine hours of fighting, from almost midday to the very night, they fought until Aether’s sword was completely dulled, and Skirk could barely give form to her own anymore.

Panting and heaving after such a long battle, they relished the moment when training was over, not exchanging a word as they came out from the little arena and drank all the water they had forsaken through the whole day, until they finally felt like they weren’t about to die.

Aether took a chance to look at Skirk as she refreshed herself, and he could almost swear that her abyssal limbs were somehow… Lighter. Or maybe paler.

“I… Thank you, Aether. I learned much today. But I must go now…” She spoke quickly, almost with a tinge of regret in her tone, but just as she was to open her rift, Aether put a hand on her shoulder. She turned, looking at his kind face. “Why don’t you stay a bit longer?”

Skirk hesitated immensely, the decision clearly causing conflict in her. She wanted to stay with him, to be with him as long as she could… But she also knew that would leave her vulnerable. Defenseless.

Weak.

She looked at her abyssal limbs, their energy almost spent, before looking at Aether’s face again, his kind smile enchanting, almost like a spell that soothed Skirk’s every worry. She lifted her hand, covering his own. Aether felt like she was just going to shake it off, but she ended up taking it, turning around and letting out a sigh, before lifting her head and smiling at him. “Let’s go, then… I’ll stay a bit longer today…”

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Aether cooked for them both, an usual occurrence whenever Skirk came over. Cooking was the one thing that she easily admitted defeat on, saying that her strange fishes were no rival to his actual dishes. He had even found out that that mythical creature that Surtalogi used to feed her was just crabs, or something that was close enough, so he fed her all kinds of the particular sea bugs to her joy, happily smashing their shells to get to the soft meat inside.

He had also discovered that Skirk appreciated music just in general, sharing with her the songs that he had learned through his years in this world, plus some more he had learned before coming here. Her usual disinterest quickly melted away, easily giving way to a subdued yet intense passion for it, plus the discovery that she had more than a little talent for it, easily able to grasp two or three songs that he wanted to teach her in just this single day.

And in the end, even though she knew she had to go…

“Will you… Stay the night?” Aether asked her after they were done playing with their instruments.

Even though she had to go, Skirk only nodded.

She had never stayed a single night outside of her abyssal home ever since Surtalogi threw her into Teyvat. It had been hundreds of years since she last put her back on an actual bed instead of meditating all night long. And she felt nervous.

“What’s wrong?” Aether asked her as he returned from changing his clothes to something more comfortable for the night, handing Skirk a glass of water that she immediately downed. “It’s nothing…”

Already knowing her proclivities, Aether sat beside her, keeping silent for a few seconds before speaking again. “We don’t have to do anything. I invited you because I want to rest with you. You don’t have to feel obligated to do anything else.”

Skirk turned her head, looking at him. “Ah… You’re mistaken.”

Aether raised his eyebrow inquiringly, inviting Skirk to continue.

“I know I’m not obligated to do anything… But the more time I spend with you, the more I want to do it. I don’t know how; you haven’t taught me that yet, but… I think this is a good time to start.” Skirk spoke, and before he could say anything, she was upon him, pinning him to the bed as she kissed him, her desire more than clear in her red eyes, grabbing his wrists with her abyssal hands.

“Mhhahh… I would have advised taking it slow the first time, but this is fine too…!” Aether moaned as Skirk moved down to kiss his neck too, acting on almost pure instinct, showing her affection to him in the only way she could think of. “Just… Let me show you how much I want you…”

Skirk pulled back, sitting on his lap as he lay supine on the bed, moving her hands to push at his shirt, hiking it up to his chest, before Aether just took it off by himself, letting Skirk see his upper body directly.

“I like this.” She muttered, moving her hand to touch his abs. “I like your body.”

Aether smirked, feeling just a bit more handsome than usual. “As much as me?”

Skirk smiled right back, putting her hands on his chest. “I think I like your personality just a bit more…”

And with that, she moved down, turning her head and pressing her ear to his chest, letting herself listen to his heart, beating faster than usual, even faster than when they sparred, and she knew that it was all thanks to her. And it made her happy.

“I thought you were going in a different direction.” Aether laughed, softly caressing Skirk’s head.

She let out a little laugh, angling her head to look up at him, a smile on her face. “I wonder which one?”

“Heh, it doesn’t matter…” Aether reassured her, starting to move up until he was sitting, cradling Skirk in his arms, loving the feel of her skin on his own. At least what was skin, because the abyssal limbs were as cold as always. He only wished he could hold hands with Skirk normally, but it seems that wasn’t meant to be.

“How about this way?” Aether asked her as she sat upright again, her arms crossed behind his back, her breasts squished against his chest, and their crotches grinding under the clothes.

“I… Like it this way… But it could be better.” She spoke as she pulled back, resting her arms on the bed for a moment and closing her eyes, concentrating as her suit started to morph, changing shape until most of it disappeared, leaving only a multitude of black straps that stuck to her skin like shadows but that left her nice breasts and moist womanhood exposed to his eyes.

“It could indeed be better…” Aether murmured as he moved a hand, placing it on Skirk’s hip before moving it upward, tracing lines on her smooth skin until he reached her chest, copping a good feel of her soft womanly flesh, such a contrast to the rest of her toned body.

“I know you’re supposed to do that foreplay thing first, but…” Skirk moaned as she let Aether fondle her chest to his heart’s content, testing the weight of her tits on his palms before squeezing them until she moaned, brushing his thumbs over her nipples before softly pulling on them. “...Never mind, you seem to be having fun.”

“How could I not? You’re so sexy, Skirk… And the way you changed your suit is something even sexier than if you had just made it disappear…!” And it really was, the damn strap that ran down to her lower belly even leaving a little diamond-shaped gap that perfectly showed her belly button.

“Well, I’m glad you like it at least… Ah!” This moan came out louder as she was surprised by Aether craning his head forward and taking one of her nipples in his mouth, lovingly sucking and licking it with the intent of giving Skirk more pleasure. She might be numb to pain, but pleasure was a very, very novel sensation to her.

“Nhhh…! I thought you were a warrior, not a baby…!” Skirk softly rapped his head with her knuckles, but Aether didn’t stop sucking, opening his mouth more and taking all of her areola inside too, circling it with his tongue and making her tremble more. He opened his golden eyes, looking up at Skirk and immensely enjoying her blushing face.

“Mmhhaah…! You’re just delicious, Skirk.” He said without any shame, making the woman grit her teeth as she felt victim to his teasing. He could feel how she soaked his shorts a bit more every second, all thanks to his touch on her body. “What were you saying before? That you want to skip foreplay?”

But she frowned, pulling back from him. “Oh no, you don’t get to tease me in that way and then pull back, Aether. You better show me that vaunted foreplay now…!”

“Can do!” He laughed, surging forward and laying Skirk down on the bed, parting her legs and letting him look at her pussy. She was not exactly unkempt, but she wasn’t particularly groomed either, the white hair surrounding her pussy wild and untamed, if not exactly messy. “W-Why are you looking so much…?”

Aether smirked, licking his lips. “I was just thinking that you really do look very delicious…!”

And with that, he dove between her legs, pressing a kiss right on the very top of her slit as he kept her legs spread with a firm grip on her thighs, squeezing the firm flesh as he teased her outer lips with his tongue, looking up at Skirk as she pulled on the sheets in her pleasure. One that she had never felt before and never thought she would feel.

But now it was there, and it felt incredibly rewarding after centuries of denying herself from it. And having Aether be the one that was giving it to her made it feel all the better, the feeling of his hot, slimy tongue on her womanhood making her feel all kinds of ways inside, her womb tying itself into knots just as she felt herself wetten even more.

And just when she thought it couldn’t feel better, Aether pushed his tongue into what was still half-hidden by those plump lips, and flicked her little sensitive clit with it, getting a moan out of Skirk that neither he nor she would have thought could come out from her mouth. “Nhhyaaah!!”

Such an occurrence would normally make him stop, but right now, all he wanted was to hear it more. To make Skirk feel even better, to keep licking her and kissing her like this as she moved her hands to his head, strongly gripping his hair and digging her fingers into his scalp. But she controlled her strength, knowing that he was at her mercy like this, and she didn’t want him to stop even accidentally.

“T-That is…!!” Skirk tried and failed to contain her moans as he kept focusing on her clit, licking and sucking the little bundle of nerves as he looked up at her, his intense gaze only making Skirk feel even hotter inside, something deep in her aching for his touch as much as her pussy did, the way he buried his nose on her white pubes to take in the smell of her getting her brain feeling all sorts of ways, landing somewhere between aroused and embarrassed.

“Mhahh… Fuck…” Aether moaned as he pulled back, looking at how Skirk breathed raggedly, her chest rising up and falling down with each one, her breasts jiggling from the intense motion. Just a bit of teasing and she was already like this, which reminded Aether that the poor woman was a five hundred years old virgin, and that he could probably make her cum with a few moves of his fingers in this state.

But the taste of her pussy was so wild and scrumptious that he couldn’t help but want to dive right back in, mashing her clit with his nose as he teased her hole with his tongue, rimming its uneven circumference with it, and teasing Skirk until she was outright whining, unable to resist anything at all of what he did to her.

“A-AethER…!!” She cried his name, looking down as he speared her pussy with his hot tongue, her legs straightening and her toes curling as she felt the unfamiliar yet damnably pleasurable sensation of getting her womanhood worshipped by a man who loved her so, so much, one that helped her so much despite not owing anything to her, and that even after their deal was done, still visited her every time he could.

And now they were finally becoming one with one another, close enough to share in the most intimate of pleasure and loving it. Skirk tried to contain her moans not out of embarrassment, but out of instinct. She felt no shame at Aether hearing them, for he was the very cause of them.

Every move of his tongue inside her passage, finding and exploiting the multiple weak spots that he could find; every time he moved his neck, a brush on her little sensitive clit; and every steamy look that he gave her only made her pussy contract around his tongue, making it even easier for him to make her feel good.

“Aether! Aether!!” Skirk moaned his name in that sweet, lusty voice that he had made her let out, and he couldn’t love it more, his moves getting more intense just as the squeeze of the part of her thighs that was still flesh got even stronger, digging his fingers into them so much that it would leave a mark.

He could feel she was getting closer and went all out, spearing her pussy with his tongue and zeroing in on the most sensitive spot he found among them all, tormenting Skirk’s pussy with push after push on it as he kept rubbing his nose on her clit until she could take it no more, a loud scream leaving her mouth as her virginal pussy felt the very first orgasm of her long, long life, drenching Aether’s face as she felt all the ungodly pleasure that came from it, her brain scrambling itself as it responded to the powerful pleasure signals that Aether gave her.

And he kept going and going, not stopping for a second as Skirk’s orgasm burned bright, keeping up the stimulation and making it feel even better until she finally came down from it, her eyes half-rolled back as her mind tried to recover from it all, her breathing ragged, and her limbs slack.

Looking at the ceiling, Skirk couldn’t believe it. That she could be so utterly defeated in this way. And yet it felt like a victory, and she wanted more of it. She immediately rose up, looking at Aether’s face, all wet and with a couple of her white hairs sticking to it, and then looked down at his shorts, drenched by the previous grinding and absolutely tented with his cock. And without any hesitation, she moved her hands for them, ripping them to pieces with a single pull, to his consternation. “Those were new!”

“I don’t care, just look at that…!” Skirk almost drooled as she said the words, her red eyes focused on his cock and nothing else, taking in just how hard, how thick, and how long it was, how his veins pulsed, and how it throbbed after being denied for so long. Skirk felt every repressed reproductive instinct in her body flare up, one single thing budding in her mind as she looked at it. “I need it inside me, now…!!”

After hearing the words, Aether practically jumped on her right as she let herself fall back, spreading her pussy with her abyssal hands in a gesture of pure permission and invitation, telling him that he was more than welcome to come inside and fuck her full of his cum. And so he took it, grabbing his cock with a hand and slapping Skirk’s pussy with it a couple of times, spreading some of his precum on her already drenched womanhood, making her moan as he stimulated her clit. “Do it…!”

The look on her face told Aether that she would probably bite him if he didn’t fuck her already, so without any further wait, he pulled back, pressing his cockhead on her lovingly stretched entrance and starting to push, listening to Skirk’s soft, lusty moans as his meat popped inside her, her passage perfectly stretching to accommodate his thick cock.

“Ohhh…. It’s… It’s so hot…” She whined, feeling his warmth invade her insides for the first time, and simply loving it. It made her feel so close to him. And as he pushed in deeper while draping himself over her, wrapping his strong arms around her in intimate embrace, she felt as if she had everything that she wanted. And she would become stronger than ever to keep it.

“Skirk…” Aether moaned her name as he buried his cock inside her to the very hilt in slow, loving penetration, stopping when his balls touched her flesh and his cockhead softly pressed to her deep entrance, the little muscular ring latching onto his cockhead immediately, not intending to let it ever go.

And as she embraced him back, her cold abyssal limbs the only thing that she had to show her affection, only three words came to her: “I love you… I love you…”

Aether smiled kindly, looking down at her, his golden eyes mirroring her red ones in their affection. “And I love you too…”

He kissed Skirk as he started to actually fuck her, moving his hips at a slow, loving pace, barely pulling his cock out of her pussy before sheathing it back inside, giving her all the tenderness that he could with all of his body.

“Mhhahh…” She moaned in his mouth as she felt his hands tracing the scars on her back as he kept his lips pressed to hers, tongues twined in a slow, passionate dance of love and lust, the mix of feelings that had been repressed for almost all of her life not releasing like a dam breaking and flooding it all but as a gentle stream being guided into an open sea that welcomed it all.

And Aether welcomed it all; he welcomed how she touched his neck and back, how she wrapped her legs around him and played around inside his mouth, how her breasts squished to his chest, and how her pussy greedily wanted to keep him always inside, every move a tightening of her passage and a contraction of her cervix, stuck to his cock almost as if kissing it.

The sounds of flesh hitting flesh in the throes of passion started to fill the room as Aether was able to move a bit more after Skirk finally relaxed from her very first penetration, his hips impacting her ass and thighs with every move, letting him stimulate all those weak points he had found before, and even more that he was still discovering with his cock wedged so deep inside her, his hands busy roaming her back.

“Hmm, fuck…!” Aether groaned as Skirk squeezed him suddenly with all of her might. He opened his eyes to look at her, her red eyes watery. “D-D-Don’t touch that…”

Touch what? Aether wanted to ask, and then he realized and remembered: That little fin that grew on her upper back, he had brushed his hand against it. Was it really that sensitive? She had said not to touch it, but he wasn’t known for doing what he was told.

“NhhaaAAAHH!!” Skirk screamed as Aether closed his fingers around the little fin, very, very softly pulling on it and making her pussy drench itself even more, and he could feel her clit throbbing like crazy against his base as he kept himself buried balls-deep inside her, giving him just another sign of how damn good this felt for her.

“You…!” Skirk gritted her teeth, her face completely red. And yet she didn’t stop hugging him, she didn’t stop wrapping her legs around him, and she didn’t stop looking at him as if he was the most precious thing in this entire world, the new light of her life and her precious boyfriend and man.

“Can I keep touching it?” He asked, his golden eyes aglow with desire. Skirk struggled; she struggled really, really hard with herself, but in the end, she wasn’t able to deny him, not in this situation, and not when every touch of her little fin felt as if her whole body was being shocked by pleasure.

It’s not as if she had never scratched it before, or it brushed against her hair, or just anything at all, but when he touched it… It felt more intimate than anything. The combination of it with how his cock scraped her pussy was too much to bear.

“...Yes.” She said, and she immediately was screaming as Aether scritched and pulled on the strange blue growth as he fucked her pussy with all of his strength, matching Skirk’s intensity beat for beat and giving her the last finishing touches of pleasure that she so desperately craved, her pussy preparing itself to receive all of his cum, her body perfectly adapting to his nature, her passage molding itself to him better and better by the minute to make Skirk into someone that could perfectly receive him and give all the pleasure that she received back to him.

And she knew that she had done it once he started cumming right along with her, their moans and cries mixing in the dark room as they gripped each other with all of their strength as Aether filled up her womb to the very brim, packing Skirk full of his cum and letting her feel his warmth in her deepest depths. Their hold on each other kept on as they spent their passions until they were done, at least for now.

Aether almost fell to the side, but Skirk didn’t let him, keeping him buried to the hilt inside her with her legs, not wanting to separate no matter what.

No words were needed, just looks and the warmth of bodies being exchanged as they rested, his cock still throbbing deep inside her, just as her pussy kept squeezing as if never wanting to let him go.

Both knew they wanted more, but they needed a second to rest. After all, they did spend half a day fighting and a couple more hours still doing light activity.

But desire did overcome it in the end, and before long, Skirk had slipped away from under Aether, stretching herself with a smile on her face. And almost as if on instinct, another position came to her mind. She pressed her head and chest to the bed as she hiked up her ass, spreading her legs wide and letting her pussy present itself to him, kept still open after having him buried in her for so long.

She swayed her hips, left and right, provoking him. “Come on… Let’s keep going…!”

Of course, he wouldn’t refuse, mounting Skirk from behind and slapping his cock on her pussy and lower belly, preparing himself to penetrate her.

And as she felt his tip press to her hole, Skirk started speaking. “Ohh, this is just—Ah!!”

Her sentence was cut short as her whole body fell down to the bed while Aether was still over her. She blinked, trying to move and finding herself unable to. She couldn’t move her arms and legs, she realized, and that’s when Aether finally spoke, his surprise passing. “Skirk… Your limbs…”

She struggled to move her head down, seeing that her expenditure of abyssal energy and extended stay in his adeptal abode had finally caught up to her.

This was a day of pure first times for Skirk, as this was the first time her abyssal limbs had run out of energy to sustain themselves since she acquired them. This was the first time she had been reduced to a useless heap ever since then.

“No… Don’t look at me!!” Skirk shouted, trying and failing to flail in the bed, her stumps ineffectually thumping against the soft sheets.

“Skirk…” Aether murmured sadly as he looked on at the particularly nasty scars that topped the cut end of her legs, looking more like they had been torn off rather than cut. “No… I don’t…!”

“Skirk… It’s fine…” Aether murmured, touching her shoulder and turning her around to lie on her back, watching the tears roll down her face. A mix of horror and frustration showing on her face. “No… I shouldn’t have…!”

He moved forward, embracing her, holding her close as she sobbed. “Don’t look at me… Please, don’t look at me… I’m… I’m so weak like this… So useless…”

She felt wetness dotting her shoulders too, making her realize what was actually happening. “It’s fine, Skirk. I love you all the same…!”

Even reduced to a useless sack of flesh by her own definition, he still said he loved her. She couldn’t understand it. Who could love something like this? So weak, so sad, so ugly, so disgusting, so forlorn… One that didn’t even have hands to touch him?

“I love you all the same… I love you even more…” He cried in her ear, giving her all of his warmth and slowly taking her out of her own mind.

Yet she still couldn’t understand. “...Why?”

He pulled back from her shoulder, passing his hand through his face to wipe the tears away. “I think… You’re much stronger than you realize.”

And as another tear ran down from his eye, Skirk instinctually lifted her arm, what was left of it, and pressed it to his cheek, the salty tear running down the dark red scar that kept her torn skin together.

Aether moved his hand, gripping the piece of limb as if it was her hand, holding it firmly as he looked at her. “I will always love you all the same. No matter what…”

“Can you even keep going when… When I look like this?” Skirk asked him, feeling his hardness on that leftover piece of her thigh.

He smiled kindly, wrapping his arms around her. “Of course. Always, Skirk…”

Exerting just a little bit of his immense strength, Aether lifted Skirk’s whole form off the bed, planting her on his lap, leaving them face-to-face. Slowly, he pressed his forehead to hers, just like the time they started their relationship. “Don’t worry, Skirk… You can always rely on me to carry your weight. You’re not alone anymore…”

She didn’t know how to answer; she couldn’t find the words. She tried to move her arm and touch his face, finding the stump too short to do so. She tried to move her legs to wrap around him, yet she didn’t have them anymore. Words were all that she had.

And when a thank you didn’t suffice, what could she say?

Something that demonstrated the absolute trust she had decided to deposit in him. “I know.”

Aether pulled back, smiling, before leaning forward again and kissing her, tenderly tying their tongues together as he lifted her in the air with both hands again, sliding his cock off her belly and pressing it to her waiting pussy, a bit of his semen oozing out of it.

"I love you…" He murmured.

“Muuhhaahh!!” Before he sealed it again, making her moan into his mouth as he gave her pleasure again, wrapping his arms around her body and wordlessly telling her something that she simply loved. ‘I will do the embracing for both of us.’

He moved, fucking the immobile Skirk from below, his balls pressing to her ass every time he hilted himself in her, her womb receiving the same feelings it got before. She realized, even without her power, she’s still her.

She once told him that now that she had power, she would never let it escape her grasp. And that still held true, but the motive had changed. Before, all she wanted was to survive Surtalogi’s eventual assault. Fear was all that moved her.

But now? She wants to live. She wants to love, and she wants to experience. She wants to protect all that she has gained. And after falling right before and being picked up by Aether, her resolve couldn’t be stronger, just as the pleasure couldn’t be higher.

“NnngghhiiiIIII!!!” Especially when he went once again and pinched her fin, ripping those uncharacteristically shrill moans out of her mouth again and making her feel like she would suddenly faint from the pleasure. But she never did; she was stronger than that, taking it all and more, receiving all of his love and lust and answering in kind with greedy squeezes of her pussy and loving slurps of her tongue.

Their pleasure soared higher and higher, the mutual love that they felt more powerful than anything, overcoming anything, and feeling better than anything. Every push of Aether’s manhood into her walls a cry of pleasure, every squeeze of them around it a moan of satisfaction, every touch of his hands on her back a muffled expression of love, and every touch of their tongues a promise of companionship.

And the peak of pleasure came easy; nothing else could happen with this level of connection. At the same time, sharing in their every little feeling of bliss, golden and red locked into each other as they finished the proof of their undying love, one that felt as if it was ordained by the false stars of this world, even if neither really belonged to it.

She wondered just what would have happened if she had met Aether when he had just started his journey with Paimon on that beach in Mondstadt. How they missed each other by a hair’s breadth.

But it was something that no longer worried her. All that matters is now.

Aether laid her on the bed, her satisfied face a joy for his heart. He looked down at her, her four stumps unmoving, her chest rising and falling calmly, her pussy oozing his semen and a soft, happy smile on her face.

He returned it, gripping the covers and pulling them over the two, and settled before Skirk, looking at her just as she looked at him.

There wasn’t much more to be said, their gazes communicating everything that they had to say.

I’ll be your strength.

I’ll carry your weight.

I’ll protect your future.

I’ll never leave you alone

I’ll always be here for you.