Je T'aime

Chapter 5: It's Not A Beach Date

Aether felt weirdly comfortable in the sea... lake. Lake. It was a lake. He keeps forgetting. He makes sure that the creatures are far away from the creatures. To prevent endangering them. From him. And to prevent himself from drowning...

Wait... why wasn't he drowning? 

Did his Hydro powers return or-

He tried to summon his water whip and...

All of a sudden, he couldn't breathe. He gasped for air, but that only let in the water. He wriggled and struggled, trying his best to not swallow the water. Who knows what's in it? It's definitely not clean. That's for sure. 

He tried to summon Anemo to his legs. But before he could do so... he felt a strong current. That launched him from the water to the sky.  He spat out the water back into the lake where it belonged and took a deep... breath. 

Taking a page out of Ei's book, he stepped on the electrons present in the air. Almost to make it seem that he was walking on air...  while gasping for it. He coughed and wheezed. It's not the first time he's almost drowned. He recovers quickly. And takes in the view of Fontaine from above...

It was...

Divine.

Maybe he should do this more often... 

People tend to look down instead of up more often. Nobody ever thinks to look up when they're being atta-

...

He sits down in the air... 

Why'd he think that? He's at a moment of peace. He's on a break currently. He's not going to do a... commission or a bounty or any other weird request today. Only just hanging out with Furina. And other things that need to be tended to at home.

Is it him? Or he's being restless?

Did he inherit the overworking habits of his friends?

No.

If he was, he would still be working today.

It's something completely different. But it doesn't matter... 

What matters is getting to the bottom of why his Hydro powers aren't working. He's got another chance since the Statue's close by. He'll just teleport over and tap it. If that doesn't work, then he'll just tap the other ones. Every. Single. One. Until he gets his Hydro powers back.

Meanwhile...

Furina was looking at him from below. She looked at him intently. Worried. Up until he disappeared. She checked the waters of the Golden Apple Archipelago. Not a single presence or disturbance in the waters. She did feel a presence on her Statues.

'Thanking me for saving your life? Heh. Glad that you're so devoted,' She thought to herself. 

But she pondered. He should be able to dive. He should be able to swim pretty well with the power that... he technically stole, but it was only a fraction. A small dewdrop in her ocean of power. 

'That shouldn't be right... Last time I checked, that small drop was inside him. I could've sworn that-' She tried to check for her fragment of power inside Aether. 

It was gone.

What?

That didn't make sense.

Has he lost his Hydro powers? Why? Was he affected by the waters of the Primordial Sea? But the report stated that it only enhanced the Traveler's sensitivity to the waters. And he's not Fontainian. So there would be no way that he would...