Tags and Trigger warnings: Emetophilia, whump, vomiting, drowning, self-indulgent, hurt/comfort, minor violence, Kadehara Kazuha needs a hug.

Summary: In which Kazuha has a very, very dangerous run-in with a hydro abyss mage.

Posted to Ao3: September 8th 2021

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Kazuha gritted his teeth as he struggled violently. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't fucking breathe! His lungs were burning and his chest aching as though it were about to burst open. He was trapped in a prison of water, a bubble and just outside of it he could see the hydro abyss mage he'd been attempting to kill only seconds earlier dancing and chanting.

Mocking his futile struggling with an almost manic glee. Around him, he could hear the muffled sounds of an ongoing battle as Aether continued fighting the group of Hilichurl alone.

"Kazuha!" Aether shouted as he pried his sword free of the Hilichurl he'd buried it in. The first thing he saw when he looked over to where Kazuha was, was Kazuha trapped in a water prison as the hydro abyss mage he'd been fighting seemed to giggle with glee in front of him.

Kazuha gasps, unable to hold his breath any longer and the instant he does the water rushes in. Burning. His chest, his lungs it all burns and Kazuha screams in pain the noise coming out muffled and garbled from all the water as more it rushes into his mouth.

He can feel it filling up his lungs and stomach like a water balloon, an unbearable ache and pressure settling in the organs as though someone had them in a vice grip.

Black spots begin to rapidly fill his vision, and a strange sense of calm settles over him. Almost peaceful in a way as the pain that had been enveloping his entire being seems to vanish. He can faintly hear Aether yelling nearby, calling his name but he can't do anything as the world falls away and he loses consciousness.

Kazuha stops moving. He's not struggling or fighting back his body floating limply in the bubble of water as the abyss mage practically cackles at him.

Aether sees nothing but red, pure unbridled rage flowing through him as his attacks grow fiercer, almost animalistic. As he takes out the lawachurl he turns his sword on the Abyss mage.

The moment it's dead the bubble of water pops and Kazuha falls to the ground in a limp, motionless heap and he doesn't get up, the water raining down on him and forming a puddle beneath him.

Aether thinks he hears Paimon shriek in horror but he ignores her as he makes his way over to Kazuha. There's a strange almost detached numbness settling over Aether as he kneels beside Kazuha, his hands shaking as his eyes quickly rove over him.

Kazuha's eyes are closed, an almost peaceful look on his face as water bubbles and trickles out from between his slightly parted lips.

Aether reaches out his fingers brushing along Kazuha's neck as he checks for a pulse. And he can't help but feel more than a little relieved when he feels the shallow but steady thumping of Kazuha's heartbeat at his fingertips.

This was good, it meant that Aether still had time. That Kazuha still had time.

"We need to get him to a teleporter!" Paimon exclaimed as she tugged on Aether's scarf, frantically urging him to get moving.

Aether shakes her off, however, ignoring her as he places his entire focus on Kazuha. He reaches out, pulling Kazuha's limp form into his lap with Kazuha laying halfway on his side.

An alarming amount of water pours out of Kazuha's open mouth, splattering the ground as well as Aether but he doesn't care. The flow of water slows to a trickle, running out of the corner of Kazuha's mouth before stopping completely.

Kazuha is still motionless and disturbingly limp in Aether's arm, no coughing or gasping. While Kazuha was often a quiet person and someone who moved nearly silently, this wasn't anything like that and Aether hated it.

Kazuha was eerily still and if Aether hadn't known any better he'd swear he was sleeping, his face looked so peaceful.

"No, no, no you need to breathe," Aether whispered his voice taking on a pleading, desperate tone. Paimon is still frantically tugging on his scarf, urging him to move as she screams at him that Kazuha needs to go to the teleporter.

Aether ignores her trying to focus as he gathers his elemental energy, he's currently using Anemo at the moment and with it he hopes, no prays that he can get Kazuha to breathe again. He just needs to concentrate, and be careful, too much of it and he'll end up damaging Kazuha's lungs possibly ripping the delicate organ to shreds, too little and he won't be able to force him to breathe.

Gathering the wisps of anemo at his fingertips, Aether tilts Kazuha's head up slightly bringing his fingers to Kazuha lips. Gently pinching Kazuha's nose closed he begins to carefully weave the anemo into him.

Aether can feel the water in Kazuha's lungs being displaced, shifting around and pressing back against the elemental energy as Kazuha's chest begins to slowly rise and fall almost methodically as Aether forces him to breathe.

Aether bites his lip, narrowing his eyes as he circulates the anemo through Kazuha's lungs. He's never had to use his anemo energy to do such a precise and delicate task, because he never believed he would need to and his hand trembles as he concentrates.

There's a loud buzzing noise in his ears, blocking out every other sound as he stares at Kazuha, pleading with every Archon he can think of for this to work. For Kazuha to be okay.

With each passing second Aether's worry only grows larger, crushing his chest like an oppressive weight.

Then Kazuha begins to move. Aether draws back slightly his hand releasing Kazuha's nose as he begins writhing and shifting in Aether's lap. His face twisted in pain as he clutched at his chest weakly with one hand, a low drawn-out moan leaving him and Aether can hear the water gurgling in his throat.

Kazuha gasped, his eyes snapping wide open as his back arched slightly. Then he's rolling over on his side, his hand coming up to cover his mouth as he coughs violently.

The noise turns into a gurgling retch halfway through that has him bringing up a large surge of water, now tinged with brown and murky with bile. The water shoots out of his mouth and nose, spraying through the cracks in his fingers as it heavily splatters the ground and Aether's clothing.

Aether gives a loud sigh of relief as he rubs and pats Kazuha's back with a trembling hand. The loud buzzing that'd been echoing in his ears gradually beginning to die down and Paimon is quiet as well for once, tears in her eyes as she watches the pair.

Kazuha groans low in his throat, as he gives a violent, gurgling retch another enormous wave of water and vomit surging up his throat. He coughs and splutters violently, the noise wet and rattling in his chest.

"That's it Kazuha, just get it all out," Aether encouraged him as he continued rubbing his back. He reaches out, brushing Kazuha's hair away from his face and tucking the wet strands behind his ear.

Kazuha says nothing, merely giving a weak groan in response as he gags. A loud burp has another enormous wave of water and vomit spraying from his mouth and nose, tears gathering in his eyes as he curls in on himself slightly.

There's a deep ache in his stomach and his chest feels like it's on fire, a sharp pain raking across his lungs each time he breathes. He feels as if his lungs are trying to burn their way out of his chest.

He moves shakily propping himself up slightly on elbows as he gives another violent retch that sounds like it's clawing its way up his throat, bringing another surge of water and vomit spraying from his mouth and nose as he tries to rid himself of that horrible, aching weight that's sitting in his stomach.

Kazuha can feel Aether's hand rubbing and gently patting his back helping to dislodge more of the water he'd swallowed. A loud gurgling burp has one final enormous surge of water and vomit shooting out of his nose and mouth, practically pouring out of him like someone uncorking a wine bottle.

Aether grimaces, his hand moving to Kazuha's waist, to hold him up when his arms begin trembling violently beneath him.

Kazuha coughs and splutters as Aether guides him into his lap, letting him lean against his chest. "Hey, it's alright Kazuha. You're alright now," Aether said gently although it's more to reassure himself than Kazuha.

Aether's heart is pounding heavily in his ears as he stares down a Kazuha who is simply laying limply against him groaning and coughing wetly, his eyes fluttering slightly.

Kazuha seems incredibly dazed at the moment, and while he was always pale his skin is currently white as a sheet as he sits in Aether's lap greedily gasping for air.

"...T-that...was...horrific," Kazuha croaked softly after a moment, his voice raspy and strained. He sighed still coughing as he massaged his chest with one hand. With each breath he took, he could feel his chest practically crackling and a dull ache shot across his stomach.

His head feels as if it's about to burst open, he's absolutely soaked in water, a sharp chill beginning to settle in his body. He feels nauseous as well, whatever amount of water he still has in his stomach seems to slosh sickeningly inside of him

"That's an understatement," Aether whispered, his voice breaking and Kazuha slowly tilted his head back slightly to look at him as Aether brushed the wet strands of hair back from Kazuha's face. Aether's hands are trembling and Kazuha can see tears gathering in his eyes.

"A-Aether..." Kazuha rasped, sounding slightly surprised, his eyes wide.

Aether shakes his head, saying nothing as he wraps Kazuha in a firm yet gentle hug, and begins crying. Kazuha is stunned, his eyes wide as he sits there unsure of what to exactly do, he glances over Paimon but she's crying as well floating in the air a little ways away.

Slowly he reaches up, wrapping his arms around Aether as he shakily returns the hug using what strength he has at the moment, which isn't much but still.

Aether pulls back slowly still sniffling as he reaches up cupping Kazuha's face with his hands. "You're okay," he whispered.

Kazuha nods slowly feeling exhaustion beginning to crash down on him. "I am," he rasped and that's when it seems to finally, truly hit his exhausted mind that he nearly died. He gives a soft hum, grimacing when the action sends sharp spikes of pain stabbing across his chest.

"We need to get you to a healer," Aether said softly when Kazuha began coughing, the sound rattling wetly in his chest. "Can you walk?"

Kazuha nods, shakily gesturing for Aether to hold on for a moment as he turns away retching up a very small wave of bile and water. He coughs, blinking away the tears and stars in his eyes as he does his best to breathe, his head throbbing viscously as Aether pats his back. "I...I believe...so," he rasped, clearing his throat.

While Kazuha can in fact stand up, his legs are incredibly shaky, in fact, his whole body is, and even leaning heavily against Aether doesn't stop him from nearly collapsing to the floor in a heap.

"Careful..." Aether said, his hands on Kazuha's waist as he held him up.

"P-perhaps we should wait a moment or two," Kazuha suggested with a soft sigh.

Aether shakes his head, "No, you need a healer now." Then in the next second Aether is lifting a very wide-eyed Kazuha into his arms.

Kazuha merely blinks silently for a few moments seemingly stunned as Aether turns to Paimon. "Can you run ahead and let everyone know we're on our way?"

Paimon nods. "Of course, Paimon can. Paimon will do it right now," she said before she's darting away seconds later.

Kazuha admittedly can't help but feel slightly embarrassed as Aether carries him. He had seen Aether's rather unusual strength first hand, he just hadn't expected it to be directed towards him any time soon.

"Thank you," Kazuha finally manages to say as Aether walks towards a nearby teleporter.

Aether shakes his head a slight smile on his face. "I'm just thankful that you're okay." His words are deeply sincere and full of warmth, because it's the truth. Aether had already lost his twin Lumine, he had no clue what he'd do if something happened to Kazuha.