The former queen sat in a cell in her very own dungeon. Thoughts raced around her mind as the seconds of the night turned into minutes and then hours.

Everyone knows secrets can only be kept for so long. The queen's captors had already failed to realize that the person they had captured was in fact, not the queen at all.

Instead of capturing Lumine, they had captured her twin brother and former loyal servant, Aether. He sat down in the cell, watching bemusedly as the white skirt of the dress that he had given fanned out around him as he sat on the ground. The moonlight spilled through the bars of his cell, illuminating his sad and tired face.

He knew very well that his life would soon be coming to a close. The silence drew out as Aether gazed at the moon and stars, as he knew that tonight would be his last look at them. Besides the celestial beings that hung from the sky, he deeply wished to see his dearest sister's smile one more time.

The moment when he told Lumine about his plan continued replaying over and over in his head, instead of the smile that he just wanted to see. Just like a record. Every time he remembered this moment, he was heartbroken after remembering his sister's reaction...

•°•°•°•°•°•

"Listen, Lumine. I want you to leave in my place. Take my servant's clothes, put them on, and run far away from here. Go anywhere. Just hurry."

Lumine's horrified expression was one that he simply could not forget. Her eyes, widened. Her mouth, dropped open. Tears forming at the corners of her golden eyes.

"But where will you go, Aether?" Lumine had cried. "Why do I have to take your clothes? You're coming with me, aren't you?"

Aether felt as if his heart was shattering to pieces as he shook his head dejectedly. "No, I'm not coming with you Lumi, because my plan to protect you is to switch places with you. From this day forth, I will be the queen, and you will escape as a servant." Aether said, handing a stack of servant clothes to his sister, just like he said.

The tears that had been filling Lumine's eyes suddenly began to spill out. "Aether!" she had cried. "You can't do this! You know full well that they're going to try and execute me, you know they are!"

"I know, Lumine. This is the only way I can protect you...and besides, we are twins. They won't know a thing, my dearest sister." Aether said, raising a hand to wipe his sister's tears.

Lumine didn't say anything for the longest while, but then, with tears in her eyes, she accepted her fate, and within minutes, she and Aether had switched clothes.

"Aether, please. There's still a chance that we can get out of here together..." Lumine said weakly, as tears filled her eyes again. As her brother donned her yellow, ruffly gown, she tugged on the cuffs of her sleeves, as if indirectly telling Aether that she didn't want to do this.

"Lumine." Aether said quietly, as he removed the Inteyvat flower from her hair to put it in his. "You're just saying this without thinking now. It is completely impossible, and far too late for us to run away together, or else we may both be killed."

"Lumine. I want you to live on for me." Aether said, with a sad smile on his face. "This has always been our fate, Lumine...so go, now. We'll meet again someday...so don't look back...and just leave."

With these final words, Aether placed a small bottle into Lumine's hand. And as Lumine looked on in horror, Aether raised the dagger that he had used to take the life of the Princess of Wind. With one clean swipe, he cut his long braid off and swept it away, out of sight.

The cutting off of his braid sealed the plan.

Lumine began to run out the door, but she turned around one last time to look at her brother. Aether turned around when he saw that Lumine hadn't yet left.

"We have always had enough time... you just haven't been able to see it."

•°•°•°•°•°•°•

"...ether...Aether!...Aether!"

Aether snapped out of his trance. He whirled around madly, and when he finally looked up, he saw Lumine peering at him through the bars of the cell.

"Lumine! What are you doing here? You could get caught!" Aether said worriedly, looking around.

Lumine ignored him. Tears threatened to spill out of her eyes again as she said, "I wish I could get you out of here...why did I ever allow you to disguise as me?! I'm the one that did all these awful things. I'm the one that caused all the unnecessary deaths. I'm the one who was always evil in the first place, so I should be the one being executed!"

Lumine began to cry into her dirty hands. She halfheartedly tugged at the bars, trying to make a way of escape for Aether, but she knew that her attempts were futile as she had made this dungeon impossible to escape from.

"Listen to me, Lumine." Aether said, standing on tiptoe to be able to touch his sister's cheek. "My vow as your servant was to always keep you happy and to make sure that beautiful smile of yours would never be wiped away. This is why I'm doing this for you...I don't know what my life would be without you, Lumine."

"But thanks to me, your life is about to end!" Lumine sobbed, grabbing onto the bars and tugging them harder. "Everything is my fault! I lost every single thing because of my own selfishness...I can't lose you too!"

Aether reached up again to wipe the floods of tears from his sister's face. "Before I die, Lumine, I just have one request." Aether said, as he watched the sun begin to rise over the horizon.

"What is it?" Lumine asked urgently, gripping her brother's hand tighter. "I'll do anything! Name it, and quick!"

"I would love to see your smile." Aether said. "Now go, before the guards catch you talking to me. They can't find out that I'm not really the queen, can they?"

Lumine gave a watery chuckle and attempted to argue, but in the end, she left Aether to be alone with his thoughts.

As the sun arose, Aether stood up and wiped tears from his own eyes.

So the day has come, he thought.