Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"I heard that there's been an increase in Fatui activity these days. Are you certain you don't want to investigate that? Instead of getting drunk like you always do." Said a blond woman. Her beautiful light blue eyes shone under the rays of sunlight that were passing through the window in her office. It was none other than Jean, Acting grand master of the knights of Favonius.
"Haha, No. No thanks. Besides, I can do that after. According to my standards, I've done enough for today. I think I deserve a reward. Wouldn't you agree?" The man with blue hair smirked.
"Your standards are really low, if I may." Said Jean, glaring at him with an amused look on her face. Kaeya sighed.
"You just like to overwork yourself. Not that I don't like speaking to you, but you've got duty and I've got someone to see." On that, he waved her goodbye with his gloved hand and departed. Jean laughed softly, this man will never change. At least from what she understood, he found himself a friend. Or was it some criminal he wanted intel on? Well, that doesn't really matter. She's got work to do and can't really afford to be any more distracted from her tasks. Her favorite cavalry captain will have to discipline himself on his own.

Kaeya was joyously whistling Barbara's song as he walked toward the angel's share. He prayed for Charles to be there instead of the red haired dark knight moron. Although he really liked to annoy his brother, just drinking calmly was comforting too. He was also looking forward to meeting up with the bard, Venti. While the traveler was gone, they both realized they spent most of their time in the same tavern so they thought they could just talk to each other while he wasn't performing. To his surprise, a drunk gay old man wasn't so boring after all.

He opened the door and was disappointed to see his brother standing behind the bar. Not hiding his disgust, the knight sighed.
"What are you doing here?"
"I literally own this place." Said Diluc, annoyed to see the pretend-pirate's face.
"What I meant was why are you taking Charle's place?"
"That's none of your business. Tho... Aren't you supposed to be working? Doing your job as a high member in the knights of Favonius? I'm pretty sure drinking won't help the rise in Fatui and abyss mages activity..."
"I won't take any criticism from Walmart Batman." Said Kaeya, forcing a smirk on his face. Diluc could see it was fake. He didn't like his brother, but knew how to understand him.
"Shut up or I'm serving you grape juice."
"..."

Kaeya considered it. Could he really risk annoying his stupid brother at the cost of not getting any wine? No. He couldn't. It wasn't worth it. Instead, he sat on the bench and reached for the pouch of mora he carried around in his pocket. He took out five coins and threw them on the table.
"Death after noon, my dear barman."
"Out of stock."
"Haha, don't play with me." he chuckled.
"I'm not playing. It's out of stock. You literally finished it yesterday but were too drunk to remember it."

Shocked, Kaeya stared into the empty space in front of him, or at the bottle of alcohol Diluc placed on the table to serve another customer. His annoying adoptive sibling was right. He didn't remember anything from last night. Actually, it's coming back. He went to drink like he did everyday and met up with Venti, who made such a good performance he got paid, in alcohol, generously by Charles. They then started drinking bottles after bottles, getting drunker and drunker until Diluc himself came to kick them out. The knight laughed it off, although he was kind of embarrassed when he was rethinking about it.
"Ha, Fine. I guess that was stupid. Give me something else. Dandelion wine."
"Ugh. There you go." Diluc let the bottle slide to Kaeya, because he didn't want to make any efforts pouring it into a glass. He knew that incompetent drunkard would just ask for the whole bottle in the end anyway. Another reason, quite childish to be honest, would have been that he didn't want to get close to his brother.

As the blue haired knight removed the seal on the bottle and brushed off some of the dust that was on it, he saw a familiar figure through the window. A few seconds later, the now renowned bard entered. He was greeted by a few customers that were happy to see him, since they enjoyed his music a lot. Diluc bowed his head to greet him and Venti went to a place where everyone would see him and started strumming his harp, a few anemo particles floating in the air from the strings. He began singing with his sharp and high pitched voice, a few guests clapping in admiration. 

"Never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down..."

He finished his song, receiving a round of applause and a few encores. But he was tired, so he went to sit down with his new friend, the cavalry captain of the knights of Favonius. He raised his bottle to greet his friend. Venti noted the three other bottles, lying empty on the counter.
"Aww, did you start without me? I'm hurt."
"Uh... Of cours...e not!" He laughed.
"Yea, sure. Anyways." He looked over at the red head who was cleaning a glass. "What do I get for today? It must be good, I did pretty well."
"A glass. Go earn money elsewhere, broke-ass mf."

Shocked, but not wanting to get kicked out, the anemo archon swallowed his complaints and took the glass Diluc was offering him. Why were people so disrespectful to their god anyways? He could totally beat him in a duel and obliterate him into non-existence. But doing so would probably end the wine industry in Mondstat... or at least close Angel's share. Being allergic to cats made it impossible for our bard to go to the cat's tail. Otherwise it would've been long since he switched places. They'd probably offer him more mora for his performances. Well, he had to do with what he could. He can't just start begging like Rex Lapis. It always shocks him how the god of mora is poor. Like just make more? I don’t know. 

"Hey, Batman." Kaeya said, emptying his mora pouch on the counter. Diluc turned around, annoyed but also sad. Why did he have to take shifts on the days that his stupid brother decided to get drunk? He hated to see his brother drink his life away. It pained  him to witness him put his life in danger like that for pleasure. As long as he said he hated him, he would never admit that he actually still cared a lot for his brother and had assumed it was the same for Kaeya. Well, at least he hoped so.

"I'm cutting you. You drank like what? Five bottles. You're going to die if you keep going like this." Said Diluc, trying to keep his voice as emotionless as he could. He didn't want his brother knowing he actually cared for him. Well, telling him about his health was already a huge hint that he cared. Because he could've let him drink to death as well if he wanted to.
"What!? No! You... You can't do this to me!" Kaeya was close to crying. Diluc facepalmed. How could an idiot like that become an important person in the knights of Favonius? They really are as inefficient as he always says. Why won't anyone listen to him?
"Listen. Either you go away or I pour grape juice down your fucking throat."
"No! The f-" He wasn't able to finish his sentence. Diluc slapped him on the face, angry.
"Get a hold of yourself, idiot!"

Every single customer that was in the bar stopped what they were doing to witness the scene. The two boys who were at the center of attention still hadn't noticed the crowd forming. When Diluc finally looked around, his eyes opened in surprise. He caused a scene in front of everyone. Fuck. That definitely wasn't good for business. The cat tail's would probably gain a few customers after the event of tonight. All because his stupid drunkard of a brother couldn't control himself. Angry, he slammed the table with his fist. Then, he slapped Kaeya again.
"Get the fuck out of my bar! And don't ever come back!"

Flabbergasted, Kaeya slowly got up. He almost missed a few steps here and there, holding onto chairs to help himself advance to the door. When he closed it, Diluc got angry at the few people who were still looking at him.
"What are you all looking at!" He screamed, before throwing his dirty cloth on the ground. He then left by the back door, slamming it on his way. 

Chapter Text

Kaeya walked out of the establishment, more confused than anything. Maybe listening to his brother could've been a good idea? Nah, he was a free man! He didn't have to listen to his idiot of a brother. But still, he was so drunk even walking was hard. His vision was spinning and he felt like the ground was moving below him. And at midnight, it didn't really help. Being surrounded by darkness and cold, he didn’t feel so well. If anything, he was a vulnerable person right now. Considering the recent attack of abyss mages, he decided to hurry to his home. The problem? He got lost. He was wandering around randomly, turned corners after corners and now he couldn’t tell where he was. The streets of Mondstat looked all the same at night. He sighed, taking support on the wall behind him.

Except there were no walls behind him. So he just fell on his back like an idiot. Already struggling to walk in a straight line, getting up was even harder. He sighed again. He loved drinking but hated being drunk. If only he was like sister Rosaria. She claimed that she was unable to get drunk. If only he was like her. If only... His eyes closed and he fell unconscious. Now, that's probably the safest thing to do: fall asleep drunk in a random dark alley. And he was right.

While he was lying there, a tall figure approached him, walking calmly like he knew no one could stop him. He wore a mask, and as much as I'd hate to admit, he was good looking. (not like dream's face reveal 💀) With his mask, you could still see the bottom of his face, showing the man’s sharp jawline. He had grey and blue-ish long hair and was wearing a coat and earrings. You probably guessed it correctly, it's dottore. He bent down to look at the passed out man.
"Mhm... I waited so long to catch you and you just pass out in front of me? Haha!"

The doctor lifted a strand of his blue hair. Soft. He liked the touch of it. Did he smell perfume in it too? Nevermind, no normal person uses perfume on their hair. That was probably conditioner. In any case, it didn't really matter. The strange man reached into his pocket and took a long and sharp syringe that he planted in Kaeya's arm. Just a small precaution. He didn't want him to wake up out of nowhere while he was carrying him out of the city. That could be problematic. He was the second harbinger, but the cavalry captain was still very strong. If he had decided to fight back, who knows what could've happened? Not that the doctor would've lost-far from that- It's just that he doesn't like his tests getting damaged on accident. Especially not this one. This one was extremely important, not just for him, but for the Tsaritsa.

After injecting him the drug, Dottore picked up the man and shoved him onto his shoulder. He almost fell down because of the weight. It was in those times that he regretted not having one of his men with him. But he had unfortunately asked them to stay at the camp base while he watched Kaeya to make sure he didn't leave Mondstat. The actual kidnapping was supposed to happen in a week, but Dottore didn't want to miss out on such an opportunity. He groaned. Well, he got it easy considering this was a high ranked member of the knights of Favonius. 

He would've thought he'd been more guarded. But no. He just walked out of a tavern, drunk as hell and collapsed in some random alley without anyone caring. No Fatui would do that to their comrades. 

As Dottore walked, slowly because of the additional weight on his shoulder, he saw a shadow. He decided to walk faster, but the footsteps he heard kept coming closer. He didn't want to turn around and let the person know he knew he was being followed. Instead, he started running. In the worst cases, he could always kill that person. Suddenly, a ray of flames crossed his vision, almost making him drop the man on his shoulder. How insolent. Should he fight back or just escape quickly?
"Stop!" the guy shouted, pulling his long claymore out of its socket. An imposing weapon that really looked good with his attacker's fit. You didn't want to have to fight against that. And Dottore didn't want to kill anyone tonight.

Diluc activated his visions for two reasons. One, he wanted to defend himself. Two, he wanted to see who that person was. And now, he has confirmed that it was Kaeya and the doctor.
He had met him before. Dottore. What was it, like, three years ago? Something around that. He didn't like him. A Fatui Harbinger. Diluc hated the Fatui, so fighting them was just something he'd do normally, as the Dark Knight hero. He hated that name too. Too edgy. 

"I am not here to cause any trouble-" Said Dottore, calmly, before being cut off by Diluc.
"The hell you are! Hands off my brother!" Said the red head, bearing his claymore. A smile formed on the doctor's mouth. He said he didn't want to kill anyone, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t. That would just count as collateral damage, and the Tsaritsa probably wouldn't give a shit about it. He had to bring back Kaeya no matter the consequences.
The doctor smiles, enraging the emo redhead even more.
"Do you really think I'll give it to you this easily? People are so simple these days..."
Diluc was starting to lose patience, not that he had a lot left from the argument with his brother from earlier and the overall situation he put both of them into. He had no idea what Dottore wanted with the knight, but in the past it was recognized that he went to Mondstat to take the citizens and use them in various experiments, and that's probably what he wanted to do with Kaeya. His sword caught fire, and he rushed towards the doctor.
"I will not let you take him away like this!"
Dottore dodged it without any effort, as if he was doing this kind of thing everyday.
"Come on... You both hate each other. Why would you make him stay here? So he can suffer more?"
"I- No, it's because..."
"It's been great talking to you, but I don't really have time for idle chit-chat. The Tsaritsa won't wait.  Byee-"

On that, Dottore turned around and ran toward a wall. He yeeted Kaeya over it and then proceeded to climb it the fastest he could while Diluc watched the whole thing, speechless. Dottore stuck his tongue out, grimacing at the red head and jumped down the other side of the wall. Diluc dropped his long sword and went to pursue them but when he was on top, he saw that they were already too far from him. Dottore had a boat waiting for him on the lake.

"It's because he's the only family I have left..." finished Diluc. He had to get his brother back, no matter what he had to do to reach that goal. 

Chapter Text

Our beloved cavalry captain woke up tied to a tree. He looked around and saw he was in the forest, his hand weakly tied around a fir trunk. There were people speaking around him, though he couldn't hear what they were saying. He tried moving but bellowed in pain doing so.
"I wouldn't do that. Your ribs are broken. I shouldn't have thrown you over that wall." said a man, laughing. That's when Kaeya remembered what happened. He fell unconscious after walking around town, trying to find his own house. But what had happened after that? He was asleep, he couldn't know. Although... He could recognize the man standing in front of him. His vision was still blurry, but there was no way in hell he would not recognize that face. He was wearing a different mask, yes, but his voice was the same, and he bared the same despicable smile he used to a few years ago when they met in Mondstat.
"Dottore..."
"Oh! You recognized me? I'm touched." He smiled, but Kaeya knew it was a fake smile.
"How could I not... Why am I here?"
"Oh, you're not even asking how I'm doing after all these years. Well, to answer this, I'm doing very well. You know why? Because I finally have the missing piece to my final experimentation."
"Which is..?"
"Dear, it wouldn't be fun if I told you!" The doctor laughed again, apparently finding himself hilarious. He wasn’t. At all. 

I hate that bitch. No matter how much you laugh, I know my time here will be horrible , he thought, trying to find a comfortable position that wouldn’t have him writhe in pain every second. 

The doctor turned around and went to take something in a bag. He came back with a huge needle. Kaeya shivered. How could something like that be so big? Hopefully he wasn't going to sting him with it... Which is what he will most certainly do, considering the current situation. He took another bottle and opened the syringe to pour some weird translucent liquid into it. He closed the bottle and the syringe and walked back to Kaeya. As he crouched down to administer whatever was inside that, Kaeya grabbed his hand, even if it was hurting himself because of all the broken bones he had. Then, he used his vision. But nothing happened. He couldn't freeze anything. The glass of the syringe broke and his hand bled, full of shards, liquid and blood. Dottore glared at him, annoyed, but still grinning at his stupidity.
"I took your vision. Idiot..." He got up and took most of the glass fragments to put them in a bag. He then took another syringe, smaller than the other and filled it with the same product. This time, he also took a towel and cloth. He tried taking Kaeya's hand but the knight pushed it away, wincing. Every move he made caused more suffering. The doctor exhaled slowly, trying to keep calm.
"Listen. This is a painkiller. So either you let me or you just suffer like an idiot."

Kaeya knew he couldn't trust him. Maybe that was something else. A guy like him wouldn't go through all that trouble just to ease his pain... Would he? Maybe he was telling the truth. And if it was indeed a painkiller, then he would be grateful because his ribs were killing him. It hurt so bad he would have preferred death over this. It hurt so bad he would personally rip the bones out of his body with his own two hands, if those weren’t broken as well. It hurt so bad he decided to try letting the doctor do what he wanted. He put it in front of him and Dottore took it. He injected the product and Keaya grimaced when he inserted it. He didn't like needles. He still wasn't feeling anything and feared he was lied to. Well, what was he expecting, trusting a man like Dottore? The fatui harbinger then pulled his hand closer to him and poured some water on it, cleaning some of the blood that was on it and removing the shards of glass stuck into his skin, gently. Then, he wrapped the cloth around it.

His slow, gentle, delicate actions baffled Kaeya, who expected Dottore to be rough and uncaring when handling him. Actually, he didn’t even think he would go so far as to clean him up.
"See, I told you. I'm a doctor after all. And I can't really damage you too much."
He was starting to feel a little better. It was as if he was numb to the pain.
"Mhm... Thank you."
"No worries. I can respect my future..." He stopped talking, regretting his words. He had said too much.
"Your future what ?" questioned Kaeya, confused. (Bro was gonna say future discord kitten trust me frfr)
"You must be hungry." Said the doctor, changing the subject abruptly.

He was indeed hungry. And thirsty. If only he could get some wine... It probably wasn't the best time. And let's not forget what got him in this situation. If only he was like Rosaria and was unable to get drunk... Then he wouldn't have gotten kidnapped. Well, maybe he would've still been taken by the doctor since it seemed to be all part of some grand plan of his and the Tsaritsa of Shneznaya, but he would have put up a fight. He hoped someone would notice his absence the sooner possible so that they would send someone to look for him.
"You must be dying to get some food. You were out for seven days after all... More and you'd die out of hunger, haha!" Laughed Dottore, probably finding himself funny. Again, he isn’t. At all.

WAIT WHAT? Seven days? How could it be that long? Someone definitely noticed his absence, if it wasn't Jean herself. They must've sent teams to look for him, he was sure of it. He was really important and a skilled member of the knights of Favonius. They couldn't afford losing him. And even if he wasn't, it's only normal to investigate when a citizen disappears? Right? Why haven't they found him yet?
"Oh, you seem surprised? You wouldn't wake up. Not after what I gave you, that is."
"I- What did you give me?"
"You don't remember, because you were asleep. It was some failed experiment. Not important."

And there goes Kaeya's mind. What did the doctor give him? That time, it probably wasn't pain killers. It was so bad he passed out for seven days. But that also meant they had a lot of time to get away from Mondstat.
"Where are we?" Asked Kaeya. He knew it was in some forest, probably not in Mondstat. But he's never been outside of Mondstat, so he can't tell.
Instead of answering him, Dottore got up again. He went to take a wooden box and dropped it at Kaeya's feets. He took a sandwich out of it.
"Do you need me to feed it to you like a child?"
"...." Kaeaya wasn't able to say anything because Dottore stuffed the sandwich into his mouth. He swallowed a big chunk of it and grimaced.
"That shit's disgusting." He said, glaring at the sandwich the doctor held.
"Can you be grateful for once? This isn't some hotel. Are you aware of the situation you're in?"
"Yes, I am fully aware that you kidnapped me for some experiment. That doesn't mean I have to go along. What, were you expecting me to cry for mercy? How fun." Even in a grave situation such as this, Kaeya couldn’t help himself and made sarcastic remarks.
"Oh, but trust me. You will be when I'm done with you." On that, Dottore shoved the rest of the sandwich in Kaeya's mouth, just as he was about to say something. The knight almost choked on it but somehow managed to not die. Then, the doctor took something else from the bag, something that caught Kaeya's eye.

"Wine?" He asked, surprised by his captor's kindness.
"Do you want some? I know you do."
Kaeya stared at the doctor, then at the bottle of wine he was holding. He looked at it intensely for about five minutes. What if he had poisoned it? What if it was grape juice? Wait, those are both poisonous. But he couldn't have poisoned it. Dottore has been relatively nice to him considering he was his prisoner and test subject. And it had been a lot of days since he drank... But wasn't that what got him in this situation in the first place? If he had not drank he wouldn't be here. Although, drinking that bottle won't change what's happening right now because what's done is done. Learning from your mistakes is for losers . Having made his choice, Kaeya simply nodded and Dottore helped him drink directly from the bottle. It tastes good. Probably better than anything he's ever had. Probably better than anything Diluc had ever given him.
"Well, who would've guessed. Shneznayan wine tastes better than the one we have in Mondstat."

Good , thought the doctor. If I keep his addiction going, It’ll be a lot easier to keep him here.

Chapter Text

Diluc was anxiously chewing on his thumb. It wasn't like him to get stressed about things like this. It wasn't like him to be stressed in general, yet here he was. His only remaining family member, the person he hated the most… No, the person he cared for the most, was now missing.

I could've stopped this... If I had been faster! No..! If I hadn't been so hard on him... If I didn't let him drink so much. If I helped him walk back to his house. If I was actually nice to him, maybe he'd drink less. This is my fault. Fuck! I hate my-

"Pull yourself together, for f- Barbatos’ sake!" Screamed Jean, done with the red head.

He didn't realize he said all that out loud. How embarrassing. And Jean almost cursing... she seemed so angry yet worried at the same time. He had never seen her like that. She had never seen him like that too - Everyone was on edge - Kaeya's disappearing was trouble for everyone. While he wasn't the captain of everything, like he said, Varka took all the cavalry from Mondstat, he was still important to the citizens. Everyone liked him a lot. He had been annoying from time to time, but he was one of the best knights. And he had many friends that cared for him. It had only been a week and the effects were already noticeable, especially for the closer one, like the acting grand master and his own brother. Even the librarian was saddened from this.

Diluc looked at Jean, then he looked down.
"I- I'm sorry." he stuttered, startled by her sudden outburst.
"No, it's fine... This situation is hard on everyone. You have all the rights to be anxious. If Barbara was kidnapped right before me, I- I wouldn't know how to deal with myself afterwards."
She tapped the table with her fingers, thinking. As soon as he saw Dottore escaping with his brother, he ran to the knights of Favonius headquarters and briefly explained to her the situation. She sent a search team and posted a commission for the adventurer's guild. If the traveler wasn’t too busy doing his homework maybe he could take some time and get those 10 primogems.
"I'd really like to help you, but I can't really leave Mondstat like this. We have to wait for the search team to come back before we do anything, anyway."
"No! I already told you I saw that Fatui doctor take him away- He's probably too far away now! Let me help!" he shouted, losing his temper yet again, bringing up the same subject as before, the same subject that they had been arguing about for an hour. As if stuck in a loop, they eventually came round and arrived at that everytime.
"We went over this already, you're a fu- bartender! You don't have any passes."
"Well, you're the acting grandmaster. Give me some kind of rank. Or is the knights of Favonius as useless as they always are..?" he said the last part less loudly, already regretting his words. Insulting the knight was like a force of habit for him.
" Don't. Or I won't give you the rank. Listen, I'll do something. You worked here before. Kaeya is gone. You take his place as Cavalry captain. That should grant you access to a lot of places.”

The red head smiled faintly. Finally, Jean had given in and resigned to give him a position. This wasn't the time to be happy, at all, but progress was progress regardless. He couldn't believe he was asking, no, depending on the help of a useless knight organization such as the knights of Favonius. But if working together with these pretentious assholes was what it took for him to find and get his bro back, then he'd do it.
He took the paper that Jean quickly wrote for him, so he could have proof of his new job. Then, he left her office and ran hastily towards the city gates. He did not say thank you. Real example of the consequences of being fatherless. Absolutely no manners. 

Arriving at the location given to him by the acting grand master, he got stopped by a knight. A sword almost an inch away from his face, Diluc growled in exasperation.
"No civilians allo-"
Diluc took the letter from Jean from his pocket and shoved it onto the knight's face, cutting his sentence off. He opened it and read it quickly.
"During Kaeya Alberich's absence, Diluc Ragvindir, will temporarily take his position as cavalry captain, granting him access and authority on the investigation and search. - Jean"
The knight turned the paper around a few times, like he was trying to find something. He doubted the letter was true. How could a random bartender take their captain's place? This made zero sense. Did he think he was so smart by making up some fake letter from Jean? What would that even help him with? As he was about to say something to Diluc, however, the knight stopped himself, seeing the look on the red head's face, and most importantly, the hand he had rested on his longsword's hilt, ready to draw. After taking a closer look, there was even a pyro vision. It was best not to mess with this guy.

So Gerard, it was the knight's name, put on his best smile and slid his sword back in its hilt. He hoped for Diluc to just go away or move on, but no, the man stayed there.
"Do you need something... sir..?" asked Gerard, hesitantly.
"Yes. Would you inform me on the situation? Have you found any clues?"
The knight lowered his gaze to look at the ground, moving his foot in a circle.
"This is an abandoned Fatui camp base. We found evidence that sir Alberich was here. But they're gone. The food they left behind hints it's been around five days or so."
What composure Diluc managed to keep was destroyed. Six days! They arrived six days too late!
"Incompetent assholes..." He mumbled to himself.
"Excuse me, did you say something?" Asked Gerard, respectfully, knowing full well he had just insulted the knights. Diluc didn't even look at him before pushing him and rushing into the camp. Next thing he was throwing around wooden crates, moving rocks and tables to find at least one hint. The few people that were on site stopped what they were doing to observe his odd and agitated behaviour. He finally pulled out a piece of paper, full of dirt.

"How is it losing your only family member? It's probably hard. Not that I care. Continue searching, my dear Dark Knight hero. <3"

His fingers were wet. The paper too. And it wasn't the rain. Far from that, it was such a beautiful day the sun almost blinded everyone that went outside. No, and he cringed when he realized what it was. Tears. Tears of sadness. He started ripping the paper in half, in fourth, eight. Tears of frustration and anger. The pain of losing the one person he cared for the most...

"I will find you Kaeya... Just wait. I don't care how long it takes... You're the only one I have left..!" He uttered in a low voice, voice that was raspy from how much he cried.

Chapter Text

Gerard. The knight who tried standing up to Diluc but was too scared to actually do it. What a poor guy. He kept clinging to the red head after realizing how strong he was, and that was annoying Diluc to the point he had to restrain himself from physically assaulting him whenever he came close. He hated when people would act like this. As if that wasn't already bad enough, Gerard also had the aggravating habit of borrowing other people's stuff and then lose them by some unfortunate accident. And that's why had he sent that idiot away. Two days after, he woke up to Gerard intensely staring at him, two inches from his face. Creeped out by the man's odd behaviour, Diluc slapped him. There goes all the effort he put into controlling himself... Half expecting the other to whine or complain, Diluc was surprised by what was actually happening.  Gerard's face became red. Was it because he was hurt or... was he a masochist? So many questions, and Diluc definitely did not want to find out the answer to any of them. So the next morning, he left a note on the knight's bed. He put it there about an hour before he would wake up. 

"Hello, sir Gerard. What I need you to do is crucial for ending this search. You are the best here, so please deliver this paper to Fontaine for me. Temporary Captain Diluc." 

Unable to hide his excitement, Gerard started jumping around. He was given a mission essential to the success of this operation. They trusted him with it. Him! That means his captain considered him worthy enough. Not wanting to lose any time, he quickly packed some food, clothes and Mora in a bag. Then, he took his horse and rode to Fontaine without saying goodbye to anyone. Fixated on his "achievement", Gerard failed to realize it was simply a mean to take him away from the troupes.

Unfortunately for him, that's where his adventure stops. As soon as he arrived close to Fontaine, he ran into a group of Fatui. Feeling brave and wanting to fulfill the mission his captain assigned to him, he bared his blade against the enemy. However, five seconds later, and that's generous, he was down. The Fatui took him up by the collar.
"What do we do with this?" He asked.
"Well... It does look like one of those Mondstat knights. What did master ask for us to do if we ran into one?"
"Why don't we just kill it? Boss won't know." Said the third one, getting scandalized glares from his companions.
"No, we have to bring him back. Y'all have such a bad memory. I swear to the Tsaritsa-"

The fatui agent threw Gerard on his back and they went back to camp together.
"What is this?" Asked the guard at the entrance, pointing at the knight of Favonius, annoyed. This squad wasn't the best one. They were given a mission, and here they are, bringing back some stranger. Dottore would be so mad. He could almost hear him screaming.
"It's uhh- It's a prisoner!"
"Ugh. Just let it here, I'll call Dottore."
The three Fatui grinner and dropped the knight on the ground, Gerard's back falling directly on the hard and pointy end of a big rock. Groaning, he tried to get up but the guard picked up an even bigger rock to knock him out as soon as he made a move. 

⸻

"Ayy... Wake up." said a familiar voice. Gerard slowly opened his eyes. His vision was blurry but it gradually got better. He blinked a few times and then, was shook to see who was sitting at his side. Kaeya smiled, like it was nothing. Did he not realize what situation he was in? Looking more closely, he could see the effects of his captivity on the knight. He looked extremely tired, and it was like he lost a lot of weight. His long blue hair looked rough and disheveled. It had been more than ten days, after all.
"Captain Alberich?"
"Yes. I don't know your name." he answered slowly, as if even uttering a few words was exhausting.
"It's Gerard."
"Well, it's uhh... nice to see you here. In some way."
"What? No, it's not. At all. I'm so sorry..." he bowed his head to hide the tears forming on his eyes. "I failed my mission..."
Kaeya sighed. Why was this guy so dramatic? He exhaled loudly as Gerard wiped the tears rolling down his cheek.
"What mission?" He asked, faking a smile in an attempt to look compassionate. This guy would most likely spend a lot of time here, so he had to make friends. Then his situation could get a little less dreadful. If he had someone other than that stupid doctor he could speak to, then it would already be a good start. He didn't know if Dottore was planning to drag out his stay, or if he was to kill him soon. That is, if he doesn't die from one of his stupid experiments. He was actually quite surprised, and delighted that he hadn't died. Dottore was known for conducting extremely dangerous experiments on people. So Kaeya being alive was extreme luck. Or he mentioned that the Tsaritsa wanted him alive... What would that mean? What did she want with him? And why was he so important?

"Hii!" Said a familiar voice. Voice that Kaeya came to like during his time here, to his disarray. It was none other than the doctor. The knight tried his best not to lose his composure. He couldn't appear weak in front of his inferior. Gerard needed to feel like he was safe. And in a situation like this, one of them had to be strong to help the other through it. Kaeya would assume this role, as he did when he was alone, in a way to reassure himself in thinking he could just keep up with everything waiting for his friends or the knights to come find him, rescue him, maybe even the traveler if they had heard about it and took a commission or decided to help one of their friends for free. But it was extremely unlikely, because they were currently in Liyue. From what Kaeya heard, their god had just died. The traveler wouldn't just leave Liyue to help some random guy he met in Mondstat so long ago... He wasn't really worth losing his time on, after all, wasn't he?

This pained him. Here he was again, falling into despair. This was happening too often now. Only twelve days in and he acted all depressed. Well, maybe being used as a test subject wasn't helping... at all. Now he started to understand Collei a bit more. She was abused by Dottore too. (Note: I personally think Kaeya did nothing wrong)

He sighed. Having those gloomy thoughts won't help his situation. It will simply make him feel bad for nothing. Stay positive. I will get out of this, he thought. He really hoped for it to be true.
"Are you two even listening to me?" Asked Dottore, making a sad expression. Kaeya would've screamed at him, but he wasn't in any position to act like this.
"Ok, now that I have your attention. Kaeya, I can't believe how unlucky you are. Do you know what this man was doing?"
Kaeya, not wanting to waste any energy talking to this man, simply shook his head.
"No? Well, he was bringing this letter to Fontaine. Want me to read it to you?"
"Mhm-mhm." He nodded. As long as things did not involve testing or the torture of some living being, he was down.

Dottore cleared his throat before speaking.
"So, it says: One of our citizen was taken by a group of Fatui. We expect them to go through Fontaine. If you see this man, please investigate and notify us the sooner you can. - knights of Favonius, Diluc."

Wait. Knights of Favonius, Diluc? How! Diluc hated the knights. So why was this letter from the knights of Favonius from him? This made no sense. No sense at all.
"I see you don't believe me. See for yourself. They even put your picture on it." Said Dottore. He gave the letter to Kaeya who read it. He stared for a minute at the paper. It was ripped at some place and dirty. The messenger didn't take good care of it. But it was still readable. And it was definitely Diluc's handwriting.

"Oh, he took your place as Cavalry captain" Said Gerard, simply.

That's when Kaeya lost his usual snarky smile he had managed to keep on until now. From what Gerard had said, it was like Diluc straight up took the first opportunity he saw to steal his job. And Jean agreed to it, apparently.
Alright, let’s not jump to conclusions right away.  

There had to be a reason for that. Diluc might be an asshole and a bitch, but he wasn’t that bad. And his hatred for the knights was definitely not an act, otherwise it would’ve been long since someone would have recruited him for professional theatre. 

"..."

He forgot his name. That idiot who got attacked and taken by low-ranked Fatui on his mission to deliver a letter of high importance to Fontaine.
Knowing my brother, that probably wasn’t of so much importance. He would never give a task so importance to a knight.
In any case, this just served as a perfect example of how useless and pathetic they were, and for a moment he could understand Diluc’s feelings towards them. Did no one else say anything? Did no one care about him? Did Jean think a mere letter delivered by some incompetent individual would be enough? Or was it just a way for Diluc to make it seem like he cared? Because he definitely didn’t. He never really did since their fight. Why would he anyway? 

"Hey. What's your name, imbecile?" Asked Kaeya, finally dropping the respect he faked for that idiot, resulting in an offended look from the person concerned.
"It's Gerard, not imbecile. And I told you on the first day we met. You're so... ugh nevermind." Gerard wasn't actually able to talk back to someone in a higher rank than him, so he kept his mouth shut when Kaeya would insult him.
"You did, really? Oh, it’s on me. I don’t remember the names of unimportant people that well,"said Kaeya in a rather passive-aggressive way. He was actually angry at this dude for failing at such a simple mission. The first time he talked to him, Gerard told him he was followed and ambushed by at least fifteen Fatui, fought them courageously but eventually lost, overwhelmed by their strength and numbers. His beautiful words looked weirdly too good to be true. Then, Dottore told him what really happened, and Kaeya somehow knew he was telling the truth. He already thought Gerard was lying and Dottore confirmed it. Gerard attacked three Fatui men, thinking he was strong enough. He was very wrong, seeing how he didn't even last a few seconds before getting taken. He basically threw away Kaeya's chances of being rescued. What a dumbass. He was really getting Diluc's point of view now. If he managed to go back to Mondstat, he'd probably quit, find another job and even leave the town if he could. Maybe he could move to Inazuma or something, there's no way he would encounter any knights of Favonius there.

"Hey, boys. I heard you two weren't getting along anymore? Honestly, I wouldn't even talk to trash like him." Said Dottore, directing his last words towards Kaeya. Gerard took a deep breath. Unlike Kaeya, the doctor had made it clear to him on the first day that he wasn’t at all essential to him. In other words, if Gerard said anything out of line, it would be over for him.

The Harbinger bent down on his knees, at Kaeya's height.
"You won't have to endure him for so long, anyways. Don't worry." He said in a low voice. Then, he took Kaeya's hand and held it for a moment before putting some cold object in it. Kaeya removed his hand from touching Dottore's, a bit disgusted. He looked at what he was holding.
"Is this supposed to be a vision..? I don't get it."
"It's yours, actually. I tried something but I think it might be broken. Can you tell me if it still works?"
Kaeya frowned. What did this idiot do to his vision? It looked perfectly intact. Irritated about the man wasting his time with a normal vision, he also took the occasion to attack him. He knew he couldn’t escape in his state and with all the guards at camp, but it was worth a try and it would make him feel better if he managed to even make a scratch on the doctor’s annoying cocky face.

To his surprise, the ice didn’t go where he intended it to at all. It stopped less than an inch away from Gerard’s face, who backed away as much as he could, frightened. Dottore snatched the vision from his hands, content.

“Aw, did you try to attack me? You missed? Or was this on purpose?” he said in a mocking tone, while Gerard asked himself what he did to deserve this. Seriously, what the hell? First he got here and now the guy he was trying to save attempts to kill him by accident? When Dottore was gone, Kaeya spoke up in a low tone.

"I'd say I'm sorry but I'm not. If it makes you feel any better I was aiming at this idiot of a doctor."

Understandably, Kaeya was still bothered by Gerard’s stupidity, so he simply nodded in comprehension.

Like usual, the Doctor came back with a platter of food and a cup of wine. Kaeya brought the glass to his mouth and sipped the schnezhnayan wine. He missed the one from the angel share, but he could do with this for now. He took a few sips from the glass, savoring the cold alcohol in his mouth. He felt a slight pain in his head. Not strong enough to make someone faint, but strong enough to hurt a little. He put his hand on his forehead. It wasn't hot. He drank the whole glass in one shot. That's when the pain started to get gradually worse. Dottore, who was watching him closely, grinned. He must've reacted in some way. Trying to keep his cool, Kaeya smiled, staring into the other's eyes. Whatever Dottore was waiting to happen finally happened, he was certain of it. But what was it exactly?

"Do you need painkillers, my dear Kaeya?" Said Dottore, reaching for his pocket. He pulled out a long and pointy syringe.
"I- No. No thanks." He knew his disgusted expression was giving away his feelings. He bit his lip. It was actually painful.
"On second thought... you can."

Dottore administered the product, and Kaeya closed his eyes, anticipating whatever could happen next. He knew it was stupid just accepting an evil doctor to inject you with some unknown substance that you didn't know the effects of, but he knew that if it was that bad he wouldn't have any choice in it. And it did really ease his pain. Feeling better, he fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Dottore read the paper he just received, a concerned look on his face.
I need you to come back soon. This little project of yours has been interesting, but if you don't speed it up, I will personally intervene. The Tsaritsa won't wait forever.
It was signed by Scaramouche. This little bitch was trying to boss him around now? No way. He wouldn't let that happen. But still... It was probably on orders of the Tsaritsa. And he'd have to listen to her. A shame, really. 

Dottore ripped the paper in two, irritated. Why could he never see the end of his experiments? He couldn't risk losing his perfect test subject. It was already damaged enough like this. Maybe if he tried talking him into it... Well, he'd have to try. Not that it would actually work. You can’t know if you don’t try, so it’s better than nothing! 

He grabbed his notebook and quickly scribbled a few lines of documentation.
Test sub n. 87
Observations
- The subject does not remember his friend's name. Maybe he just doesn't care about him though. Personally I wouldn't care either.
Subject seems to suffer from side effects
- Headache
Would it affect the efficacy?
The vision doesn't work properly when the user isn’t all there. (To verify: if he missed on purpose or not.)

Wait two weeks and if it isn’t efficient use the other thing. 

He knew he wasn’t going as fast as the Snezhnayan Archon wanted him to. He wanted to limit the damages on Kaeya to the minimum. Getting his hands on an actual Khaenri’ahn was something he would’ve never even dreamed of achieving. He did know some but they weren’t people he could use. Most importantly, he wanted to use the most efficient method. After researching it for a year he knew what was best, but unfortunately, what was best wasn’t exactly the faster method. 

About a week and a half after, the doctor went to check up on his beloved subject, a notebook in hand. Seeing as Kaeya wasn’t awake yet, he observed him in silence. The other knight who sat beside the blue haired man glared at him. The doctor had forgotten about this idiot. In fact, the only reason he was keeping him was so he could bring back another test subject. He didn’t have that much - Is 100 not a weak number? - one more was always welcome. The only thing was… If that aggravating imbecile kept being this insolent, he might lose patience and be a little less cautious. In the end, that one wasn’t important, perhaps he could damage it, and maybe, take out some of the anger he was still feeling towards the balladeer. 

Without a warning, Dottore went in front of the poor guy and kicked him in the face. A hard and direct kick with his boots. His nose made a loud crack noise during the impact. Gerard would’ve brought his hands to his face if they weren’t tied up. All he could do now was wail in pain and gesticulate awkwardly as much as his restraints allowed him to. He looked up at the doctor, asking himself and the Archons what the hell he could’ve done to deserve this. He knew that he was just unlucky. Blood streamed down his face.

Meanwhile, Kaeya woke up. His hair was all messed up and dirty. 

"Where the hell am I now? Did I get drunk again?" He asked groggily, still sleepy, rubbing his throbbing head with one hand. Gerard scowled at him, frowning a little at his words. After getting assaulted like that, he wasn’t in the mood to humor the other guy.
"Fix your memory, dumb ass. This is a Fatui camp."
"Uh... Why am I-?" His head hurt. It hurt so much, as if there was someone constantly pounding on it with a hammer. He didn't understand how he got here until he heard a familiar voice. It was almost beginning to be comforting.

He had trouble remembering some things, but with the doctor being there everyday, he did remember him. While it disgusted him, it also made him feel a little safe. It felt safe to have something you could recognize when everything else was so hazy and far. It was so bad he actually looked forward to seeing him. He looked forward to getting some food, to talk about things. It was close to entertaining, perhaps even enjoyable. But at the end of the day, he mustn’t forget… The doctor is a deranged criminal who kidnapped him for his crazy experiments like he did to so many others. For some reason though, he seemed to forget that. His odd behaviour hadn’t gone unnoticed by the other knight.

Instead of replying back with a sassy insult, Kaeya stared blankly in front of himself. While Gerard was relieved his captain finally forgave him at first, he eventually got worried. This wasn't normal behavior.
"Are you alright?"
"What? Yea, why?"
"I don't know... you're acting so weird."
"I am not."
"You are! From not saying a word since you woke up, always forgetting me and where we are and acting so friendly with the Harbinger when he kidnapped us!"
"..."

Kaeya didn’t take the time to answer Gerard, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense to him. Dottore did kidnap them. How could he overlook such an important detail? He tried to remember it, but it was actually hard. The details were already slipping away as the thoughts formed. 

Wait… That’s it!

He was forgetting. And at his age, he shouldn’t be suffering from dementia or Alzheimer's yet. Not even in at least thirty years. This was definitely related to the splitting headaches that have been worsening over time. This was what the doctor had been doing all this time. But why? What was his goal? He had no idea. And he felt like it was too late. 

⸻

After he ate his meal, it was soup this time, Dottore offered his prisoner a glass of wine like he did every day. To his surprise, today, Kaeya refused. He scoffed.
“It’s in the wine, isn’t it? What you’re giving me,” he asked. He knew this wasn’t something to be smiling about, yet he couldn’t stop himself from doing his usual snarky smile. The doctor was surprised but quickly regained his calm attitude and feigned innocence.

“What’s in the wine?”
“Oh, don’t ask like you don’t know. I’m not that stupid.”

The doctor looked away, pensive. This was the one situation he wished wouldn’t happen. And out of all things, it did happen.
“I admit. But it’s unfortunate you found out,” he finally said.

“I was suspecting it for some time now. I just didn’t really know how you were doing it, then I realized today you never forget to give me a glass of wine every day without any exception. Why would you go to that extent? Just to be nice? You? Pff. Still smart, I guess. It’s not the first thing I’d suspect.”
He paused then continued.
“What do you use? It’s not like I’ll remember after, right?” Joking at a time like this. Really?

“Some drug I’ve been working on. Unfortunately, like a lot of things, it doesn’t work as well if you know. Which is why I’ve been putting it in your food and drink. My other option is way more risky. You might not believe me, but you are more valuable than you think you are.”

“Why?”

“Wouldn’t you want to know? But why waste time telling you something you’ll forget?” The doctor laughed softly. I don’t know why, but his silly little hehe laugh reminds me of an anime girl.

“Next time we meet, you’ll be my colleague. Farewell, Kaeya Alberich, for now.”

Kaeya didn’t really have time to say anything or even think about what he meant before Dottore stabbed him with a syringe. 

Chapter Text

"Good morning comrad!" Said a ginger guy, standing literally three millimeters away from Kaeya's face. Startled, the captain pushed him away. The guy fell on his back and Kaeya immediately regretted his act.
"I- I'm sorry..." He sighed. What was going on? He couldn't remember anything... Looking around for clues, he saw he was laying on a blanket. A red blanket. Trees. Was he in the the middle of the forest? What the fuck was he doing there? He had so many questions.

What happened? He needed to know. Concentrating only made his head hurt... walking in some place at night... this red haired person... a bottle of wine... Those seemed important, yet he couldn't make any sense of it.

"Hii~" Said the person, pulling him out of his thoughts. Still confused, Kaeya stared at him for some time before speaking up.
"Who are you? And why am I here?"
"Eh? You can call me Childe. As to why you're here..." the one named Childe stopped for a while, like he was searching his words.

It gave some time for Kaeya to observe him. His short ginger hair where as orange as Ed sheeran... and his ocean blue eyes looked dead. There was no life in them. It made him uncomfortable, but it also felt oddly familiar. His costume was weird too, but he wouldn't think about it. When he thought about it... he was quite attractive. And that annoyed him. Kaeya looked away, uncomfortable by how Childe was staring at him in his eyes.

"Don't you remember?"
"Eh?? What...?"
"I- You weren't listening... I said I saved you from an abyss mage! You must've hit your head too hard..."
Confused, Kaeya tried his best to remember something, again, in vain. The same images from earlier kept appearing and they were getting more blurry each time until he couldn't remember anything but a red-headed person screaming something. He knew he was important but still couldn't see more, and it gave him a bad feeling. Maybe this person was mean to him? That's probably it...

"Hey. You're spacing out again, comrad. Why don't we go back to the city?" Asked Childe, getting up from his knees. He then bent down again to offer his hand to Kaeya. The captain took it and got up, hardly. As soon as he was standing on his two feets, the world around him started spinning and he felt sick, like he was about to throw up. His vision started to get blurry and he let himself rest on Childe's shoulder. The ginger man grinned. The doctor told him the subject might experience some side effects but he didn't think it would be that bad. Well, it's not like it concerns him. But isn't this guy supposed to be the new Fatui Harbinger? The twelfth Harbinger. Childe hoped this guy would be more fun then the others, but doubted it. He helped the doctor a lot with his experiment on memories and noticed that the subjects became bland and detached from reality even after living some time. Even tho when he was spying on Kaeya the man seemed cool, he couldn't be certain he conserved his personality.

"Halt. Identify yourselves." Said the guard, blocking their way in. Childe sighed. The guards always mistook him for a random citizen when he wasn't in uniform. If they did recognize him, they wouldn't be asking for anything. Still, he couldn't blame them. His attractive looks didn't stand out that much and were actually pretty common features. He didn't have any weird hair color or masks... Well, at least he knew they were doing their jobs.
"Hi there. I'm Tartaglia, the 11th harbinger." He smiled, oping the guard wouldn't overreact. To his disarray, the guard's eyes opened in fear and he stuttered.
"I- I'm sorry sir... sir Harbinger! Umm... may I ask who's the one with you?" He pointed at Kaeya, his hand shaking a little. Three minutes passed without anyone saying anything. Childe looked at Kaeya, waiting for him to answer. The captain just raised his shoulder to say he didn't know. (Not but imagine Kaeya he in a serious situation and just like idk bruv)That's when Childe remembered Dottore made him forget everything. Even his name. He honestly didn't think it'd go that far. Seeing that the guard was waiting for their andwer, he said the first thing that came to his mind.

"That's Aldéline, the twelfth Harbinger. Show some respect."
Not me using random baby names websites for this 🗿
Kaeya looked at him, confused. Was that supposed to be his name? It didn't really sound like it... Well, it's not like he remembered it anyways. So this "Childe" was probably right. He smiled and waved awkwardly at the guard while They bent down. Was that a way to greet people here? He'd have to ask the ginger guy later.

He followed his new friend inside the gates and looked around. He was amazed by the beautiful architecture, but the cold was getting to him. He was only wearing a long-sleeved shirt with a white fur while Childe had a long coat. He tried to keep quiet for a little longer but his body was betraying him. Childe stopped walking and turned around, resulting in Kaeya hitting his head on his chest, almost falling back. The ginger boy caught him with one hand and the captain's face became red from shame.
"Are you cold, Lin? I can call you that, right?"

Kaeya looked away, unable to maintain eye contact. What he just said and his actions gave him feelings and emotions he couldn't explain or understand yet. He mumbled an uncertain "yes" and Childe smiled brightly, contrasting with his dead lifeless eyes.
"Good! And you can put on my coat for now... I can take that weather!" He immediately said before Kaeya felt bad about it. Not really giving him any choices anyways he threw the coat on the blue haired man's shoulders.
"I- Thank you..." Whispered Kaeya, flustered. He rubbed his hands together, hoping they wouldn't fall off from frosbite. Thinking about this made him remember something... What was it? Don't get frostbite... what does that even mean? He'd need to know the context.

For now he just had to follow Childe. He knew he could trust him. That guy saved him after all.

////

Childe pushed open the tall door, opening into a hall. In the middle was a wooden table. There wasn't anyone except the two maids cleaning the table. One of them stopped what they were doing to wave at Childe and he waved back, smiling. She looked so happy from this. (Simp, just like me frfr) Then, he moved on into a smaller corridor and they walked for some time until he reached a door. He knocked.
"Enter." Said a ladie's voice.
Childe opened the door and entered, leaving kaeya outside. Not really knowing what to do, the captain just stayed there, waiting.

"I brought him back. I'm sorry for the delay my queen, but he wouldn't wake up until today and I had to carry him from Fontaine to Schnezhnaya. The doctor's experiment was successful... he doesn't even know his name." Said Childe to the Tsaritsa.
"That's one good thing. Have you tested his skills?"
"Like I said, he's been asleep this whole time. He looks well-built and the modifications to his vision were a success. I even heard he was one of Mondstat's best knights."

He talked with her for some time, trying to hide how he felt about the whole thing, but he knew she probably noticed his behavior. The Tsaritsa didn't say anything about it and he left to tell Kaeya to go see her. It pained him. A few months ago, when she asked for a list of people they thought would make a good fit for their 12th harbingers, everyone sent some. The one she chose wasn’t even in the Fatui. Some random dude living in Mond. It was the doctor that submitted this one, knowing the guy would never accept to even join the Fatui.

While Childe was willing to believe this might be the strongest person from the list, because the Tsaritsa was never wrong, it still pissed him off that the doctor was the one to find him first. Instead of having a nice approach, this idiot tried to turn this into another experiment. He didn’t actually care about helping Schnezhnaya, he just wanted to play with test subjects again. Poor Kaeya didn’t deserve any of this. He only accepted to help Dottore so that he could make it less worst for the subject.

Tartaglia put his thoughts aside and opened the door for Kaeya to enter. He smiled at him before leaving.

Kaeya lost his smile seeing the Tsaritsa. She looked so.... scary? Impressive. Beautiful. Menacing. That was one of the few people he had met after waking up an hour ago and he didn't feel good around her. Not like he felt when he was around Childe. She was just so cold, where Tartaglia was warm.

"Hello. I hope your trip back to Schnezhnaya was good."

"I- Where is Childe?" Asked Kaeya, nervous. He felt so out of place here, this lady made him uncomfortable and he wanted to be in presence of the only person he knew and trusted.
"Is that seriously all you're thinking about right now? You have a god standing before yourself and you want to see this ginger boy?"
"Yes." Said Kaeya, simply.
The Tsaritsa sighed. She had heard Dottore hasn't been so successful with this experiment, but didn't think the subject would be this bad. The person she was talking to wasn't at all like they used to be before.
"You'll see him shortly."
"Uh..."

Kaeya thought about it for some time. He didn't know what a Harbinger was. It didn't really sound like a good thing. But he didn't care. But right now, he knew nothing. He remembered nothing. He was nothing, he had no purpose. Nowhere to go. No one to be with. This was his best option. His determination came back and he looked at her, full of confidence.

Yes. I am aware that I gave him a girl's name. Its on purpose. 

Chapter Text

He left the room, still moved. He didn’t know what he got himself into yet but knew it was going to be demanding. Childe, who was waiting for him put his hand on Kaeya's shoulder.
"So, how did it go, comrad?"
"Well... I guess. I don't really get all of this to be honest."
"You said yes, right? Right?" Asked Childe, insistant.
"Y- yes." He was making Kaeya uncomfortable now. But Childe honestly didn’t care at all, so he ignored it and pushed Kaeya so he would move. They arrived into a room where two maids were occupied to clean. One of them was doing the bed and the other was removing the dust in a closet. Childe made a sign with his hand and they left after bowing in front of them. Childe opened the closet and randomly picked some clothes and the coat the Harbingers usually wore.
"Take off your clothes." He said, not realizing how weird that sounded. Kaeya was shocked but still did it. The souless ginger made him put on the clothes. He threw Kaeya's uniform into a basket.
He tried to remove the eyepatch but Kaeya stopped him.
"I'm keeping this. Stop"

Wasn't he supposed to have lost all of his memory? Why was he still clinging onto this stupid eyepatch that he used to supposedly roleplay as a pirate? Whatever, he won't tell Dottore. That meant Kaeya still had personality unlike the other subjects. That made Childe smile.
"Alright. You look very good in this. Come now, follow me, we'll go and meet the others."

They went in an even bigger room with a long table. 10 people were sitting. One of them, a girl, was sleeping on the table while another girl kept glaring at her. Some short edgy-ass emo looking kid with a bowl cut looked at Kaeya and gave him a disgusted look before looking away.
"Hello Comrads. Today, we welcome the last member to join our ranks, Adéline. He will be the twelfth harbinger. It's fine if we call you Lin, right? Say something." Childe laughed nervously. It was clear he was trying to get the others to act friendly, but they just wouldn't. A guy with a mask smiled creepily, and Kaeya couldn't help himself from clinging onto Childe's arm. He felt like he knew that person, but not in a good way. Noticing his behavior, Dottore lost his smile.

"Is there something wrong, Lin?"
"..."
"Dottore, just shut up. There's clearly something wrong and it's you being so annoying." Said the emo kid. At that moment, Kaeya thought maybe he had judged him too quickly, but no, he was still looking at him with this disgusted expression.
"Guys can we not..." began Childe, before he got interrupted.
"Unlike you, mr I-want-to-fight-everyone-everywhere, some of us are actually busy. That's why you're the one stuck babysitting this puppet." Said the emo boy with the bowl cut. Yea, he was definitely not nice. You could see the doctor was trying not to laugh.
"Puppet? You're one to talk." Said a tall and beautiful blond women. Dottore burst out laughing at her word. I still maintain that this guy laughs like an anime girl. Hehehhihii
"This is why I despise humans so much..."
"Why do you keep acting like childrens? This meeting serves no purpose. I'm leaving" said Pierro. On that, he left and arlechino woke up the sleeping girl. They left together, followed by Signora. Dottore gave one last look at Kaeya before following her. Only Scaramouche was left with him and Childe. He didn't look happy.

"Tartaglia, you can leave too." Said Scaramouche, not even bothered to look at him. In his opinion, a person of his statue shouldn't have to show respect to a normal human such as childe.
"Umm... How about no? I can't leave Lin alone like this. You yourself told me I was "stuck babysitting him". Let me babysit him then."
"I don't have time for your stupidity right now.  Another thing I said earlier is that some of us have actually missions to do. This happens to be one of those important missions. Now, will you go or do I have to resort to violence so you understand? We both know who the strongest is here."
"...Fine. But I'll be waiting outside. Don't you dare do anything to him."
"Why would I? If I harmed him... The tsaritsa would be angry and the doctor would come at me for damaging his precious test subject."

Childe was shocked by what he just said. The audacity. They were specifically ordered not to say anything about the experiment yet Scaramouche was so openly talking about it? Was this man as idiotic as he was short? His arrogance and stupidity could not stop to surprise him. He decided not to speak about it, at least not now. He could wait for later. He left the room, slowly closing the door behind him so it wouldn't make too much noise. He knew that if he did, Scaramouche would complain about it and how incompetant he was. Well, he'd probably find a way to complain about something else anyways.
"Hurry up, how are you so slow? Pathetic."
There. Told you, he would've found a way to complain. Childe sighed before looking away. This small man would never cease to annoy him with that temper of his.

///

The little guy with the hat kept complaining about litteraly everything Kaeya was doing. Nothing was enough, nothing was enough to make him happy. For the seventh time, Scaramouche stopped what he was doing to stare at Kaeya. The former knight couldn’t help but cower under his gaze.
"How many times will I have to tell you? This isn't how you write my fucking name!"
"I'm so sorry... But you haven't told me once how to write it. Don't expect me to know just like this."
"You- Well you should've known! There's an e at the end, an E!"
"If you say so."
Kaeya grumbled and finished writing the letter, paying attention to his spelling. After some time, the short imbecile stopped him, again. He took the paper from his hand.
"What is this??" He asked, pointing at the paper and shoving it into the former knight's face like it was so obvious. Kaeya looked away, apprehending what was to come.
"I don't see anything wrong..."
"Well you're blind! You left a mark here, start over!"
"Why don't you do it yourself..."
"What was that?"
"Nothing."

He took another paper. It was the third time he had to start from scratch. He was getting tired of writing.

It was a letter they were going to send to Inazuma, about the vision hunt decree and some war. For some reason, Scaramouche didn't want to actually write it himself so he asked Kaeya to help him. Now, he was regretting everything. The worst part is that the Tsaritsa was sending him to Inazuma with the balladeer. Something about giving out delusions. He didn't really know what they were, but that didn't matter much.

On his fifth attempt, Scaramouche finally found it acceptable.

Scaramouche left, asking Kaeya to deliver the letter for him as he had something of "very high importance" to do and he didn't have any time to tell his fellow harbinger what it was, nor did it concern him in any way. He did take a moment to wave his hand at Kaeya before leaving. He was a bit offended that the little guy didn't think about keeping the door for him as it was obvious he would get out too. No matter. He pushed the big door open, surprised by how heavy they were. The balladeer had such a small and frail figure that he wasn’t expecting this. (Small tiny babygirl fandango boy!!!)

"Comrade! I wanted to wait for you but it was taking a lot of time and then I had to... uh... piss. Haha." He started laughing as if what he said was extremely hilarious, and Kaeya just stared. Had he made some joke he couldn't understand? Ed Sheeran's laugh was contagious though and he started laughing too.

///

They were walking in Schnezhnaya for some time now. At least both of them were covered, unlike last time where Kaeya had to borrow Childe's coat. The ginger tried to act as if it was nothing but really, he was freezing. If they had stayed outside any longer he could've frozen to death. He was used to the cold air of his region but that day was really cold. Today tho, it is snowing.

Kaeya had become used to the weather here too. It had been two weeks now, and between training with childe and visiting the city, he loved it. He would often wake up scared or sad at night for no reason but since he couldn't remember his dreams, he didn't think it was so bad.

Since they had trained and fought a lot yesterday, they would visit the city today. The Tsaritsa said it would be good to make him accustomed to the people of Scheznaya and make him like the town to integrate better. Childe saw it as a sort of date, and he didn't hate that idea so much. His new friend was always eager to see new things and walk around, although he was a bit scared to
They were walking on the border of a lake that was frozen from the cold.
"Is this the place where you do that ice fishing you love so much?"
"Haha, no. Here we can ice skate."
"What is that?"
"Seriously Lin, you've never heard of it?"
"May I remind you that I'm amnesiac?"
"Oh... I forgot."
"Not funny."
"Right. Well, skating is when you use shoes with blades to slide  ice. It's really fun."
"Sounds fun. Do you think we could try it?"
"Sure! I'm here to make you visit my homeland so we have to make the most of it. Come."
Childe took his hand and pulled him as he ran off to a stand where you could borrow skates. He handed a bag of Mora to the lady in charge of the cashier and she stared at them in shock at how much he had given her.
"Hey, miss. I don't have all day so could you please go faster?" Said Childe, starting to get annoyed. She apologized and handed him skates after asking for their size. She tried to give him his change but he insisted that she'd keep the rest for tip. (Fatui propaganda fr) She tanked him many times before he left to help Kaeya put them on. They struggled to tie the laces and actually make the shoe fit but made it after a while. Childe helped Kaeya get up and walked him to the ice where he fell not even a second after touching the ice.
Childe laughed a little but stopped when he saw the annoyance on his comrad's face. He helped him get up, again, and decided to hold him this time so he wouldn't fall.

They were now very close. Childe could feel his friend's hot breath on his face and tried not to look at him. He instead looked around. Snow was falling, but not too much of it so the weather was enjoyable. There was a little wind too, and it was making Kaeya's long blue hair float. Without thinking, the eleventh harbinger puts his hand on his head. Kaeya blushes and tightens his grip on Childe's waist so he wouldn't get distracted and fall. Still, enjoying the contact he put his head on his chest and closed his eyes. Now, childe wasn't really looking at where he was going but people were getting out of the way to let him pass.

Bam.

Kaeya tripped again. This time he didn’t fall alone. He was still holding onto his friend's waist and they were now both on the ground, kaeya on top.
"It's your fault..." he said, looking away to not have eye contact.
"I was just brushing off the snow-" tried to explain the carrot head, but his face was betraying him. He knew he would always get red, almost as bright red as a tomato when he was embarrassed or lying.
"It's cold." he said, as an explanation, but Kaeya wasn't going to actually believe that.

"Do you two need help?" Asked some old lady passing by. She stopped skating and a man of the same age who most likely was her husband joined her.
"Aw, look at this cute couple. Back in the days we used to be like this, love."

A... A couple? A couple. A couple! He called them a couple. Why? Thinking about it, their position was a bit awkward and even before, they were technically cuddling. Kaeya panicked. He had never felt any of this before. He was feeling warm, even if it was cold outside. He wanted to stay like this with Childe, holding him like this for a longer time but he couldn't. He didn't like him like that, right? He had to get up before anyone gets the wrong idea.

He rolled to his left, and got up. He gave his hand to childe to help him like the red head did a few time later. They were both avoiding eye contact and didn't talk on their way back.

Chapter Text

Diluc was walking in circles in his room. Seeing as Gerard hadn't came back yet, he decided to go to fontaine himself. He was so upset about his knight's failure that he spent about an hour shit talking about the knights of Favonius to Jean. Of course, she listened to everything he said. She couldn't bring herself to tell him to stop even if she was the acting grandmaster and technically she was the boss of the knights, so his insults were kind of directed towards her indirectly. She knew he didn't mean it like that and that he was just really emotionally on edge with his situation. She would be too. Just thinking about the Doctor from the Fatui taking her own sister for some experiments would make her loose her mind. Just the thought of it was painful.

" ... and really, who the fuck names their children Gerard? That's so stupid... If he ever comes back you have to fire him." He stopped himself from talking, seeing how she had stopped looking at him.
"Jeaaaan? Were you listening when I said you should fire him?"
"Uh?" She looked back at him, lost. "Who should I fire...?"
"Gerard! What were you thinking about? Or who."
"Oh, uh.."

Before she could continue her sentence, the door was brutally opened. A tall women dressed in green entered the room. For a moment, Diluc didn't recognize her. It looked like a random women npc from the akademia. It looked like a more fancy-looking version of the scholars uniforms. She had beautiful light brown hair tied in two braids with a hat on top of her head.
"Oh, hi master Diluc." By the sound of her voice, he recognized her.
"The librarian."
"For the last time, call me Lisa."

Lisa. The librarian. Why was she wearing this? She had been a student at the akademiya, but that was a long time ago.
" Hi Lisa. You wanted to see me?" Said Jean, a bright smile on her face. She had seemed tense and serious up until now.
"Yes! I didn't expect this guy to be here. Do you like my new clothes? I got them after visiting sumeru again!"
"They... uh... Look very pretty on you."
Diluc noticed she was looking at some part of the body where he had to admit, he was looking too. That had been distracting the acting grandmaster since Lisa entered the room.
"You look very good in this... Lisa." He was about to call her librarian again but rectified himself. To be completely honest, he didn't like Lisa that much. She seemed to have something going on with Jean and he felt a bit jealous. But seeing Jean happy was more important to him, so he tried to toss those feelings away and focus on more important things, like finding his brother.
"Thank you, both of you! I really like it, it reminds me of when I was a student."
"That's right. Umm, anyways what did you want to tell me?"
"I wanted talk to you in private... if you know what i mean..." she winked and looked at her suggestively. Diluc couldn't help but find himself laughing as he saw Jean's face take a bright red color when she realized what the librarian meant.
"You can go Jean, I'll continue what I was doing alone, like always."
"If it's fine with you..."
"Yes. Go now."

Jean got up from her desk, a bit flustered. She took Lisa's hand and they both left, smiling. Diluc took Jean's seat and went through the files. It wasn't really good to do that, as some of them weren't for the public to see but he knew Jean wouldn't care.

He found the file on Kaeya and opened it. The folder was getting quite big, meaning there were a lot of reports getting written. Most of them were from Diluc. After looking through them, a little post-it fell out. Diluc bent down to pick it up from the floor. It was Jean's handwriting.

[Remember to tell Diluc to take some rest. He's pushing himself too hard these days.] (Like jean isnt working too much either uh 💀)

Thinking about it, he was. He knew very well he was obsessing over this, and it wasn't healthy. He put down the documents and left the knights of Favonius building to go the angel's share.

"Hello master Diluc!"
"Hi, charles. Do you mind taking a break so I can serve the clients for a while?"
"Not at all. I mean, who'd complain about getting a break, am I right?"
"Right."

Charles went to sit at an empty table and took a book to read while Diluc went behind the desk.(how is it called?)

A familiar figure walked through the door. Once he saw the red head, venti smiled. It had been long since he had seen him work here.

"Master Diluc! What a pleasure it is to see you!"
"Mhm. If you say so."
"Come on, at least act as if you're glad to see me~"
"Last time I saw you you made my brother drunk. Then, you know what happened next."
"Ah, come on. It's not that deep."
"If you weren't a god I'd-"
"But i am, so. Y'know what would cheer you up, master Diluc?"
"..what?"
"Drink with me! Since he (kaeya) isn't here with me today, I'd be a bit lonely!"
"No way. I hate alcohol. I hate how it tastes and how it feels in my mouth."
"Come onnnn!"
"No. Stop or I'm kicking you out."
"Just this time. You'll be fine."
"Ugh. If I drink one glass will you shut up?"
"Sureee~!"

Sighing and already regretting everything, Diluc took a bottle of dandelion wine under the counter and poured some of it into two glasses.
"What are you staring at me for? Give." Demanded Venti, annoyed.
"This ain't free."
Venti grumbled and took some Mora from his pocket, handing it over to the bartender. Diluc then gave him the glass, and drank from his own, grimacing.
"I will never get how you like this abject liquid."

He chugged the rest of it rapidly so he wouldn't have the time to taste it. Venti took the bottle from him and poured it into the two glasses again.

Not really paying attention, Diluc chugged that second glass. He slammed the glass on the table, making a loud noise. The people in the bar turned their head towards him but he couldn't care less so he lifted his empty glass at Venti's height, silently asking him for more since the bard was the one holding the bottle. Once he realized his behavior, he remembered how Kaeya used to act like this, almost everyday. That's what happened last time, before he kicked him out... He would forever hate himself for that. Kaeya was such an idiot, but it was Diluc's fault too. Even if he found his brother, he could never forgive himself. He was trying his hardest not to cry, but the wine was making him drunk and he started bawling, putting his head on the counter so he wouldn't be seen (obviously everyone can still see him).

"I told him I hated him... I was so... I was really a bad brother to him... He probably hates me now. And I miss him.. I miss him so much!" He cried. Not knowing what to do Venti just smiled awkwardly, trying to act as if he cared. He patted Diluc's head like you would to a cat.
"It's going to be alright, just calm down and..."
"It's not alright! He- He might be fucking dead! I- Pass me that bottle!" He reached out his hand to grab the bottle but Venti dodged and put it higher. He was very small and by standing up Diluc could reach it. He emptied the bottle in his glass.

"Diluc, I really think it's enough..." said Venti, a concerned look on his face. He grabbed Diluc's hand to stop him from drinking more.
"Who are you to tell me this? My dad?"
"Woah, calm down."
"You calm down first, tone-deaf bard."
Venti was trying not to laugh after hearing Diluc using Paimon's Nickname for him.
He tightened his grip around the glass until it completely shattered, the cold red liquid now all on the counter and on his coat.

Venti grimaced at seeing him waste such good wine.

Chapter Text

It had been 6 days. 6 days since he went on a "date" with Childe and that the thing happened at the ice rink. Like every morning since that day he would wake up late because Childe was the one who woke him up every morning. He could've set an alarm or asked one of the maids to wake him up but kept hoping for his friend to come. He didn't.

He got out of his bed, disappointed. Another day without the ginger. He hadn't done much of his days either. He went to train yesterday, but it wasn't as fun as when he trained with Tartaglia. He couldn't go walk around the city because he was scared of getting lost.

He took a red apple from the fridge in his room. If Childe was there he'd tell him that wasn't enough and that he should eat more, but he wasn't there.

He was definitely overreacting. Childe this, Childe that, what would he do if Childe went on a mission without him? What would he do if he had to go somewhere without Childe? But he couldn't stop thinking about him. Maybe he should just stop being an immature child(cyno joke moment) and actually go talk to him. They were both at fault for ignoring each other.

He went to where Childe usually was, the training room, but he wasn't there. Kaeya instead started alone. Maybe his friend would show up later. After 30 minutes, he was exhausted and Childe still wasn't there. He went to bench and put on 120 lbs like usual.
He tried to lift it, but on his second repetition he was feel his arms go weaker. (L Skill issues)

He accidentally dropped it but it stopped close to him. He looked up to see who it was. The balladeer. He wasn't wearing his hat and Kaeya could see his flat bowl cut. But he had to admit, he was really pretty for a guy. Like in a girl kinda way. Like in a babygirl kinda way. My babygirl.

After making eye contact with him, Scaramouche looked away. Why was that? Was he actually... shy..? No, that really wouldn't fit him. He just hated everyone and everything.

"Get up." Asked the Balladeer. He effortlessly lifted the weight with one hand under Kaeya's impressed gaze.
"I said get up, or do you want me to drop this on your feeble neck so it kills you?"
"Uh? Oh. Sorry." He got up, and helped the small man replace the weight. It wasn't really helping since the balladeer didn't need any help for that. He was still impressed on how strong he was. By simply looking at his arms, he would've never guessed it.

"So, what are you doing here, balladeer?"
"Searching for you. The ginger imbecile asked me to tell you something before I go."
"I don't want to hear it. Where are you going?"
"To inazuma, why?"
"Would you let me come with you?"
"I'm not going on a vacation. The tsaritsa gave me a really important mission."
"It's fine. I want to leave Schnezhnaya for some time."
"Eh, sure, why not. You're useless while you're here, you'll be useless in Inazuma so it doesn't change anything."

"Adeline!"
Kaeya turned around as soon as he heard his name. Before, he would've probably kept on walking, but he had gotten used to the name Childe gave him. A tall man was running towards them, a bag in hand. When he got closer, kaeya could see it was the doctor. That made him lose his smile. What was that weirdo doing here?
"Adeline! Ah, finally, I've found you! I thought you were gone already... well, it's good you aren't. I have something for you before you go." He gave him the little bag. The blue haired man took it reluctantly and took out a circular metallic object. It was reflecting the sun and actually really pretty.
"What is this?"
"Your vision. I ...uh... made some adjustments to it and it ᵏⁱⁿᵈᵃ ᵇʳᵒᵏᵉ ᵇᵘᵗ ʸᵉᵃ ᵘʰ ⁱᵗˢ ᶠⁱⁿᵉ... Anyways, I've fixed it and it should work now! Bye!"
"...bye." said kaeya unenthusiastically while the doctor waved and walked backwards to look at him as he went away. He eventually tripped on something and didn't get up. Kaeya was about to go and see if he was alright but someone put his hand on his shoulder, holding him there.

"Don't bother. He's an idiot." Said Scaramouche. He looked at what his colleague was holding. "Whats that?"
"My vision, apparently."
"Uh. It looks a little broken."
A little was an understatement. It wasn't just a little broken. There were at least 50 visible cracks and as if he wanted to apologize, the doctor had also thrown in with what kaeya guessed to be a pyro delusion. He had seen childe use an electro one.
Will it work even if it's broken, thought Kaeya. He didn't even know he had a vision until now, so it wasn't that important to him whether it worked or not. It just pissed him off that the doctor took something so important from him and did some of his stupid experiments on it. He put it in his pocket and followed Scaramouche on the ship but stayed outside to look at the sea. The ocean was huge. It was also pretty.

"I could push you off this boat and no one would care because you are utterly useless, pathetic and worthless." Said a voice. He turned around and saw Scaramouche standing behind him. For a moment, Kaeya thought that the short boy would actually push him off. Earlier, he would've probably been offended by his words but now he had gotten used to it.
"If you push me in the sea, what would the Tsaritsa say?" He asked. The balladeer laughed.
"I don't know, she'd be angry, I guess. I wouldn't care about it. By the way. I don't mean to offend you, but your name... it uh... isn't it a girl name?"
"What? Childe said it was my name. I don't remember if it actually is."
"Clearly it's not. That idiot made it up because he didn't know what to call you."
"Your name is fucking Scaramouche. Don't say anything about mine."

They stared at the sea, an awkward silence between them.
"Scaramouche is just a code name." Said the balladeer, breaking the silence.
"My name is Kunikuzushi. But don't call me that."
"Ok, Kunikuzushi."
"Shut up."

Annoyed, Scaramouche left to go somewhere else on the ship. Kaeya decided to stay a little, still amazed by the ocean. It did get boring after some time so he went back to the room where he was staying. According to what they'd told him, it would take around one or two days to reach inazuma, if everything went well.

//
Two days later.

Followed by Scaramouche, Kaeya was getting off the ship. The first thing he saw were the trees. They were full of flowers, and their petals were just floating around, falling on the ground like rain. Upon seeing how amazed his companion was, the short midget guy sighed. Kaeya seemed to notice this as he made a remarq to annoy him more.
"Hey, aren't all those pink trees pretty, mister Balladeer?" He smiled while Scaramouche got closer to pushing him in the water.
"Firstly, they are called Sakura trees. Secondly, no, they are not pretty. This miserable country does not have anything that makes it worth visiting so keep your horrible opinions to yourself. We are here on official business, not to go sightseeing."
"You still haven't told me what this so important official business was." Said Kaeya, pouting.
"Ugh... Do I have to? You'll know when we're there. Wait..! Don't go too far from me I promised I'd keep you within 7 meters of me at all times!"
"Why? Did the Tsaritsa-"
"No it's that bitch doctor I have a paper with rules on them."

He took a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Kaeya, who immediately recognized Dottore's horrible writing.
[1. Keep him within 7 meters of you at all times.
2. Do not mention people with red hair
3. Do not give wine (he is alcoholic)
4. Don't speak about Mondstat.
5. He doesn't know how to swim.
6. Do not add or substract to the population (negotiable)
7. DO NOT SHOW THE LIST]

"So you broke the last one?"
"Pff, like I care. You can keep it too. Now let's go to-" he stopped talking as he noticed kaeya wasn't in front of him anymore.
"What the fuck, come back here!"

After finding his collegue at some random bar, Scara decided he would take a day off to show Kaeya around Inazuma in exchange for him promising he wouldn't try to run away again.

(While Diluc is suffering this bozo is going on a vacation with Scaramoochie)

//

"If I were given the choice between eating a cryo slime alive or joining the fatui, I'd want to get crushed by a meteor."

Well, what he said some time ago. He didn't remember the exact phrase. But it did hit harder right now, considering what he was about to say to Jean. The choice he made was bad, and he knew it. But he couldn't do otherwise. Right now he had nothing else left. He had to do this. He had to find the strenght in him to talk to her. Tell her.

He put his hand on the door to her office, not able to move. It was like his arm wasn't listening to his brain. He knew she wouldn't listen to him. She wouldn't agree. She probably wouldn't let him go, but he still will. He has to.

The door opened before him, hitting him in the face. He didn't have the time to back off and would've probably fell on his back if it wasn't for Jean catching him. She did drop all of her paperwork by doing so and he bent down to help her pick it up.

"I assume you wanted to talk to me?" She said, trying to quickly sort everything in order. He handed a pile of paper and she retained herself from telling him how he just put them in a random order, messing everything up. At least he was helping her.

"Not even apologizing to me? Well, that's to expect from a knight of..." he stopped talking after seeing the obvious look of annoyance on Jean's face.
"Well anyways- I don't really know how to tell you this. Can we go in your office or are you busy?"
"No, not really I was going to give those to Eula but it can wait. Come."

She makes him sit and closes the door, he surely asked to go in her office for more privacy. What he wanted to say was probably something he didn't want others to hear and she could respect that. Diluc took a deep breath before starting.

"Remember that night I came back home drunk... like, last week, you know?"
"Of course. How could I forget. Venti himself called for me to bring you home. Don't ever do that again, do you hear me?"
He looked at the ground, a bit embarrassed by his behavior. Sure he had been an idiot that night but he didn't want to be reminded of it by other people.
"Yea yea... I found this on my door the next day. You can read it."

He handed her a letter. It was in a very bad condition, the ink was blurry at some places like it had some liquid on it, perhaps water.(cum??? Im so sorry) It was also teared and crumpled.

[I just wanted to tell you I left fontaine and disposed of that geraldine (or was it gerald? Gertrude? Whatever.) As for your brother, he's doing well. I wouldn't worry if I were you. Just stop searching you'll never be able to find him. Well, maybe if you finally left Mondstat you could have more chances (not).

- D]

"It's from the Doctor?"
"Yea... I swear he's doing this on purpose to mess with me."
"Most likely, yes."

He took the paper back and stuffed it in his pant's pocket carelessly, looking away before saying it like it wasn't really important.
"... I'm joining the Fatui."

From all of the things she expected him to say, she couldn't even think about thinking he could possibly consider that. Had he gone mad? All this searching for Kaeya made him lose reason, she was certain of it now.

"Now, before you say anything..."

"You're fu- crazy!" She stopped herself from cursing lol.

"Jean, just listen to me."

"No. I know this will go badly."

"You don't understand. If I go to Schnezhnaya on my own, they will stop me for sure. By joining the Fatui, I even have a reason to go."

"I can't lose you too..."

"I will come back, alive, with Kaeya. Don't worry about it."

///

"What? You, join the Fatui? You legit come here every week to harass me, I know your name ain't Martin Philippe Levesque."
"Bruh." Said Diluc. It appears changing your name does not work with a person that already knows you.
"Get out, Diluc."
"Ok."

///

After the Fatui at the church of Favonius told him to get lost, Diluc decided to go to Liyue. He wouldn't be as stupid as to go to Schnezhnaya directly. Well, he could, but he's banned from entering the country. Joining the Fatui under a fake name is the best way to go there and find Dottore to beat the fucking shit out of him. (And eventually find kaeya but like HE IS VENGEANCE) Anyway, he went to the nortland bank, a place where he was certain to meet a Fatui without getting recognized.

"So... your name is Jean-paul Trudeau, is that right..?" Asked the guy, not convinced by what the red head was saying.
"Yes! My dream is- is to join the Fatui..!" Said Diluc, forcing a smile on his face. Saying those words was taking all of his strength and it made him feel like he was about to throw up.

Chapter Text

“My dream is to join the Fatui.” said Diluc.

He bit his lip, trying his hardest not to start bawling right in front of the staff at the Northland bank.

“…I see.” The Fatui spoke in a low tone, weirded out by Diluc’s, or Jean Paul’s, awkward and unnatural behaviour.

I want to fucking kill myself , thought Diluc. He couldn’t kill himself today, though, because he needed to find his stupid brother. He forced a smile on his face again and tried to appear as joyful as he could, which is hard to do for someone who goes around cosplaying Batman at night. 

“Well, uh, we are searching for members… What was your name again? Jean-Paul? You said you were from Fontaine, yet you look like you come from Mondstat.”

The guy glared at him, uncertain about what he should do. The man in front of him looked really suspicious and he really didn’t want to deal with that.

“I just came back from a trip there, actually. So like, can I join?? Please.”

I’m really begging a FATUI to let me join them. Where is that meteor? When am I getting crushed by a meteor.? 

The Fatui officer sighed, again. He had had a really long day and that strange person now kept lying in his face like it was nothing. He finally decided to let go of it. And then, he had an idea. If that liar wanted to join their ranks so desperately, he could just send him off to somewhere where his superiors could deal with him, and if in the end he really was being honest, then he would be far enough not to annoy him. 

“Hey, you look like a very competent individual, so could you do me a favor and deliver this letter for me?” 

Diluc suddenly felt a strange sense of déjà vu. He brushed it off as he had other matters at hand.

On the road, Diluc was still feeling that strange sense of déjà vu. When did something similar to this happen? Oh. Gerard. Surely this isn’t…

It was. The Fatui man sent him to deliver a letter, exactly like he had sent Gerard to Fontaine weeks ago because he was tired of having him around. Well, whatever. He finally got what he wanted. Now, if anyone asked why he was in Snezhnaya, he had a valid excuse and would be less likely to be arrested. Still, he should probably try to make himself less recognizable. Even if he showed the official letter and wore their uniforms, it would all go to waste the moment someone finds out his identity. He WAS banned from the city after all. 

He thought about it for a moment. What’s my most noticeable feature?

He ran his fingers through his hair while thinking about it, and that’s when it finally hit him. His long ass crimson hair. Even if he wore a hat or a hood, it would be hard to hide. He just had to get rid of it. Well, not all, he didn’t want to be bald. 

Without any hesitation, the redhead unsheathed his sword and cut the hair short. He pondered whether or not he should wear a mask. Would that just bring more attention to him? He could always pretend to be sick. Alright, no. Acting normal would be best. 

His voyage lasted about a week. He didn’t stop often, and was extremely exhausted after staying awake for so long, allowing himself up to four hours of sleep daily. He was exhausted. He was exhausted, but he kept going because he knew he had absolutely no time to lose.

Diluc stopped at the gate of the city, mentally reciting what he would say to be sure he did everything correctly. The guard immediately approached him. The redhead swallowed his pride and delivered the message he had practiced earlier, making sure to look as calm as he could.

“I’m here to deliver a letter to the Tsaritsa.” Not an ounce of hesitation could be heard in his voice. The guard looked down on him but Diluc confidently held eye contact. He had to look confident to be more convincing. 

“Can I go now? Can’t let our beloved archon wait, right?”

After some time, the guard moved aside. Diluc breathed in deeply in relief. Was his acting good or was the guard incredibly gullible? Perhaps a mix of both. Or maybe no one was dumb enough to infiltrate their city with ill intents? Especially not twice.  

Oh, and that part about the beloved archon? Bullshit, obviously. He almost broke character while saying that part. Whatever it takes. Whatever it takes. He kept repeating the same thing over and over. Once he had his brother he could finally leave this godforsaken nation. He could continue arguing with Kaeya’s drunk ass and talking shit about the knights of Favonius as he would do everyday. 

Diluc walked through the city quickly. He would run, but that would certainly attract unneeded attention. Sure, it was a few years since he came here, but they certainly haven’t forgotten about what he did, so he needed to be extremely careful. He continued walking, and eventually stopped, frustrated. He didn’t remember Snezhnaya as well as he thought he did. In other words, he was lost. And tired. He looked around, unsure about what to do. Should he ask a local for directions? He walked some more, hoping to find a map or literally anything that would be of help. 

The place was desolate. Great, now he was even more lost. Diluc heard a voice and followed the sound of it. 

“What to do, what to do…” lamented a guy leaning onto the fence, looking at the sea. He was holding a letter in his hand. From his looks and bland attire, Diluc assumed he was a regular citizen of Snezhnaya, so he walked towards him.

The guy turned around, staring at him with deep blue eyes. If it wasn’t for the man literally breathing in front of him, Diluc would’ve thought he was dead. His eyes were completely devoid of light. 

“Can I help you?” he asked, perplexed. Diluc looked away, realizing how odd he must’ve looked, staring at someone like that. 

“No, it’s fine. I’m just a little lost, that’s all.” he admitted, deciding to be honest.

“Where do you need to go? I could show you the way, if you want.” 

“You don’t need to.”

“No really, I don’t mind at all. So where is it?”

Under the man’s insisting tone, the redhead gave in. 

“Right, so I just need to deliver a message to our archon.” 

The man arched a brow when he emphasized on the word ‘our’. 

“What is it? I’ll tell her.” 

Diluc rolled his eyes. If he really did have such an important message to relay, why the hell would he simply entrust it to the first idiot he came across? He explained he needed to be the one to deliver the letter. The man nodded and suggested he guide him to the archon. They walked in silence. A very awkward and uncomfortable silence. The man’s deep and empty eyes didn’t help either. What’s got him looking so gloomy and sad anyway? Diluc swallowed those thoughts. Offending someone willing to help him was definitely not the brightest move, hence he kept his mouth shut. He already had problems of his own anyway so hearing about the ones others have was the last thing he wanted.

Now what? He had what he wanted. But what should he do? He didn’t really think this through after all. Well, for starters, he didn’t think he would even go this far. Actually, it was a little strange how well everything was going for him. 

The man stopped walking and turned around. 

“By the way, I think we should drop the fake identities. I’m Childe.” 

Diluc stopped walking. Oh. A trap. Of course. How naive of him to think no one would suspect him at all. He put his hand on the hilt of his claymore, slightly trembling, fumbling around to get it out. 

“What’s wrong, comrade?” he said, with an almost innocent sounding tone. 

Diluc took a few steps back, brandishing the weapon. He would be facing off against a harbinger, sure, but that was only the 11th one. It should be fine. He’d already fought one before. 

“Hey, don’t tell me you’re scared. I heard so much about how strong you were, Diluc Ragnvindr, so don’t you dare disappoint me!”

Right, Childe, Tartaglia, was that combat obsessed harbinger. 

“I won’t disappoint you, then.” he uttered, rushing forward and wasting no time to attack. He didn’t know what the outcome of the fight would be, but one thing was certain, he would never go down without a fight.

Tartaglia was quick to retaliate, shoving the sword out of the way with his arm. He swiftly swung his water blades, missing his opponent by a strand of hair. Contrary to Diluc, he harbored an elated smile, contrasting heavily with the other’s composed and serious expression. For Childe, this was another exhilarating fight among many, for Diluc it was something that could determine his or Kaeya’s fate. 

Diluc lit up his claymore with burning flames and threw himself forward. While the two clashed, their weapons sizzled as the two elements came into contact, emitting some vapor. Bolts ran through his opponent’s blades and the redhead guessed it had to be from his delusion. To Diluc surprise, Childe then dropped everything and started pouting for no apparent reason. That’s what he figured until he saw someone’s shadow from behind him.

He heard a loud thud followed by a sharp pain in his head. He swung his sword again in a last effort, but his view was already darkening and the lack of sleep he had accumulated over the last few days certainly wasn’t helping. Furious, Childe shouted. 

“Hey, I asked to have him for myself! Why did you intervene, dumbass?”

That was the last thing Diluc heard.

⸻

To his disarray, Diluc woke up chained to a wall. Well, that was to be expected, but he still felt terrible about it. Not only did he fail to save Kaeya, he even got caught! 

To add some salt into his already burning wound, an ugly masked man entered the room. He flashed a smile to Diluc. 

“Oh, did you change your hair? It’s cute.” 

“I’ll kill you.” muttered the redhead under his breath. The doctor laughed.

“I’d love to see you do that when you are restrained like this.”

His tone reeked of arrogance. If he could, Diluc would simply rip his head off right there. Still, that wouldn’t do shit because that annoying prick had multiple bodies. Instead, he took a deep breath to contain his emotions and hatred towards the doctor before speaking again.

“Where is Kaeya?” 

“Like I’d tell you.”

Diluc frowned. Of course he wouldn’t get an answer from his captor this easily. 

“What good would it do you for me to tell you? You’re still imprisoned here.”

Diluc closed his eyes, tired. The doctor kept yapping and yapping and he just couldn’t take it. 

A few minutes later, he heard the sound of a door opening and the doctor stopped talking. He turned his back to him to welcome the person who just entered. The redhead immediately recognized the 11th harbinger’s orange hair. Childe glared at Dottore. Was he still angry about yesterday? Most likely yes, seeing how he walked right past the doctor, going as far as to purposely bump into his shoulder. 

Childe glared spitefully at the doctor before looking back at the prisoner chained to the wall. “I know that my colleague here interrupted our fight, so your defeat wasn’t fair. I wasn’t lying when I said I wanted to spar with you.” 

To Diluc’s surprise, however, Childe didn’t stop there. He leaned in on him and  whispered into his ear.

“Take this and get out.” Childe stuffed a key in Diluc’s pocket, hiding his actions with his body. So that was why he had gotten so close. 

Taken by surprise, Diluc didn’t answer. It was probably best this way as the doctor would’ve found it suspicious if they continued their exchange like that. To not blow it, he added something.

“As if I would lose to some Fatui scum.” 

Dottore laughed at his words.  “And yet here you are.”

The redhead gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. 

I swear, one day I’ll beat this man to death. 

The doctor brushed off his attitude and switched his attention to Tartaglia.

“So, did you come in here just to threaten my guest? If so you can leave now that you’re done.” 

The doctor was smiling, but it was an unfriendly smile. It was as if he wanted Childe to exit and leave them alone. 

“Actually, no. I was sent here because the others want us to meet. That includes you.” he saw the doctor thinking and continued, “The Tsaritsa herself requested this meeting.”

Now he had no other choice but to go. He looked at his prisoner, uncertain, but soon left with the other man, not saying a word. He closed the door behind him. 

Diluc waited a few minutes to be sure that his captor was gone before taking the key from his pocket and quickly unlocking the shackle on his left leg. It made a light click sound as the mechanism worked and the shackle opened. 

Wait, what about the door? Diluc glanced at it, uncertain. There wasn’t a way to open it from the inside and it was obvious that Dottore would’ve locked it in the possibility that Diluc broke free from the restraints. Maybe Childe unlocked it? No, if that was the case the doctor would’ve seen for sure. 

He turned the handle and as he predicted, it didn’t budge. He looked around, hoping that the 11th harbinger had left him something. But maybe that soulless ginger boy didn’t actually think it through. Maybe he just wanted to give some false hope to Diluc so he would feel even more helpless.

Even if that was his plan, the redhead wasn’t out of ideas. Or rather, he had a stupid one. Giving it his all, he kicked the door a few times. He didn’t really have any hopes in that move either, however, to his surprise, something did happen. Something other than bruising his foot. The door was cracking! Ignoring the aggravating pain, Diluc continued hitting it. He went as fast as he possibly could. The loud banging noise would surely catch someone’s attention and bring them here. If that happened, he was done for. 

CRACK!

With one final sound, the door fell down. He didn’t waste a second to start running. By now, it would be weird if anyone hadn’t heard everything. He started running, dashing across the corridors. He had no idea where to go, he had no idea where the exit was, he had no idea where he was, yet he still continued forward. He would eventually come across an opening. He raced past some confused people, ignoring them. 

Finally! The exit was right there.

“Hey, how about you calm down? You’re attracting so much attention right now.”

Someone grabbed it by the collar. Diluc recognized the voice as Childe’s. He grunted, slapping the harbinger’s hand off his shirt. But why was he here? 

“We have no time to lose. Let’s go. But walk normally.” 

A dark cloth was thrown over Diluc’s head to hide him. He stood there for a moment. Childe was the one who got him trapped there in the first place. What changed? Was it a trap? Again? 

“Come on, we don’t have all day!” he hissed, exasperated. Diluc didn’t know what to do but since this was the second time the harbinger helped him, he decided to follow him. He did not trust Childe, but he would give him a chance.

“What about your meeting?”

“Oh, that was a lie. That stupid doctor is probably searching for me right now. He must be fuming. Haha!” Childe’s laughter was loud and crazed but he genuinely looked happy.

They walked a little more and Childe put an object in Diluc’s hand. It was his pyro vision. Not thanking him, Diluc hung the vision to his waist like he usually did. He felt a lot better now that he had it back. 

“Why did you help me?” Especially after attacking me like that , thought Diluc, though that part stayed in his head. 

“The person we are searching for is the same. Being your brother, I figured you knew him way better than me. What I’m saying is I need your help.”

Well, that was the last thing he’d expected. For what reason could that man possibly be searching for Kaeya? 

“Why would… No, wait.” He needed to know something else first. 

He almost had some trouble saying it, like the words got stuck in his mouth. He would never admit it, but he was afraid of the answer.

“Where is my brother?”

“Inazuma.”

His nervosity and fear completely melted down, being replaced by confusion.

Oh. Of course. That totally makes sense. Does he take me for a moron??

Seeing his perplexed and annoyed expression, Childe continued talking.

“I’m dead serious. Your brother is currently in Inazuma with the balladeer.” That just brought Diluc’s confusion to another level. After all the trouble he went through to get here, Kaeya was actually on a whole other continent!