Chapter Text
The courtyard smelled faintly of soap and lilac water.
The sun was already low, casting a burnt-gold hue over the cobbled paths and rows of rose bushes. Adelinde stood beside a wide wooden tub, sleeves rolled up to her elbows, her apron streaked with suds. She watched, with a barely hidden wince, as the new maid fumbled with the linens, wringing them incorrectly and splashing water everywhere.
“No, no—stop,” Adelinde said, exasperated but not cruel. “Fold it first, and then you wring. You’re soaking it, not drowning it.”
“I-I’m sorry, Miss Adelinde,” the maid stammered, her face pink. She tried to correct her grip and dropped the sheet entirely into the grass.
Adelinde sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose. “We’ve been over this—these linens are Mondstadt’s finest. They’re not rags for scrubbing tavern floors. Try again.”
The girl bent down to retrieve the sheet, muttering apologies.
She looked toward the treeline. The wind rustled the leaves gently. Another quiet evening, she supposed.
Then—
Something moved.
A figure. Barely visible through the fading light. Staggering. Limping.
Her brows furrowed.
“Is that—?” she muttered under her breath, shading her eyes.
The figure stumbled again. The shape of him was odd, his gait disjointed and slow. Like a drunkard—no, worse. He wasn’t walking. He was dragging himself forward.
She stepped forward cautiously. “You there! This is private property—state your business!”
No answer.
And then—
Then she saw it.
Red.
Not just red.
His red.
Her stomach dropped.
No.
No, it couldn’t—
The figure took one more step forward.
And collapsed.
Face-first into the grass.
Adelinde’s scream tore from her throat before her mind had even caught up.
“DILUC!!”
She ran. Her legs were too slow. Her heart was already ahead of her, breaking before she hit the ground. She tripped on the flagstones, barely caught herself, and skidded to her knees beside the crumpled figure.
“No—nonono— Diluc —” she gasped, her hands already on him, turning him over with trembling fingers. “Oh, my Archons—my boy—my sweet boy—”
His body was warm, too warm. His face was barely recognizable—blood caked down his temple from a gash that split his forehead nearly to the brow. His lip was torn, his skin pale beneath the filth and blood. His stomach… oh, gods.
She clamped a hand over her mouth.
“ No, no, no— ”
His abdomen was torn open. Not a clean wound—ragged, as if torn by claws or shrapnel. Blood soaked through the waistband of the boxers that were the only thing he wore. His right arm hung at a grotesque angle. One hand was mangled—his finger barely attached by a strip of skin. Bruises bloomed dark and ugly across his ribs. His chest rose shallowly, too shallowly.
“ ELZER!! ” she screamed, voice cracking. “ELZER, COME HERE!!”
Her voice echoed across the estate like thunder. Windows opened. Doors slammed.
But she didn’t wait. She cupped his face with both hands, sobbing openly now. “Please—please, Diluc—wake up, please—don’t do this to me—not like this—Barbatos, please—”
“Adelinde—!”
Elzer arrived, panting, skidding to a stop. He froze. His eyes locked onto the broken body at her feet.
He went white. “Is that—oh gods—”
“Yes, it’s him!” she snapped, shaking, cradling Diluc’s bloodied head against her apron. “Don’t just stand there! Help me!! ”
More maids and footmen poured into the courtyard. Some gasped. One screamed. Adelinde whirled on them, eyes blazing, grief-sharpened.
“Don’t you dare stand there like fools—GET HIM INSIDE!” she bellowed. “MOVE!!”
Elzer dropped to his knees, already lifting Diluc under the shoulders. “Carefully—carefully—don’t move his arm—”
A butler, younger and wide-eyed, stepped in to help. Between them, they lifted him—slow, steady—blood dripping from his side with every movement.
Adelinde stumbled to her feet and followed, hand over her heart, her prayers muttered between sobs.
“Barbatos, please—bring him back to me—I don’t care what he’s done—he’s mine, he’s mine— ”
They brought him through the great doors of the manor. Every servant stopped what they were doing to watch. Whispers followed them like ghosts. Adelinde didn’t hear a word. Her eyes never left Diluc.
When they reached the second floor, the door to his bedroom swung open without a creak.
The room was untouched. Dustless. Preserved. As if waiting.
They laid him on the bed—on pristine, pale-blue sheets. Now ruined with red.
Adelinde collapsed beside him.
His hair—his once-long, vibrant hair—was hacked short, uneven. Matted with blood. His body was so thin, too thin. What had they done to him?
“Don’t die,” she whispered, clutching his limp hand between hers. “Don’t die, my love. I raised you—I fed you, bathed you—I kissed your scraped knees—I stayed up when you had fevers—don’t leave me like this, please…”
Her head dropped to his chest. His heartbeat was faint, but there.
“Call the Cathedral!” she screamed over her shoulder. “NOW!”
A maid scrambled out of the room.
“And get Kaeya— now! ”
Elzer touched her shoulder gently. “He… he looks bad.”
“He is bad,” she snapped. Then her voice broke again. “I don’t care if he’s bleeding on the carpet. I don’t care if he’s half-dead. He’s home. He’s home, Elzer. My boy’s home.”
She kissed his bloodied knuckles. “I told him to come back. I told him I’d wait. I waited. Four years. I waited.”
Elzer said nothing. Just sat beside her. Holding her shoulder. Holding her up.
Around them, the room filled with servants—some crying, some stunned into silence.
But all Adelinde saw was the boy she once carried, who once laughed loud and wild in the courtyard, now broken and bleeding in her arms.
The moment was broken by the thunder of boots against the hardwood floor.
The door burst open.
Healers.
Four of them, dressed in the robes of the Cathedral. Their faces paled the second they saw the bed. The young ones halted in the doorway, gasping, while the older woman at the front—a seasoned medic with silver streaking her hair—took one sharp look and muttered, “ Barbatos preserve us. ”
“Is that—” one of the younger healers whispered. “Is that the Ragnvindr—?”
“It’s Diluc, ” Adelinde snapped, not looking up. “ My boy.”
The older healer stepped forward. Her face went stiff with something like recognition. “I knew his father. Lord Crepus… We worked together during the old flood season.”
Adelinde didn’t care. Didn’t even blink.
The woman cleared her throat, gently. “Lady Adelinde… we need you to step out so we can work.”
“What?”
The word barely sounded like her voice.
“Just for a moment. We need space, and calm. Please,” she said kindly. “You’ll only be in the way—”
“ In the way? ” Adelinde rose like a tempest, hands shaking. Her apron soaked in Diluc’s blood. “You want me to leave? You want me to walk out on him now? After four years? When he’s finally back?”
“Ma’am, it’s for his safety—”
“ NO! ” she shrieked, lunging forward. “You will not touch him without me here! He is my son—I raised him—I held him when he had nightmares and now you want me to leave him—”
The healers startled back.
“Adelinde—” Elzer’s voice cut in, hoarse.
She turned on him next, wild. “Don’t you dare, Elzer—don’t you dare ask me to move—I just got him back—I just —!”
“I know, ” he said, stepping forward. “I know. But they need to help him.”
One of the younger healers flinched as blood dripped from the bed to the floor.
“If we wait any longer,” the older healer said, firmer now, “we’ll lose him.”
“I will not leave him again! ” Adelinde howled. “Do you hear me? I WILL NOT —”
Elzer caught her from behind.
It wasn’t gentle. It couldn’t be.
He wrapped both arms around her shoulders and yanked her back. She thrashed violently, screaming, feet scraping the polished floor, heels slamming into the rug.
“ Let me GO! ”
“I can’t, ” Elzer whispered through clenched teeth, dragging her toward the couch just outside the room. “You have to let them save him, Addy— please. ”
She kicked him in the shin. Scratched down his arm with her nails. Hit his chest with a closed fist again and again, sobbing like an open wound. But Elzer only held her tighter, lowering them both to the couch. His arms caged her in as she collapsed against him.
“He’s dying—Elzer— he’s dying! ”
“He’s not, ” Elzer said, breath shaky, eyes red. “He’s not going to die. He’s too damn stubborn.”
“You didn’t see him—he was so cold—I couldn’t wake him up—his hand—his stomach—”
“I know. I know.” He pulled her head against his chest and held her as she cried—loud, raw, shattering. The kind of grief that split the quiet of the manor like glass cracking underfoot.
Adelinde never cried.
Not when Lord Crepus screamed at her.
Not when Kaeya arrived, unannounced, in the arms of a stranger.
Not when Diluc ran away.
But now she wept so hard the sound shook the chandelier.
The doors to the manor burst open again.
This time, it was not the clatter of medics.
It was Kaeya.
He was panting. Breathless. Shirt clinging to his chest with sweat. Eyes wide, wild, panicked.
He didn’t even speak—he just looked around with terror until his eyes landed on her.
“ Adelinde? ” His voice cracked as he sprinted toward her. “Is it true? Tell me it’s not a joke— tell me it’s true! ”
She didn’t say anything. She just got up and ran to him.
She threw her arms around him with such force that he staggered backward two steps.
“ Kaeya— ” she whispered, breath caught in her throat, hands trembling as she cupped his face like she used to when he was a child waking from nightmares. “ He’s home. My sweet boy. He’s really home. ”
Kaeya’s face went completely still.
Like a clockwork mechanism halting mid-turn.
“Home…?”
She nodded, smiling through her tears. “He’s alive. He came back to us.”
Kaeya swayed.
He didn’t feel the tears when they came. He didn’t notice how hard he was shaking.
“I—” His voice failed.
Adelinde wrapped her arms around him again. Held him as tightly as she could. “I know, I know. It’s too much. It’s too much, I know. ”
Elzer stepped over and gently guided them both back toward the couch.
Kaeya didn’t sit. He collapsed.
Adelinde held his head against her shoulder as he wept silently. The kind of tears he hadn’t shed in years—hot and terrified and childlike.
Elzer sat across from them, his face drawn.
“I should’ve written you sooner,” he said, quietly. “He only just got here. Maybe ten minutes ago. We didn’t even see him come up the road—he was walking. Limping. Like a ghost. Then he just… fell.”
Kaeya looked up, eyes glassy. “How bad?”
Elzer hesitated.
“ How bad, Elzer? ”
The butler swallowed.
“His stomach’s torn open. We think it was claws. His head’s split. His hand—his finger was nearly off. He’s got internal bleeding. Bruises all over. Arm broken in two places. Too thin. Hair hacked off. Wasn’t even wearing clothes. Just… just boxers. And blood. So much blood.”
Kaeya lurched forward suddenly, slapping a hand to his mouth.
Adelinde pulled him in before he could fall.
Kaeya dry-heaved but didn’t vomit. He just sat there, shaking violently.
Adelinde stroked his hair. “He’s here. He’s here, Kaeya. You’re not alone anymore.”
“But why? ” Kaeya choked. “Why now? Why like this? What happened to him?”
“I don’t know,” Elzer said, voice heavy with sorrow. “But I think whatever it was… he barely survived it.”
Outside the bedroom, they could hear the muffled urgency of healers shouting instructions. The rustle of robes. The clatter of instruments. The unmistakable, awful sound of blood hitting the floor.
Adelinde looked toward the door. Her hand gripped Kaeya’s tightly.
The clock struck seven .
The bedroom door opened.
Adelinde was already on her feet.
The healers exited slowly—one by one—faces grim, hands soaked to the wrists, stained red beneath their gloves. The youngest couldn’t meet her eyes. The middle-aged man behind her looked pale and haunted. And the woman—the eldest, the one who had spoken first—walked out last, jaw clenched tight, posture rigid.
Adelinde nearly knocked over a side table as she rushed forward.
“ What happened? ” Her voice cracked like thunder. “*What’s wrong—what did you do— what happened to him? ”
Kaeya stood right behind her. His hands were cold and clenched so tight they trembled.
The eldest healer took a long breath. Held it. Then exhaled through her nose like she’d been preparing herself for this moment all her life.
“He’s stable,” she said.
Adelinde blinked.
“…Stable?” Kaeya echoed.
The healer nodded. “Alive. For now.”
A rush of air left Adelinde’s lungs. Her knees nearly buckled. “He’s…?”
“But barely, ” the healer continued, holding up a hand. “Don’t misunderstand. He’s alive because we forced him to be. He’s breathing only through magical assistance. His lungs have nearly collapsed. And his heart… it’s barely beating.”
Kaeya’s mouth opened, but no sound came out.
“We don’t know how he got here,” the woman went on. “We don’t know how he was walking. Truthfully, he shouldn’t have made it to the front gate. He shouldn’t have made it out of wherever he came from. He shouldn’t have lived through last night. But he did.”
Adelinde’s fists curled at her sides.
“We can’t promise you anything,” the healer said, softly now. “You should understand that. He’s not stable in the way you’re hoping. We’ve stopped the bleeding. We’ve set the bones. We’ve kept him alive—for now. But we don’t know if he’ll stay that way. We’ve done everything we can.”
“…That’s not good enough,” Adelinde whispered, voice shaking.
“It’s all we can give,” the healer replied. “We’ll return in four hours to check for signs of organ failure. But if something changes, call us immediately. And if you have anything left to say to him…”
She trailed off.
Kaeya flinched.
“…Say it now.”
Adelinde surged forward.
Elzer stepped in and grabbed her wrist.
“ Adelinde. ”
“ I will kill them, ” she hissed through her teeth. “How dare they—how dare they talk like he’s already—!”
Elzer shook his head. “They’re telling the truth. That’s all. They’re not giving up. They’re giving you time.”
Adelinde’s chest rose and fell rapidly. Her lip curled. She didn’t move.
The healer gave a polite, shallow nod, then turned and led the others out.
The door closed behind them. The silence they left in their wake was unbearable.
Kaeya stood frozen at the doorway.
He hadn’t even looked inside yet.
Adelinde didn’t wait.
She stormed in, feet slamming the floorboards, and then—
She stopped.
Her heart nearly stopped with her.
Elzer moved to follow, but paused at Kaeya’s side.
Kaeya stood rooted in place, eyes glassy and distant, as though afraid to look. Afraid that if he saw what lay in that room, he would crumble entirely.
“Elzer,” Adelinde said hoarsely from within, “bring him.”
Kaeya didn’t move.
“She means you,” Elzer murmured, placing a gentle hand on Kaeya’s back. “Come on.”
“…I can’t,” Kaeya whispered. “I… I can’t see him like that.”
“You have to,” Elzer said. “He came home. You don’t get to look away.”
It was cruel.
But it worked.
Kaeya stepped forward.
One foot.
Then another.
He walked into the room.
And the breath was punched from his lungs.
It didn’t look like Diluc lying there.
Not really.
His face was pale—almost blue. His lips cracked and bloodless. His body nearly swallowed by the weight of the sheets and blankets piled on him, trying desperately to keep him warm. Tubes threaded in and out of his veins. His chest barely moved under the pressure of the enchantments keeping him breathing. A sigil pulsed faintly against his ribcage, a direct anchor to magic that had replaced his lungs.
His hair was chopped and matted. His forehead was bandaged. His mouth was swollen. One hand wrapped in splints and cloth. The other… hanging limp, still streaked in dried blood. The machine beside the bed beeped slowly—once every few seconds.
Kaeya stared at him.
“…Oh gods,” he whispered. “He’s…”
“Don’t,” Adelinde snapped.
She was sitting on the edge of the bed, holding Diluc’s bandaged hand in both of hers, rocking slightly.
“Don’t say it,” she begged. “Don’t you dare say it.”
Kaeya moved forward like a puppet on strings. He fell to his knees at the foot of the bed, hands limp on his thighs. His throat tightened. His vision swam.
“He’s not—he’s not really here. He’s not— that’s not him, ” Kaeya whispered.
Adelinde turned, her eyes red, hollow.
“Don’t you recognize him?” she said softly. “That’s your brother.”
Kaeya didn’t respond.
Elzer entered at last, walking to Adelinde’s side and rubbing her back in slow circles.
She leaned into his hand, eyes never leaving Diluc’s face.
“…He’s going to be fine,” she whispered. “He’s stubborn. So stubborn. He’ll come back. He always does.”
No one responded.
“I used to have to force him to take naps, you know,” she said to no one in particular. “He’d stay up reading, or climbing trees, or dragging Kaeya to the lake even when I told him no. And now look at him. Look at this stubborn, beautiful boy. Can’t even open his eyes.”
Kaeya closed his own.
Adelinde bent forward, resting her forehead against Diluc’s hand.
“Don’t leave me,” she whispered. “Don’t you dare leave me now.”
A long silence.
She swallowed and lifted her head slightly.
“I raised you. I watched you take your first steps in this manor. I heard your first word—mama.”
Kaeya opened his eyes again, but said nothing.
Adelinde clutched Diluc’s hand tighter.
“You’ve been gone four years. And I prayed every day you’d come back. I left your room untouched. I made tea for you on your birthday just in case. And now here you are. So don’t—don’t you leave now. Don’t die on me. You hear me? You don’t get to come back and then leave again. I won’t survive it. ”
Her voice cracked at the last line, and she bit her lip until it bled.
Kaeya finally stood.
He walked forward and looked down at his brother.
“…Why?” he whispered. “Why did you come back like this? Why not sooner?”
He reached out a hand—hesitated—then laid it gently on Diluc’s shin through the blankets.
“You idiot,” Kaeya choked. “You absolute idiot.”
Elzer sat beside Adelinde.
He said nothing.
Just placed a hand on her trembling shoulder and let her lean against him as the morning light crept across the bloodstained floor.
It had been two days .
Kaeya hadn’t left.
Not once.
Adelinde hadn’t asked him to stay. She had demanded it. Grabbed his wrist and said “You are not leaving this house. Not until I say so.” And there was no arguing with her—not when her voice sounded like it had been scraped raw by grief.
So Kaeya stayed.
He slept on the couch. Or pretended to. Mostly, he just sat. Listened to the ticking of the old clock. Watched Adelinde walk in and out of Diluc’s room every hour. Sometimes she went in with tea. Sometimes with a cloth and warm water to wipe his brow. Sometimes with a story she whispered like a prayer. Sometimes, she came out crying.
Kaeya never asked.
Elzer brought meals that no one touched. Nurses came in shifts, silent as ghosts. The house had become a grave, and Diluc its centerpiece.
Then the third morning came.
Kaeya stood quietly by the doorway, arms folded, watching the nurse do her routine. She was young—barely twenty by the look of her—but careful, methodical. She hummed a little under her breath as she rewrapped Diluc’s bandaged forehead.
Kaeya stared at his brother.
He looked the same as always now.
Still.
Empty.
Gone.
Then—
The nurse froze.
Kaeya blinked.
“…What?” he asked.
She didn’t answer.
He stepped forward just as she whispered:
“His eyes…”
Kaeya’s stomach twisted. He rounded the edge of the bed.
Diluc’s eyes were open .
Wide. Red.
But there was no glow. No light.
No recognition.
Just… blankness.
Like staring into glass.
The nurse’s breath caught in her throat.
“He… he shouldn’t—he’s not supposed to be conscious,” she whispered. “He’s not—”
“What the fuck is going on?” Kaeya snapped, taking another step forward. “Is this normal?!”
“I don’t—he was in a deep coma—he can’t —”
Diluc’s eyes moved.
Slowly.
Unnaturally.
They slid across the room like they were searching for something—but still unfocused. Kaeya stepped closer, heart pounding.
“Diluc…?” he said, voice barely a breath. “Hey—hey, can you hear me?”
Nothing.
The nurse pulled a penlight from her pocket with shaking fingers and leaned forward, flashing it once.
No response.
The pupils didn’t dilate.
Not even a twitch.
But then—
Diluc’s eyes locked on her.
Not slowly.
Sharply.
Kaeya’s heart nearly stopped.
The expression that twisted across Diluc’s face was inhuman.
Hatred. Pure, primal hatred.
His brow creased. His lip curled. His whole body, still wrapped in gauze and splints, trembled.
The nurse stepped back, suddenly afraid.
“Sir—please—”
Diluc moved.
Fast.
Too fast.
He sat up as if he’d never been injured.
Tubes snapped. The IV line tore free. Blood splattered across the sheets.
Kaeya shouted, lunging forward.
“ Diluc! Stop—wait—!”
But Diluc grabbed the nurse.
One hand around her neck.
He slammed her into the mattress and screamed in her face, a sound so raw it didn’t even sound like his voice anymore.
“ You think I don’t see you?! You think I don’t KNOW who you are?! ” he bellowed. “You’re not a nurse! You’re him! You’re Dottore! ”
“Sir—please—!”
“ SHUT UP! ”
He slammed her head into the bedframe once—twice—three times.
Kaeya could barely process it.
Blood was already on her temple.
Diluc was screaming.
“ YOU CAN’T FOOL ME ANYMORE! You think I don’t see the mask?! You think I don’t feel it?! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!*”
Kaeya finally moved.
He launched forward and grabbed Diluc’s shoulders, yanking him off the nurse.
“ STOP IT! DILUC—STOP!”
Diluc turned on him like a wild animal.
He shrieked .
His hands flew to Kaeya’s hair, yanking hard— ripping .
“ LET GO OF ME!! ” he howled. “ YOU’RE IN ON IT TOO, AREN’T YOU?! YOU THINK I DON’T KNOW?! ”
“ It’s me! ” Kaeya yelled. “It’s Kaeya! Look at me! LOOK AT ME!”
But Diluc didn’t see him.
Didn’t hear him.
There was no recognition in his eyes. Just blind terror. Rage. Madness.
Two nurses burst in. Adelinde and Elzer behind them, faces pale.
“ DO SOMETHING! ” Kaeya roared. “He’s hurting people—he’s hurting himself! ”
One of Diluc’s fists connected with Kaeya’s jaw, sending him reeling.
He hit the wall hard—vision spinning—collapsed to the floor in a heap.
Blood trickled down his temple.
Diluc staggered back, clutching his ribs, his broken arm swinging uselessly at his side.
“You bastards! ” he screamed, spitting foam. “You fucking monsters—how many times do I have to die before you leave me alone?! ”
Adelinde stepped forward, tears already flowing.
“ Diluc, please—”
He turned on her too.
His whole body shaking.
“ Don’t call me that! ” he choked. “That’s not my name! That’s not— he’s dead. That boy is DEAD. You killed him—ALL OF YOU—!”
And then—
He began to shake.
Violently.
His knees gave out.
His eyes rolled back, white swallowing red.
And he collapsed.
Adelinde screamed.
Kaeya crawled forward on hands and knees.
Elzer was already grabbing Diluc’s shoulders, trying to stop the bleeding again, shouting for the nurses.
Adelinde collapsed beside him.
“No— no—NO! ” she sobbed. “Don’t do this—don’t you DARE do this again!”
Kaeya pressed a trembling hand to his brother’s cheek.
It was ice cold.
He stared at the empty face. The still chest. The reopened wounds.
And whispered:
“…What did they do to you?”
The room was chaos.
Blood smeared the white linens. Gauze hung like shredded paper. A nurse was sobbing quietly against the wall, her face bruised and shaking from where she’d been thrown. The others scrambled for supplies—sutures, new IV bags, sedatives. Elzer barked orders, his voice trembling beneath the forced steadiness.
And Adelinde—
Adelinde knelt beside Diluc’s body like a woman possessed.
“No, no, no— no! ” Her fingers trembled as they hovered just above his cheek. “ Don’t do this to me, not again, not again— ”
“He’s still breathing,” one nurse said quickly, kneeling beside her. “Pulse is shallow but there. Stay back—please—we have to sedate him now—”
“No!” Adelinde snarled, grabbing the nurse’s sleeve. “Don’t touch him. You’ve done enough!”
Kaeya pulled himself upright, wiping the blood from his nose with the back of his hand. His legs ached. His head pounded.
His chest—felt like it was cracking open.
He walked forward, slowly.
Adelinde was whispering something now. Rocking slightly, her hand pressed over Diluc’s heart, as if to keep it going by touch alone.
“…You’re okay, my boy. You’re okay. I’ve got you. You’re safe now. I’m here. I’m here, sweetheart…”
Kaeya knelt beside her.
His voice came out rough, low. “He… he thought she was Dottore. The nurse. He said—he said they were tricking him.”
Adelinde’s eyes never left Diluc’s face.
“They did trick him,” she whispered. “Whoever they were—whatever they did—they broke him. They broke my boy.”
Elzer returned with another nurse. This one looked older, calmer. She gently approached, carrying a new mask and a vial of clear liquid.
“I’m sorry,” the nurse said, voice soft but firm. “We have to sedate him. He’s torn his sutures. He’ll bleed out again if we don’t act now. ”
Adelinde opened her mouth to argue—but Elzer knelt down and touched her shoulder.
“Let them,” he murmured. “Please. Let them help him.”
“…You better, ” she said hoarsely, turning to the nurse with burning eyes. “You better not hurt him again. You better not so much as breathe wrong near him.”
The nurse nodded solemnly.
They worked fast. Kaeya sat silently, watching them reattach the IVs, thread new gauze over the ruined bandages. They placed the mask over Diluc’s face. The steady beep of the heart monitor returned—slow, but present.
Kaeya didn’t realize he was crying again until the salt hit his lips.
Adelinde turned to him.
Her voice was shaking. “He thought you were part of it.”
“…I know.”
“He tried to kill you.”
“I know that too.”
“And yet—you’re here.”
Kaeya blinked hard, staring at the floor.
“I don’t care if he tried to kill me,” he whispered. “I don’t care if he never remembers me again. I just want him to live.”
Adelinde reached for him suddenly—hugged him so hard he could barely breathe. He collapsed into her, hands gripping the back of her blouse, finally letting the sobs shake his body.
“You’re the only brother he has,” she murmured. “Even if he doesn’t remember that right now. Even if he hates you. He’s still your family.”
“He’s all I had, ” Kaeya choked. “And I thought—I thought he was gone. I buried him, Adelinde. In my heart, I buried him.”
“I know.”
They stayed like that for a long time.
Eventually, Elzer spoke from behind them.
“The nurse is going to stay in the hall,” he said quietly. “We’ll rotate only the most trusted staff. No strangers. He doesn’t need more fear.”
Adelinde nodded, gently pulling away from Kaeya to look at him.
“You saw his face,” she said, eyes red. “That wasn’t rage. That was terror. ”
“I know,” Kaeya whispered. “I saw.”
“He’s not safe, Kaeya. He doesn’t feel safe. Not even in his own home. Not even with us.”
Kaeya rubbed his face. His hands were shaking again. “Then we have to make him feel safe again.”
There was silence.
Then Adelinde looked up at Elzer. Her voice cracked like glass.
“I don’t want to leave his side,” she whispered. “I want to be here when he wakes again. I have to be here.”
Elzer gave a short nod. “I’ll bring blankets. And food.”
Kaeya exhaled shakily.
“I’ll stay too.”
Adelinde looked over at him.
She reached out and took his hand.
“Thank you,” she whispered. “You—he needs you. Even if he doesn’t know it.”
Kaeya looked at Diluc’s face again. So pale. So still. Yet stained with dried blood and sweat and madness.
He whispered, almost too soft to hear
“…Come back to me, brother.”
2 months.
The sun hadn’t risen yet when Elzer walked into Diluc’s room, expecting another quiet morning of chart-checking and monitor-listening. Two nurses were changing the dressings on his abdomen, speaking softly, when one of them froze.
“Elzer,” she said.
He turned around. “What?”
The younger nurse was staring down at Diluc with wide eyes. “He’s looking at me.”
Elzer’s throat tightened. He stepped closer.
“Sir?” the older nurse asked gently. “Diluc?”
Diluc blinked slowly.
His pupils were dilated—responsive. His eyes, no longer dull and distant, flicked between the two women. His gaze was groggy, unfocused, but awake .
“My gods…” Elzer whispered. Then louder, stronger— “ Adelinde! Kaeya! ”
Footsteps thundered through the manor within seconds.
Adelinde burst through the door first, Kaeya right behind her, still in sleeping clothes and half a boot on. She looked like she’d aged five years in two months—and she had. But the moment she saw him, truly saw him—
Diluc’s eyes widened just a little. Recognition didn’t fully form—but his head turned.
“ Diluc, ” Adelinde gasped, hand flying to her chest. She took two shaky steps forward, then covered her mouth as tears welled up. “ Sweetheart— you’re— you’re awake! ”
Kaeya stood frozen at the foot of the bed, eyes wide.
“Is he really—?” he asked hoarsely.
“He’s tracking movement,” said the older nurse. “Pupils dilate. He’s conscious. And that—” she tilted her head as Diluc weakly turned his face away when she brought a cup of water toward him “—is an annoyingly stubborn refusal to drink.”
“I don’t wan’ …” Diluc mumbled, voice rough, dragging. “M’fine. Don’… don’ need… ” His mouth twisted, as if forming words took effort, his lips not quite catching up to his thoughts. “’s jus’ water.”
Adelinde leaned forward, kneeling beside the bed. “You need it,” she whispered, tears already rolling freely down her cheeks. “You’ve been asleep for two months, Diluc. Two months. You almost died. ”
Diluc groaned, throat thick and gravelly. “I… I didn’t, ” he muttered slowly, slurring. His consonants tangled. “’M fine. E’rythin’s okay…”
Kaeya blinked hard and stepped closer. “He’s talking like—like he’s drunk,” he muttered.
Elzer frowned and turned to the nurses. “Why’s he slurring like that? His voice sounds… strange.”
The younger nurse hesitated. “There may be… residual trauma. Swelling. Possible concussion-related effects. Aphasia’s not out of the question, but… it could also just be muscle fatigue from disuse. We’ll know more in time.”
Diluc scowled weakly. “ ’M not… concussssed,” he slurred, rolling the “s” too long. He tried to sit up again, propping himself up with one arm—but immediately winced. His shoulders shook. “Jus’ tired, ‘kay? Stop lookin’ at me like I’m—like I’m…”
“Like you almost bled out in my arms?” Adelinde snapped. “Like I had to pray to Barbatos every hour of every night just to keep you alive? ” Her voice cracked. “I’m allowed to look at you however I damn please, young man. ”
Diluc blinked slowly.
“…’s jus’ drama,” he mumbled. “Too loud…”
Adelinde let out a shaky laugh—one that turned into a sob halfway through. She reached up and touched his face, gently brushing hair from his forehead. “There you are,” she whispered. “My stubborn, impossible boy.”
Kaeya stepped up to the side of the bed and sat down slowly near Diluc’s feet.
“Can you talk?” he asked softly, his voice gentler than it had been in years. “Really talk, I mean.”
Diluc turned his head toward him—his eyes unfocused, but trying. He was quiet for a few seconds.
“…I’m talkin’ now,” he grumbled, but his slurring was more pronounced now, almost childlike. “Y’don’ listen, as usual…”
That voice.
That voice was unmistakably his, but not how they remembered it. It was deeper, roughened by disuse, and—there it was—faintly colored by his old accent. The one he’d lost as he grew older, trained out of him through formality and discipline. But now it curled around his vowels like an old scarf—familiar, worn, and deeply painful to hear.
Kaeya let out a breath.
“…Your voice,” he said. “It’s—your old voice.”
Diluc blinked at him again. “…Wha’s wrong with it?”
Adelinde smiled through her tears, even as her hands trembled. “Nothing. Not a thing. You just sound like you did when you were little.”
Elzer placed a hand on her shoulder, grounding her.
The nurse leaned in again. “Can you drink, sir?” she asked gently. “Please. Just a sip.”
Diluc hesitated. Then, finally, nodded.
She brought the cup to his lips, and this time he didn’t pull away. Water dribbled down his chin as he swallowed messily—but he drank.
Adelinde was crying again. Silently. Her hand curled around his, as if he might disappear if she didn’t hold on.
“You scared me,” she whispered. “You scared all of us. I thought I lost you, Diluc. I thought I lost you. ”
Diluc opened his mouth to answer—but his eyelids fluttered.
“‘M jus’ tired,” he slurred. “Really tired…”
The nurse looked at the others quickly. “He’s crashing again. This is normal—his body’s still unstable. He’s been awake longer than we expected.”
Adelinde leaned forward quickly. “No, no, no—stay awake, sweetheart, just a little longer— please— ”
Diluc’s eyes rolled slightly. “’m here,” he mumbled faintly. “Still here…”
His body sagged. The machines picked up slightly but remained steady.
He had passed out again.
Adelinde let out a sob and buried her face into the blankets beside him.
Kaeya reached forward and rested a hand on her back.
“…He’s alive,” Elzer said quietly. “That’s more than we had yesterday.”
Adelinde didn’t answer for a long time. When she did, her voice was barely above a whisper.
“…But for how long?”