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Chapter Text

Diluc dragged his feet along the street and trekked beneath the shadows to reach his destination.

Other than a few insignificant cuts and burns, he wasn’t injured, not exactly. But his pride had taken a great blow in the latest battle.

Ever since his recovery, this was his first real fight in two months. Once he deemed he was strong enough to go back to his not-so-legal activities at night, he started roaming the streets and kept the Abyss Order at bay.

Obviously, he never stopped keeping tabs on his enemies, but surprisingly, the Fatui were especially silent after the recent events. If Diluc had to guess, it was because the Jester didn’t want to divide his forces after the recent failure. Considering none of the Harbingers have reason to send their officers to Mondstadt, the redhead was given more time to take it slow and recuperate.

And he hated every second of it.

The Doctor was still in jail, and he was infuriatingly silent. The Abyss Order had their members sent to Natlan for the next part of their plans, and that nation was way outside of his turf.

So there was absolutely nothing for him to do but hunt a few strays that could cause problems for his home nation.

Until today happened.

It wasn’t anything serious again, just a few Abyss Mages who got a bit too ambitious and built their own camp to cause trouble for the travelers.

It took him a few days too late to notice this group forming deep within Whispering Woods, so when he eventually got to it to deal with a few vermin, he realized that there were more than a few hilichurls.

Of course, he managed to wipe the camp out, but to his discontent, he was left more than a little tired after the battle.

So that was why he was here, silently roaming the streets of the nation of freedom, when the sunrise was maybe an hour away, with a destination in mind.

Kaeya.

Normally, he would have gone back to the spare room in Angel’s Share. But… He was more than overjoyed whenever the things between his brother showed a physical improvement. Also, the blunette implied his slight annoyance with Diluc’s nightly activities and hinted that he would want to be in the know. He did nothing to write a report about, but it had been a while since the two had a decent hangout.

Obviously, he knew that Kaeya wanted to know before he wrecked the camp, but better late than never, Diluc supposed.

His frown deepened when he realized just how fatigued he felt at the moment. Sure, it was too big of a camp for the average knight to deal with, but Diluc did not possess the luxury of falling behind his enemies. Back in the day, he could have wiped the camp out without even breaking a sweat, but now he was slowly running back to his brother to cry about his wounds and shortcomings.

He came to a halt when he reconsidered the consequences.

Maybe he shouldn’t go there. Not when their relationship was still too brittle, not when he failed to inform Kaeya of his plan to deal with a camp alone. And especially not when he was showing weakness this blatantly. What was he thinking?

Besides, even though Kaeya assured him countless times that he wanted him to visit his apartment, Diluc still couldn’t help but feel like he was imposing.

But if he went back the way he came and slept at the tavern, Kaeya would be saddened to learn that Diluc had neglected to share what had happened tonight. 

He sighed through his nose and ran both his hands through his messy hair.

This was ridiculous!

It wasn’t this hard to maintain his relationships before his birthday. Did he just forget how to socialize like a functioning human being?

He had to think this logically. Normal etiquette would dictate that visiting anyone at this hour would be improper. Besides, Kaeya was still overwhelmed with knightly duties after everything that had happened. Reconstructing a city and providing for homeless citizens were never easy tasks, especially while the knights were understaffed as they were and especially while a dangerous Harbinger needed to be watched at all times. 

But then he remembered why he wanted to visit, especially today. It was because Kaeya hinted at him that he had half a day off the next day. That was, in Kaeya’s language, as direct an invitation as it could be.

To be fair, Diluc wasn’t free the next day. It would have been better if he had stayed at the tavern and gone back to the winery, taking a horse. There were going to be a few merchants visiting to discuss their yearly evaluation and make plans for their future relations with Dawn Winery, and Diluc wanted to be present for that.

Obviously, Elzer could have handled the task, no problem. In fact, it would be redundant for the redhead to join the meeting, but he was the official owner of the winery.

With a groan, he made his decision. With a turn of his heel, he marched back to the tavern, but he had no intention of sleeping there.

He didn't want to attend that meeting, anyway.

After changing his clothes, he made his way to the memorial situated at the plaza under Barbatos' statue. Memorial for all the fallen during Il Dottore’s attack.

All those innocent people who perished because of Diluc.

He visited here several times past couple of months, but the knot in his stomach never got untied over time.

All these people have their lives in front of them. They had their families who loved them, they had their aspirations waiting to be fulfilled, and friends yearning for another round of wine that was never going to happen.

All was put an end to just because Diluc was overconfident that he could handle an obvious trap alone. All because he failed to consider the fact that the Harbinger could have come back to finish the job. 

All because he was just… not enough.

And after what he had done to these poor people, he had the gall to visit here, mourning for them silently. He had the gall to worry about his own life and troubles and move on as if nothing had happened.

But that was to be expected of him. After all, one could only kill his own kin and attack his brother if his heart were rotten to the core. Only that kind of person would be able to change completely in one single day and go on a killing spree.

As if all those Fatui he killed had deserved their fate. But it was fine, because only Diluc could have carried this horrible burden without going mad. After all, only someone like him was capable of committing such acts.

He sighed and got up from the bench where he was resting with a scowl on his face.

This had been a mistake…

He needed someone to talk to, because he knew what he was doing at the moment. Even though what he was thinking was all correct, it didn’t mean it was beneficial. 

Death always caused him to have somber and despondent thoughts.

When he noticed that the sun had already risen while he was deep in thought, he decided what to do next. With determined steps, he made his way down the stairs, straight to the grocery store near the fountain of the city. After that, he could finally visit his brother and order him to have a decent breakfast. Because Diluc didn’t trust his brother.

He didn’t trust Kaeya to take care of himself, like at all.

Chapter Text

After the door slowly creaked open to reveal the still half-asleep knight, Diluc couldn’t stifle the snort escaping from his nose.

“Good morning,”

Kaeya blinked sluggishly before rubbing one eye and stepping aside for the tycoon to enter.

“You have your own key,” he complained. “Just use it and don’t wake me.”

“You don’t like it when you have breakfast right after waking up,” he sort of defended himself while raising the several bags in his hands to showcase the evidence of his claim. “You can wake up making us tea while I make pancakes.”

The real reason for his knocking was that he didn’t want to barge in like he owned the damn place, no matter how many times Kaeya reassured him that it was fine.

“Coffee…” He whined and closed the front door.

“Tea,” Diluc corrected. “You consume too much caffeine.”

“Tea has caffeine in it, too!” Then he sighed. “It’s too early for this. Just shut up.”

“Shut up? I didn’t say anything; you just started a debate and ended it without my input.” he eyed his brother incredulously. 

“Shut up!” Kaeya scowled.

A hint of a smile crept to the edge of his lips, and Diluc attempted to turn away before the knight caught sight of it. He was feeling better already, still tired, yes, but content.

Kaeya followed him to the kitchen and winced at the sight of the chaos in front of them. The sink and the countertops were covered, no, suffused with mugs and glasses.

“In my defense,” Kaeya stepped between him and the kitchen. “I am overwhelmed with work.”

“There is not a single plate here, Kaeya!” He looked around, and his horror only grew more with the action. “Coffee and wine. Only coffee and wine.”

“That is not true,” Kaeya pouted, then retrieved a single plate hidden underneath the mountain of glasses in the sink. “See? This one was used for,” he hesitated for a singular moment, but for Diluc it was blindingly obvious. “Satisfying salad. A healthy meal for a healthy knight with healthy habits.”

Diluc stared back unamused and crossed his arms. “You either don’t even remember what was the last normal meal you ate in this house, or you do remember, and it’s something you are ashamed to admit out loud.”

Kaeya huffed. “I told you. I am at the headquarters most of the time. If I visit my apartment, it is to get an important document or my notes. I don’t even sleep or take a shower in my own house anymore.”

Diluc sighed resignedly. “Makes sense. Now move over, I have more jobs to do than just make breakfast, it seems.”

His brother blinked, and he looked almost ashamed. “You don’t have to… I don-” He started before forcefully stopping himself from talking further. “I will just make the tea,” he said instead.

What was he going to say before he changed his mind? Was he going to admit that he didn’t want Diluc to linger around any longer than necessary? Maybe Kaeya was holding back his displeasure at having to share his only vacation hours with the person who failed him.

But how was he going to get out without seeming rude? Maybe he could clean the kitchen as fast as he could and make the pancakes like he promised, and then he could run away, saying that there is a job waiting for him, which wouldn’t be a lie, he did ditch his plans to come here.

He hesitantly moved to the sink and started rinsing the glasses absentmindedly. 

But cleaning hurriedly would mean that he would do a sloppy job, and it would be highly disrespectful when he-

“I will dry after you rinse. The faster we get on with it, the faster we can have a decent breakfast together like you promised,” Kaeya startled him out of his spiral.

Diluc hummed, not knowing how to respond.

“I didn’t think you would accept my invitation to come over,” Kaeya admitted. “I am glad you did, though.”

It was more like an implication than an invitation, but still.

“Why wouldn’t I accept?” He asked. He knew his own reasons and reservations for not doing so, but he didn’t know what Kaeya’s thoughts were about the case.

His brother shrugged and didn’t reply.

Why was it so difficult to communicate? Diluc just wanted to know if he was unwelcome here; he needed to learn just how much discomfort he was causing Kaeya.

He said he was glad Diluc was here. But was it a white lie to conceal his true feelings regarding the matter? If it were not, then was Diluc’s presence truly something Kaeya had no issues with? 

He did remind him to have breakfast together, so it looked like he also wanted to spend time together. But he also said that he wanted them to be done as fast as they could.

“I cleared a camp yesterday,” he admitted, in an attempt to test Kaeya’s reaction.

Kaeya chuckled with no joy. “That is obvious. You didn’t sleep at all last night, did you?”

He elected not to answer and instead continued in his report. “I was distracted. It wasn’t my best work.”

Kaeya nodded subtly and briefly glanced over while still focusing on his task.

“It was embarrassing,” he admitted with a sigh.

“I have a medical kit. Do you need patching up?” Kaeya asked, not commenting on what he had just said.

“No,” he told the truth. “I took care of it myself. But I am tired.”

“I didn’t know of any activity so close to the nation,” Kaeya admitted. A slight worry crept up on his visible eye as he looked at Diluc to find some answers.

“Nothing of the sort,” he tried to ease the concern. “Just a few rogue Abyss mages that needed to be dealt with.”

Kaeya hummed, satisfied. “That is good to know.” Then he stood still for a few seconds before he added dubiously. “If you get bored with handling the threats alone, I know of a guy who is talented at keeping secrets. He wouldn’t say a word about one’s illegal activities.”

This time, he couldn’t restrain the snort. “Is that so? You know that I am very picky when it comes to my company. Would the person you are suggesting fit the bill?”

Kaeya grinned impishly and scrubbed the glass with practised ease as he played along. “Best you will ever find. Excellent swordsman and handsome to boot. I heard he easily surpassed his predecessor at his job in everything.”

“Everything?” Diluc asked teasingly.

“Yep,” he said, popping the last letter. “Although the last one was a buzzkill also-ran, so it is not that much of an achievement.”

Excuse you?

Without a solid retort, he decided to flick water at his brother’s face.

“Hey!” Kaeya looked offended and cleaned his face with his sleeve. Then, after a brief deliberation, when the cloth made contact with his eyepatch, he sighed and revealed his hidden black eye.

Diluc’s breath hitched for one moment before forcing himself to refocus on the task of rinsing the heap of glasses in the vicinity.

“It has been two months, Diluc.” Kaeya sighed. His tone was not laced, but filled with irritation.

It wasn’t like they talked much during those two months. Kaeya was rarely at home, and the few times Diluc caught him were too brief an opportunity for the blunette to remove his eyepatch. He saw the eye only two times after their conversation.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, not sure what exactly he was apologizing for.

“You do realize I am doing this because I trust you, right?” Kaeya snapped. 

Maybe you shouldn’t.

“Yeah, I know… Sorry.”

Kaeya groaned and fell silent.

Why was he so great at ruining everything?

A few minutes have passed, and the kitchen was engulfed in suffocating silence. Only sounds that were made were the clattering of the dishes and the unsettled breathing of the brothers.

“I still haven’t told Jean,” Kaeya broke the silence, and Diluc thanked the Gods above for his brother’s strength to force a conversation. “I can see that she is leaving the ball in my court.”

Diluc swallowed and chose his words carefully. “What are you planning to do?”

The blunette exhaled deeply and his shoulders slumped in defeat. “I don’t know… I don’t want to lose her.” Then he scoffed dejectedly. “I know it is selfish.”

“It is not,” Diluc tried to comfort him. “She trusts you. All of you, with the secrets and the lies. That will never change.”

She is not me.

It was as if Kaeya heard the unsaid words and stared back, displeased. 

Diluc frowned, not sure what he had done to warrant this glare. “What?”

Kaeya eyed him up and down before speaking. “Tell me what you are thinking.”

His confusion was not lifted with the turn of events. “What?” He repeated himself.

“I know it is something idiotic. So tell me, what is it?”

“I- No, what?”

Kaeya sighed and squeezed his eyes shut as if he was trying to prepare himself for the dumbest conversation. Diluc took slight offense at the action.

“Here is what we will do,” Kaeya took the reins. His tone was firm enough not to let any objections. “Tell me what’s on your mind and then I will share what’s on mine.”

The redhead’s eyes widened with the proposition and briefly considered the pros and cons of the said exchange.

“Deal,” he extended his hand for a handshake.

But Kaeya looked slightly disturbed with the offer. Diluc only realized moments later that it was because his hand was still soapy and wet from the dishes. He coughed to hide his embarrassment and went back to work.

“Well?” Kaeya prodded him.

This was happening, it seemed…

“I was thinking that Jean, unlike me, would never betray your trust.”

Kaeya scoffed. “Yeah, it was so obvious that it could very well be printed on your forehead.”

Well, whatever.

“Your turn,” he reminded.

Kaeya sighed and grimaced as if he were in pain. “I was thinking that… I was undeserving of the company I have. A brother visiting in the morning to make sure I eat well, even though he was exhausted from the night before, and a superior who never once questioned my loyalty, even though I gave her reason to.”

Diluc chuckled. “You are a damn fool, you know that?”

“I could say the same to you.”

The brothers took their seats in front of each other and began to silently munch their food. This time, they were finally relishing in the comfortable and peaceful silence they managed to create after their show of honesty.

Huh, maybe that was the key to communicating. Who would have thought?

After taking a piece of pancake smeared with jam, he reached for the tea Kaeya brewed to help swallow it down.

Only to cough for his survival.

“Why is it cold and spicy?” He asked in disbelief.

“Huh?” Kaeya removed his gaze from the reports he was reading. “Oh, that is Barbara’s chili brew recipe. She said it worked wonders if one wanted to stir fully awake.” Then, he went back to reading the papers before adding one last thing. “You didn’t let me have coffee.”

“You should have asked me!” Diluc claimed, still completely baffled. “It doesn’t explain why it is cold.”

“It is not cold, it is just a little warmer than usual. You just notice the difference greatly because you are used to drinking it boiling hot. Which is a health hazard, by the way, for the normal folk. Just heat it up yourself.”

“Your ware is glass, not earthen. I don’t want to overheat and shatter it.”

“Do you have zero control over your Vision?” Kaeya looked up with one brow raised. “Actually, never mind that. I should consider myself lucky that you even have your Vision with you.”

Diluc frowned. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Kaeya gave him a look.

Diluc crossed his arms and averted his gaze. “Adelinde found it in no time.”

“Yeah, right after you threw it out of your window. What were you even thinking?” Kaeya threw his arms around. “I thought you left it at the winery like a reasonable person would that day. But no, it seems you threw a tantrum and threw away your toy like a toddler.”

The redhead gave him the stinkeye. Then, he resigned and realized that he had no choice but to drink this horrible drink unless he wanted to brew another tea.

While taking a slow sip from his glass, Kaeya glanced at him briefly, but Diluc swore he saw some mischievous glint beaming in there.

“How was your date with Lisa?” He suddenly asked, and Diluc choked on his tea. He felt some coming out of his nose.

Was he trying to kill him?

After recomposing himself, he gave his brother a nasty look, who was feigning an innocent expression.

“How do you know that?”

“How would I not know that? The real question is, why did you hide it from me?”

Diluc sighed and ran a hand over his face.

“It wasn’t anything grandiose,” then a faint smile betrayed him. “In fact, it was somewhat entertaining.”

Kaeya grinned. “Is that so?”

“Get your mind out of the gutter,” he quickly tried to clarify. If Kaeya weren’t at the other end of the table, he would be smacked ferociously for his offense. “It was platonic.”

“Don’t worry, I am aware that she swings the other way.”

That was a surprise. “She does?”

“Aww… Were you hoping to leave an impression on her?”

He felt his cheeks and ears flushing in embarrassment. “You know that-”

“I am just teasing,” Kaeya took pity on him. 

Diluc eyed him disbelievingly before deciding to move on. “The date lacked her usual lewd comments. Without those, she is actually quite fun to hang out with.”

“That is her way to ease the stressed mood. If one is more disturbed than panicked, they could focus on the task more easily. At least that is how her philosophy works.” Then he chuckled. “That, and she is aware of her own beauty.”

“I see…” He trailed off, not sure what to comment further on the topic.

“I am glad to see that you are engaging in relaxed activities. I think that is why Lisa offered a date with you. She is more attentive and tactful than she makes herself seem to be.”

“I guess she is…”

Kaeya hummed and focused on his papers again, but not without adding one last thing.

“Diluc?”

“Hmm?”

“Thank you.”

Well, he didn’t deserve the gratitude. The reason he came here was something selfish. He needed to rid himself of the bleak thoughts of death and distract himself from the guilt. It was Kaeya who should have been thanked, not Diluc.

“I am happy to be here,” he said instead. It was the truth, anyway.

Chapter Text

Distraction.

He needed a distraction.

Not this arduous paperwork that allowed his mind to run free, not when the task itself was humdrummingly routine, and not when his thoughts seemed to betray him for the most part.

Kaeya frowned and intensified his focus on the financial report for the Ordo for the past month. As the Cavalry Captain and the Quartermaster, he needed to pass his approval to the mountain of reports on his desk.

Nothing but a fleeting illusion.

He sighed and picked up another report. Finance was not interesting for the blunette, anyway. However, the new enrollment list was full of potential and delight.

Seeing all those people applying to be knights meant that he was finally going to have a cavalry one day. If Varka failed to return in the following years, Kaeya was planning on marching his new army to declare his revenge on the man.

Just how long was Diluc’s guilt going to last until he decided that he had had enough of Kaeya?

Maybe he could breed horses of their own for the army. Kaeya proposed the idea to the Acting Grandmaster before, but it was denied due to the lack of knights. With the new list, he could try his chance once again.

The Harbinger’s attack on the nation was a blessing in disguise, now that he thought about it. People of Mond reunited under the name of freedom. They claimed that it was their duty to protect their hometown, and countless people applied for official swordsmanship training under the army. 

Now, Kaeya was finally going to have his cavalry, and he got his brother back.

Did he really?

This morning was everything he had hoped for for the last few years. How much he had wished to have a simple interaction with a family member, doing nothing but having a peaceful conversation. 

He should have been so happy, so why was he not?

Kaeya ran a hand over his face and changed tactics again. It seemed that the promise of a new cavalry wasn’t that great of news to lift his spirit. So he changed his focus to the Reconnaissance report from Eula’s company.

Like the last ones, there was nothing interesting to report. Everything was eerily quiet and calm. The Fatui were ordered to relax their grip on the neck of Mondstadt, and the Abyss Order was relocated to Natlan for something big.

Were these all pointing to bad news? Absolutely. But there was nothing he could do in his position but prepare.

He needed to initiate contact with the Jester. He would have done it by now, but the man himself refused to acknowledge the messages that were sent to Nod-Krai by Kaeya. It was as if whatever he was preoccupied with at the moment surpassed any other assignment he might receive in terms of urgency. Kaeya was left hanging by the Harbinger quite disrespectfully.

So he tried his chance with the Doctor, albeit only once. He didn’t want to seem desperate to the man who thought he had control over everything around him, and to be frank, Kaeya did not have the strength to deal with his inflated ego.

He knew he needed a trump card to use against the Fatui’s Director. Something that might pique his interest if it came to negotiations between nations. Something to help him bring down Celestia.

And he did have some things in mind. A few scraps of information that he could bring together to act as his leverage, but they weren’t enough.

It was so frustrating to know that Pierro was eventually going to arrive, and he had no solid plan in mind.

The blunette pushed himself away from his desk with more fierceness than intended and stretched. Then, he made his way outside, anywhere else that was not his office.

He would normally visit Jean to request coffee from the overworked knight, since her brew was simply delicious, but it wouldn’t be a lie to admit that he was trying his best to avoid the Acting Grandmaster as much as he possibly could.

He would go to the library for tea, of course, but Diluc forced him to have tea this morning, and he wanted to have coffee at the moment.

Obviously, he could brew his own coffee in the break room, but he didn’t feel like he could stomach anything alone. And paradoxically, he wanted to be alone at the moment, even though he was trying to run away from his disturbing thoughts in the lonely office.

He truly was a lost cause, wasn't he?

Diluc was going to get bored with him eventually, anyway.

Would he? Would he really do that? Kaeya shared everything about his past truthfully. He neglected to share his own hypotheses on the matter and the extra information he managed to collect throughout the years, but he shared everything. Now that there were no secrets between them, would he truly leave him?

That would be the best, wouldn’t it? Because when his fate came crushing down, Kaeya would hate himself for causing collateral damage. Diluc wasn’t a sinner like him; he didn’t deserve to have a choice force on him. It was better if Kaeya were alone.

But that wasn’t what he wanted… Because he knew he was a selfish man.

It was genuinely frightening to think that one day his birth father or Pierro was going to visit Mondstadt for Kaeya. It was frightening to think that he needed to play his cards right in order to protect those he deserved to leave the incoming war unscathed.

And his heart came to a stop every time he was reminded of this fact.

In his mind, he chose Mondstadt long ago. Even before his confession at Diluc’s birthday. Because he couldn’t imagine himself working against the family that raised him with nothing but love and respect.

But… But then why was it hard?

After all, patriotism was nothing but a fool’s way of yearning for a place to belong. Every person latched onto their place of origin as if it defined them as who they were. As if loving their homeland was an act of virtue.

Kaeya knew that it was nothing but a delusion.

He didn’t feel strong feelings towards his birth nation; in fact, he never did, not even as a groomed child. But he couldn’t deny the fact that Celestia was a tyrannical ruler who got what they wanted when they wanted. Khaenri’ah was not against the other nations; the war that was about to erupt was against the Heavens.

They were going to be viewed as sinners, heretics by the subjects of the Seven, since they didn’t know the full truth behind the war. The Archons were going to participate in this ruthless war in order to protect their people. For they knew Celestia was not merciful.

That was the choice that was coming, and Diluc didn’t deserve to be in the middle of any of this. It would be better for him to slay the heretics, the enemies of his nation, without knowing the full truth behind it.

But of course, Kaeya’s only interest had always been towards himself, so that was why he sought consolation from his grieving brother.

Because he had to make everything about himself.

He walked down the stairs and walked towards the gates of the city. He wasn’t planning on stepping outside of the walls, but he needed the fresh air, and that was the destination his autonomous brain chose to go.

It was fleeting, anyway.

Was it? When would Diluc finally realize that he had had enough of Kaeya’s wickedness? When was he finally going to see through the layer of impersonation and get disgusted with what he had found underneath?

When was he going to get bored?

The actions from him were genuine; there was no denying the fact. But Kaeya couldn’t tell if they were fueled by Diluc’s own guilt from ‘failing’ Kaeya all those years ago, no matter how incorrect said statement was, or was it because he truly believed Kaeya was something worth striving for?

If the former was correct, the motivation was not strong enough to last forever. At some point, he was going to decide that he had served enough.

If the latter was correct, he was going to see the true form of the revolting parasite for himself.

And it was going to pass…

Still, at least he knew how self-fulfilling prophecies worked. So, for the minuscule chance that he was incorrect in these assumptions, Kaeya was going to try. Because he knew that, the moment he gave up on the relationship, it was going to end for real. If he were pessimistic about their improving bond, then he would drive away Diluc’s efforts unintentionally. 

So he was going to try, no matter how loud that annoying voice in his head was. No matter how correct it sounded, he wasn’t going to give up, not until it was truly over.

Because he missed having a brother, and he would gladly be selfish for that.

Kaeya yawned and cracked his back after sitting down for literal hours. After he took a step, a wave of dizziness washed over his entire being as he realized he hadn’t eaten anything since his breakfast. He hadn’t even drunk any sort of liquid other than cheap coffee.

In his defense, he was either busy running around dealing with the homeless folk, dealing with the recruits, or dealing with his paperwork. It was actually a blessing that he had forgotten he was hungry and thirsty, because he didn’t have a single moment to spare during the day, and it was already past midnight.

Thinking that Jean might also be hungry, he sighed and began to walk towards his superior’s office with the newly signed papers under his arm.

He knocked as silently as possible, not to disturb the quiet night at the headquarters, and went in when he heard a soft ‘Come in’.

Jean briefly glanced at the person entering before comically straightening her posture to show that Kaeya had her full attention.

“Welcome, Kaeya to- uh… my office,” she awkwardly gestured for the seat in front of her desk.

Kaeya stifled a sigh and put on his signature grin. “I have come with mostly good news,” he tried to ease the tense atmosphere. “About the construction, the enrollment, the finances, and the reports from the scouts.” He informed in one breath. “We can talk about it after dinner. I was here to ask if you were hungry.”

The slight disappointment flashed across the blonde’s eyes before she smiled gratefully. “Thank you for the consideration, but Lisa had already assigned herself to be my personal caterer.” Then she chuckled fondly. “Next time, you need to be faster than her.”

It was painful to see how respectful she was being. All she had done over the months was to show her readiness to listen if Kaeya needed someone to talk to. She could have easily demanded answers as his superior officers and threatened to cut him off from the knights if he hid something from her, but instead, she simply decided to trust Kaeya with his secrets.

He didn’t deserve her.

The problem was that he wanted to share that teleportation ability of his; he truly did. But that explanation would arouse more questions that he was not yet ready to answer. Because if she were to learn he had ties to the Abyss, she would also discard him like the trash he was, and she would be completely justified.

Diluc assured that she wouldn’t, but the blunette was having a hard time believing that.

He tutted to continue the conversation. “That librarian always seems to best me in everything. But rest assured, she has a formidable opponent.”

Jean smiled as she eyed the blunette for any sign of distress. When she saw nothing, she raised a brow. “Why are you having dinner this late?”

Well, jokes on her, he worded it in a specific way. “I wasn’t hungry. I was here to make sure you weren’t starving yourself to death, buried under the paperwork.”

Jean frowned and stared back, displeased, as if she didn’t believe any word that came out of Kaeya’s mouth.

Oh well.

He gave her a half-hearted salute and took a step back. “I will go out for some fresh air and come back,” he informed her. “I know that all captains are required for the meeting tomorrow, first thing in the morning. And I am aware that you want to go over the bullet points before that. So if you need me, I will be in my office.”

Since he was a high-ranking officer, his office came with a bathroom and a small bed. It seemed he had to spend another night at the job.

“Thank you, Kaeya,” she smiled. “Truly. For all your help.”

Kaeya blinked, stupefied, and slid out of the room without saying anything.

What did he do to deserve that reaction? All he did was hide the information Jean was justified in demanding. And that didn’t even include his true nature, hidden under the role of a loyal knight.

All he did was do his job; there was nothing to be grateful for that.

He sighed and went out, thinking that he needed more than just fresh air. But, he knew that the areas close to the city were cleaned of hilichurl activity by either scouts or his restless brother. So he wasn’t going to find a mindless target for him to kill.

Just how much he wanted to have Diluc by his side at the moment. Just to have an insignificant chat that had no real purpose whatsoever. But he knew that it wasn’t him who was bartending in the tavern tonight. And even if he did, it was almost closing time, so the only thing he would have done was disturb him in his job.

Still, with no other destination in mind, he scurried towards the place that felt like home. Even if Diluc wasn’t there, he could find peace at the bottom of a nice dandelion wine bottle.

Chapter Text

“Sir Kaeya!” exclaimed the bartender in surprise.

Kaeya smiled in courtesy as he sauntered towards the stools in front of the bar. The tavern was as lively as ever, even though Kaeya knew for a fact that it was getting closer to closing time. The chatter and clanking of glasses filled the air and reminded the blunette how desperately he needed the rest with a piercing headache.

Still, the easygoing persona could not be lifted, no matter how exhausted he felt, both mentally and physically. If he let go of the easily constructed mask, he could crumble apart like a shattered porcelain kept together by a shoddy adhesive.

It was never a show for others; this fabricated person was just for his own eyes to see. It had always been that way because he didn’t know how else to live his life.

“Charles,” he smiled. “As busy as always.”

The bartender waved his hand dismissively. “Can’t complain,” he eyed the captain briefly before making softened expression took over his face, like a father talking to his own son. “I don’t serve any more drinks, given the hour, but I can make an exception just for you.” Then he added with a wink. “I won’t tell anyone if you don’t.”

A well-practised titter escaped his lips to show his contentment with the offer. “You are too kind, Charles. Who am I to refuse a pleasant wine in the land of freedom?”

“Coming right up. Is it the usual?”

“Not this time,” he corrected. “Dandelion wine on such a lovely evening is a must, don’t you agree?”

Even though his tone was nothing less than relaxed, this comment gave Charles a momentary pause. Again, the man gave him a once-over before reluctantly reaching for the wine glass.

“Hard day at work?” He asked, unsure.

“Nothing of the sort.” He tried to reassure. Was his low mood that obvious, or did Charles catch a tell of his? “Why do you ask?”

“Oh,” he visibly deflated. “I was mistaken, then. I apologize, Sir Kaeya.”

Just tell me what you saw so I can correct it next time!

“It was just a lot of paperwork that I needed an escape. I am needed back shortly, however.” He tried to deflect. Whatever Charles saw had to have been dealt with right here and now before someone had a way of telling something was wrong with Kaeya.

“It must be burdensome, after everything that had happened,” agreed the bartender, seeming to believe Kaeya’s words.

The blunette pinned this interaction for later, for the next time he came back for another drink. Then he could find a way to fish out information from the bartender without making it seem obvious. If he were to push at the moment, his intentions would be clear as day.

“Nothing insurmountable, especially with the righteous and rigorous Dandelion Knight commanding the Ordo.”

“That we all agree,” Charles started to polish a glass after he had poured Kaeya his wine. “If there is anything us folk could do for our nation, you know that everyone is ready to pour their heart into it for the cause.”

“I am acutely aware,” Kaeya chuckled fondly. “Although it is not public information yet, I can happily announce just how many people enrolled after the recent events. People are getting in line to protect their homeland.”

The blunette swirled the wine softly in its glass. Even though this was an act to let the wine breathe, Kaeya's real purpose was to delay drinking as much as possible. He didn’t realize until now just how nauseous he was feeling due to hunger, and he wasn’t planning on testing his high tolerance on an empty stomach and dehydrated body.

“That is great news!” Charles declared a bit more ambitiously, causing a few glances to be spared in their direction. The man ducked his head and continued a bit more silently. “To think it was you, Sir Jean, and Master Diluc to handle a Harbinger alone. With a Cavalry Captain such as you, no nation needs a cavalry to protect their lands.”

Well, Diluc was hardly himself, but still.

“Oh, I am truly flattered, dear Charles. But the credit mostly goes to our hardworking Acting Grandmaster and Master Diluc. You know that when it comes to battle, there is nobody surpassing the two.”

Charles’ gaze narrowed with an almost playful smirk. “That may be true, but I am also aware of your habit of deflecting compliments, even when it is due.”

Kaeya attempted to hide his bashful smile by moving the glass closer to his nose, concealing the shyness by sniffing the wine that was still yet to be drunk.

This was… nice. Everything around him, from the weathered wooden surface to the strong alcohol smell lingering in the tavern, reminded him of home.

Of father.

How much he had loved his wine empire and this successful business. Even though he never managed to fulfill his dreams of being a Vision-holder knight, he still managed to build himself a life with the parts of his shattered hope. Even after losing his wife to an untimely death, he still managed to give all his love to his son- to both his sons.

How would he have reacted if he saw the brothers falling out for years? Kaeya should have reached out to Diluc, if not for himself, but for his father. Because he would have wanted them to be together in those trying times.

But Kaeya failed to even do that.

He knew he didn’t deserve Crepus’ love, but that didn’t mean he deserved to run away from his responsibilities.

When Diluc left, he should have handled the winery, not Elzer. He should have convinced Diluc to stay, so that father could rest peacefully knowing his son was safe.

He wondered if Diluc thought similarly. Did he think that he failed father so miserably that he could never make things right again? Maybe… Diluc was always the type to blame himself for every small thing.

He saw Charles moving to clean the counter from the peripheral of his eye. Their conversation had come to an end, and Kaeya had no more to say, so it was better this way.

Another bout of dizziness passed over him like an undesirable wave, and Kaeya placed his glass down to take a deep breath. The throbbing in his head slowly crept to his concealed eye, and Kaeya subtly winced with the sudden ache that came and went in his eye.

He didn’t know headache could cause a piercing pain in the eyes?

Still, after inhaling and exhaling for a few minutes, he was finally free of the unwanted nausea. He took a brief glance at the full glass in front of him, seeming especially lonely in the wide counter.

This was a mistake…

He should have been elated, over the moon. Diluc was talking to him again, Jean was giving him the space he needed, and the nation was free of any immediate threats. So why was he here, dwelling on the depressing past? Why was he here, forcing himself to have a glass of his father’s favorite drink?

Was it his favorite?

A crushing weight sat on top of his chest as he realized it had been so long since that day. Kaeya knew that Crepus enjoyed indulging in a fine dandelion wine, and he knew that the man was proud of his own products. But they never had a conversation about his father’s favorite meals. Or even if they did, Kaeya did not remember at the moment.

Was it because they never had the conversation, or was it because Kaeya didn’t care about the answer?

Just how horrible a person must he have been if the latter was the truth?

Thinking that he wasn’t going to be able to stomach a single drop, he sighed and got up. Then, he fished out some Mora to cover for the drink and some before placing them next to the glass.

Seeing that Charles was in the storage, he darted out of the tavern before the man could question his sour mood once again. The drink was probably on the house, as it was offered by Charles himself, and Diluc was insistent that he didn’t need to pay in family business, but Kaeya could never bring himself to agree to these conditions.

He should have gone back to the headquarters, but he figured he should stop by his apartment first to have a decent meal. Otherwise, Diluc would somehow smell his lack of proper diet from kilometers away before rushing directly from the winery to force-feed him like Kaeya was a misbehaving infant.

When he got back, he retrieved his keys from the Vision space and sighed in relief as he set foot in the empty house. He reached down to take out his boots before noticing something hidden in there.

When did he hide something inside his boot?

The short answer was: He didn’t. He had hidden holsters for his knives if he was separated from his Vision, but other than that, he didn’t hide anything in there.

A paper, planted by someone… How did he not notice someone putting it there? It was simply impossible.

He hesitantly pulled the paper out and read its contents after swallowing nervously.

‘If you do not want to be exposed for who you truly are, Alberich, come to Thousand Winds Temple at midnight tomorrow. Alone.’

Kaeya was sure he was left breathless for several moments before his hand trembled slightly.

What was he supposed to do now?

Chapter Text

“-The main issue is transportation,” Elzer pointed out as he pursed his lips in thought.

Diluc hummed, preoccupied, and examined the map laid before him once more.

“The obvious route is through Fontaine,” he voiced his thoughts. “Then we will need to travel by sea until we reach the resort.”

“The travel cost is just too much,” Elzer sighed. “The prices should be inflated greatly just to make up for it.”

“It is not sustainable, it is true,” Diluc agreed. “But the resort is newly opened, and people are rushing into Natlan now that the Night Kingdom is stronger than ever. We might attract new customers if we make a deal with the resort. Not to mention, my sources tell me that the highest income there is from the tavern in Tete Isle. We need to strike while the iron is hot.”

“I still don’t think it is a good idea, Master Diluc. People from all over the world indeed are barging into the nation as if there is no tomorrow. You are right about that. However, after their vacation is over, they will return to their homeland. We won’t attract any customers from another nation just because they enjoyed the taste of our wine in Natlan.”

“That is why this will be a limited event every year,” Diluc smirked triumphantly. “We will send a number of bottles that will be just enough to cover our expenses for transportation every summer. Easybreeze Holiday Resort will sell our products in a collaboration event, informing the customers that the bottles are limited.”

Clarity flashed through the elder’s eyes. “You are not aiming to profit. This will be an investment.”

Diluc leaned back in his chair. “Exactly.” His eyes lost their focus as he pondered the details of their plan. “I am not sure if this will succeed as I hope it to, but every deal in every business is just a calculated risk. Natlan attracting a huge wave of tourists should be used to our advantage,” then he placed a finger on his chin to add more. “In fact, this will be a good opportunity to add new branches to our network of merchants. We weren’t in contact with Natlan at all.”

The more Elzer stayed silent to think about the offer, the more he seemed to agree with the redhead. “Not only would we advertise our product to every nation with this collaboration, but we would also specifically attract customers from Natlan. Considering the fact that the tourist wave works the other way.”

Finally, they were on the same page. “Just as the tourists from all over the world rush into Natlan, the people of Natlan wander around the other nations to sightsee, so why wouldn’t their destination be Mondstadt?” He agreed with Elzer’s last point.

“I will prepare a plan for the next summer,” the butler got up from his seat, filled with unmistakable fervour. “Or maybe, we can aim for the spring-” he mumbled to himself as he got out of the study.

Since they were already in autumn, the plan they were planning to make was too late to put into motion. However, it was fine; the winery did make enough money from Mondstadt alone.

Now that this was done and over with, he could finally focus on the other thing.

Kaeya was right when he suggested that he needed to participate in more laid-back activities. The date in itself was, in fact, fun, so why not let himself let loose, just for a single night?

He rested his head on his palm as his elbow leaned on the desk. What would he do if he were to have fun? Should he do it alone, or should he invite someone? The only people his age he could think of were Jean, Kaeya, and maybe Lumine.

How old was Lumine?

Lisa was out of the question because Diluc did not want to leave a wrong impression on her after their platonic date. 

He groaned as he realized he truly had no social life.

Maybe that was for the best… Now that he thought about it, did he really deserve a relaxing night? What was he even thinking? All those dead knights, all those dead Fatui, his father’s and his brother’s blood on his hands.

What was he thinking?

Right, there was no time to fool around. He needed to make sure his father’s legacy, Dawn Winery, continued to thrive. All the while, he kept the city safe from its future enemies. Just because the land was safe now didn’t mean it was going to be tomorrow. The Jester was going to come back for his Harbinger after all.

He grabbed the expenditure ledger and inspected it to ensure everything was as it should be. The only thing it missed was his signature, but he didn’t want to sign it before the day ended, in case he missed something.

He glanced at the letters sent by the business partners with a sour expression before resignedly taking one to write a reply.

Thankfully, he was interrupted from this boring task when a sharp chink grabbed his attention. When he turned to the source of the sound, he noticed a single carrier pigeon of the knights standing by his window.

…Okay?

Not sure what to make of it, he slowly got up from his seat and approached the small bird by the window before sliding the pane open.

The pigeon cooed and continued to stay in its place, seemingly not bothered by the human proximity. That was to be expected; they were trained to carry messages to humans, after all.

Seeing the note attached to its leg, Diluc reached for the paper to snatch it off as the avian let him. Then he unrolled the paper, unprepared for its hidden contents, only to let out a sharp gasp as he lit the paper on fire and rushed out.

When they were finally alone in the spare room at the tavern, Diluc dared to speak his mind.

“Anything else?”

“You think I am hiding something?” Kaeya snapped as he fiddled with his coin nervously.

That was phrased incorrectly. He inhaled deeply and tried again, this time talking softly to ease Kaeya’s anxiety. “I didn’t mean it like that,” he bit back the apology as he knew Kaeya wouldn’t appreciate it. “Is there anything else you can think of for this situation?”

The blunette sighed but didn’t stop his pacing in the small room. “I don’t know. I only found this in my boot last night,” he explained as Diluc was thrown a piece of paper. Because of its lightweight, the item did not quite reach its destination, and the redhead had to catch it midair in an awkward position. His eyes scanned the short note while Kaeya continued.

“I don’t know how they snuck up on me, it shouldn’t have been possible.”

That, Diluc knew. Even if he was drunk, the man was always attentive to his surroundings.

“Either the culprit didn’t use a conventional method, or you were rendered hindered somehow to make this possible.”

Kaeya didn’t respond. In fact, Kaeya didn’t seem like he was in the present with him. It was as if his mind was elsewhere as his whole body trembled with nervous energy.

“Kaeya?”

“Why now? What changed?” He asked mindlessly.

“Kaeya!”

“I think Jean caught up on it, too. This morning, I couldn’t focus on the meeting at all. What if it was from one of the captains?”

Diluc had to physically seize him in place to have his voice heard. “Kaeya!”

The blunette jumped with the sudden touch and violently pulled back. “What?” He yelled.

After seeing the tense reaction, Diluc hesitantly retracted his hand. “Take a deep breath.”

This seemed to upset Kaeya more. “Are you out of your mind? I had already wasted enough time as-”

“You are the smartest person I have ever known,” he explained. “But right now, you are panicking. So take a deep breath and calm down,” his face shifted to a broken smile. “Please?”

“I-” he started before he noticed the shaking of his arms. Then forcefully took a deep breath as his chest visibly rejected the air flow. “Okay,” he said, voice wavering.

They waited for a few minutes while Kaeya refused to sit down on the sofa next to them. Mirroring his brother, Diluc also stood still in his place awkwardly before leaning back on the wall.

He would have come closer to help him relax physically. Like guiding him to sit down while holding his hand, or rubbing his back, or resting a hand on his shoulder. But he had just seen how on edge Kaeya was in this state and how unappreciative he was of Diluc’s touch, so he had to stay back.

“Okay,” Kaeya said again and flipped his coin to help him think. A small smile escaped from the redhead’s lips as he saw his brother being a little more composed.

“We need to discuss three things,” he took the reins briefly, until Kaeya was well enough to come up with an idea. “Who the culprit might be, how they delivered the message, and what our plan will be for tonight.”

“There are not many who know about my heritage,” Kaeya reluctantly joined. “You, maybe some Harbingers, and some people my birth father might be acquainted with.”

Only Diluc knew about his secret in Mondstadt?

“Might be?” He prodded, “Any person in particular that comes to mind for the last possibility?”

Kaeya walked around and threw his coin from one hand to the other. “I don’t know,” he admitted. “My memories from then are… hazy. But I don’t think it is from my birth father, since this was a clear threat. Not an order to exchange intel for future war.”

It was such a relief to see how open Kaeya was being about his mission. He was probably forcing himself to be seen as airy about it, but this was proof that Diluc was trusted with his secret wholeheartedly. 

And Diluc had no intention of wasting this chance given.

“Makes sense. But it still doesn’t eliminate the possibility,” he countered. “The note might be from someone he has a feud with.”

“Something to keep in mind…” Kaeya trailed off. “What else?” He asked, encouraging Diluc to go over the remaining possibilities.

“The most possible person is the Harbinger,” he suggested. “Or someone he personally sent. We were already expecting him to make a move.”

“That might be, but we also ne-” he stopped abruptly before something clicked. Then he cursed a heavy profanity that did not suit the demeanor of the elegant knight.

“What is it?” Diluc straightened up, ready to fight.

“It could also be Dainsleif.”

Oh.

“If it is, then he is referring to my birth clan, not my mission.”

If it were, that man was barred from not just the tavern, but the entire nation.

“If it is, that is good news,” Diluc tried to reassure. “Not only does he lack information, but he also does not have a huge organization and an Archon behind him. He is just a man that we can handle.”

“He is an immortal man,” Kaeya reminded. “He cannot be harmed or killed.”

“Really?” Diluc asked, baffled.

“Yes, really. Of course, he can be reasoned with or at least be captured, but I need to understand why he is doing this.”

Diluc was still stuck on the new information. “How does he not die?”

“Diluc,” he turned furiously. “Focus!”

“Right,” he stood upright as his habits from the knightly training kicked in. 

A topic for another time.

Kaeya groaned and pressed the heel of his palms over his sockets. “We are back to square one. We know nothing!”

Diluc stopped to examine his brother thoroughly. He was… exceedingly tense, though a bit more controlled compared to his previous condition. He wasn’t allowed to see this side of the blunette for a long time, not to this extent. He was afraid, frightened even. As if he were deadly afraid of losing everything.

Did this never happen before?

Was this the first time Kaeya ever received a threat like this, or did he experience a similar episode while he was alone?

Whatever the answer was, at this moment, he had to step in for Kaeya’s sake.

“It doesn’t matter,” he spoke confidently, not allowing the slightest waver in his voice. ”Whoever sent this is willing to strike a deal with you. Until then, they will not act on anything. You will have your answers after tonight.”

That gave Kaeya a momentary pause, as if he had just realized what Diluc said was the truth. Was he really that out of it?

“You are right,” he breathed. “I just need to find out what their goal is. Then the plan can be formed.”

“Exactly,” Diluc reassured as he let the subtle upturn at the edge of his lip. “Until then, we secure the perimeter and discuss the contingency plan.”

Kaeya nodded and extended an arm as if expecting Diluc to do something. The redhead absently reached for it, thinking Kaeya wanted a physical reassurance, but when they made contact, Kaeya gave him a confused frown.

“Uh…” Kaeya pulled his hand back and tried the motion again. “Can I have the note back?”

Diluc blinked and blinked again before the embarrassment crushed him down with a heavy blow. He coughed awkwardly to cover up for it and quickly handed him the note.

But he swore he heard a barely restrained snort.

Kaeya hummed as he reread the note before sighing. “I don’t recognize the handwriting. I wasn’t expecting to, but I should have checked for it the moment I found the message.” Then Diluc was given the paper back.

“Burn this for me,” he requested, not looking in his direction as he was once again lost in thought.

The redhead was done with the task in an instant, and the ash poured down from his hand.

“My eye,” Kaeya suddenly spoke up, and Diluc waited for him to finish the thought process. “It is somewhat sensitive to Abyssal magic. Like a faint itch every time I am near Abyss mages.”

That was new information…

“Yesterday, my head was throbbing from exhaustion, and I went to the tavern. There was a sudden stinging pain that came and went in an instant. I thought it was due to my headache, but-”

“Someone might have approached you with Abyssal magic,” Diluc finished in his stead.

“I don’t know,” Kaeya sighed. “It might be unrelated.”

“Or it might not be. It is better to have too much information than not at all.”

“But at the moment, it doesn’t matter,” Kaeya declared. He seemed more like himself at the moment, to the redhead’s relief. “Because we now need to construct a plan,” he said as he smirked.

Chapter Text

Kaeya barely restrained himself from fidgeting around nervously while he was pinned down in his place. Not even daring to summon his lucky coin from his Vision space, he watched his brother tapping his foot with a scowl on his face.

“Where are they?” Diluc asked in a hushed voice, his patience clearly running out.

The blunette breathed out a worn-out chuckle as his expression remained unchanged. “There is still time until midnight. Be patient.”

Diluc didn’t seem to appreciate the annoyed grin, as evidenced by the deepened scowl on his face, and huffed in irritation.

Kaeya wasn’t going to admit it out loud, of course, but having someone else freaking out seemed to soothe his nerves by a significant margin. This morning, Diluc took on the role of being the more composed one out of the two, and now that the showtime was approaching, they decided to exchange the responsibility without talking about it.

They truly were in this together, weren’t they? Diluc wasn’t lying when he said he wasn’t going to leave him.

Besides, there was nothing much to worry about, since Diluc was most probably right. Whoever this person was, they wanted to strike a deal. Whether by blackmailing Kaeya or collaborating with him, it didn’t matter; they wanted Kaeya to do something. And until he knew what their goal was, Kaeya’s secret was safe.

They didn’t make a grand plan for the night, for Kaeya knew they lacked information. Until tonight’s negotiations were done, they were going to stand in wait. 

Obviously, that didn’t mean they didn’t discuss a contingency plan like Diluc suggested. But they weren’t going to attack their guest, not unless they were given reason to.

He glanced around to check if anybody else was in the vicinity, but there was neither an itch in his eye nor a suspicious sound of tapping of a boot.

One part of him was hoping it was an envoy sent directly by Pierro, because he needed the months of torment to be over. The uncertainty, the wait, the lack of information, the imminent choice…

It was just too much for him to bear at this point.

But the other part dearly hoped that it was just Dainsleif, questioning his position in the war again. If that were the case, then all he had to do was have a proper talk with him. Kaeya didn’t know him all that well, but he seemed to be reasonable enough to hear the blunette out. With Diluc by his side, the very Ragnvindr wunderkind, the issue could be settled this night.

The man was both a lone wolf and a reticent type, anyway. As soon as he was gone, he wasn’t going to be a problem for the blunette anymore.

The brothers stilled in their place when they noticed the moonlight bending and warping unnaturally before forming a diamond-shaped dark purple portal with jagged edges. The rune in the middle seemed familiar to the Khaenri’ahn, but it had been too long since he had practised his mother tongue.

A blond man stepped out of the rift and looked disappointed to see two people instead of one.

“I told you to come alone,” Dainsleif voiced his discontent while glaring at the blunette.

Kaeya didn’t realize he was holding his breath until he had to let it out without making it seem obvious to anyone near. He then shook his head almost mockingly before explaining himself, while the relief of seeing that it was just Dainsleif filled him with courage.

“Come now,” Kaeya started. “I find a note with no information about its sender. Did you seriously expect me to barge into danger without bringing backup? Besides, Master Diluc is known to be unnecessarily tight-lipped. I believe he can be around to hear whatever you have to say.”

As if proving Kaeya’s point, Diluc crossed his arms and frowned at their guest. The blunette had to subtly bite his lip to stifle a mighty laugh, seeing how Diluc took on the role of being his bodyguard.

Dainsleif briefly glanced at the redhead before shrugging indifferently. “It matters not,” he said, then snapped his attention back at the knight with a scorching intensity. It was obvious that the man was holding himself back for nothing but a show of respect. Kaeya wondered how long it would be until the man’s patience ran too thin.

“Kaeya Alberich,” Dainsleif cut to the chase. “I will give you one chance to explain yourself. If I am not satisfied with your answer, I will see to it that Teyvat is eradicated of one of its many pests.”

Diluc took a furious step forward before Kaeya blocked his path with a raised arm. “Pest?” He asked in mock offense. “Are you talking about me? You can just say that you will kill me, you know? You don’t have to use that flowery language.”

“That was not an explanation, Alberich. Are you going to waste your next words by trying to agitate me, or are we going to have a discussion?”

Okay, it would be better if Kaeya handled it right here and now. “No courtesy and no class,” Kaeya tutted. “But I praise your efficiency, my friend.” His smile dropped slowly as his expression got sterner by the second. “I don’t know what you expect me to tell you. I don’t even know what I must have done to attract your fury.”

Dainsleif crossed his arms and slightly raised a brow. “Is this your answer? Is this how you plan on wriggling yourself out of the consequences?”

Now he was more confused. “I don’t know what you are talking about,” he answered truthfully.

“I see…” He trailed off, but both brothers saw the danger in the man’s eyes. “It is a shame,” was all he said just before he lunged forward with dizzying speed.

Diluc was in front of his brother in an instant with his claymore drawn. Dainsleif clashed with the redhead and seemed to be reluctant with his strike.

“Are you serving a traitor, child of wind?” The blond asked, but Diluc was too busy gritting his teeth from the overwhelming blow.

Without wasting a second, Kaeya teleported behind the immortal man and summoned something liquid from his Vision space before freezing it around Dainsleif. With his legs stuck in place due to the ice and his arms having restricted mobility, the blond glared briefly at Kaeya with hatred and teleported out of his confines.

Diluc stumbled in place after the pressure on his blade was gone and frantically looked around to find his enemy.

“I don’t know what you are talking about!” Kaeya tried his chance again by talking to the empty air.

Something whizzed by the brothers, and they leaned their backs against each other, still standing near the ice.

“He is empowering himself by Abyssal magic, that is why he is fast and strong,” Kaeya tried to explain quickly, but Diluc didn’t seem all that appreciative, judging by his tone.

“I know,” he seethed.

Okay, I am not informing you anymore. Kaeya bitterly thought as he huffed.

Dainsleif popped out of a portal right in front of the blunette, and Kaeya had to block the attack the moment he registered it. The deafening clinking created sparks that illuminated the moonlit night and showcased the half a millennium worth of wrath in Dainsleif’s face. As Kaeya held the blond by following with a counterattack, Diluc took the opportunity and ignited his flames as they had planned beforehand. The trajectory of his claymore caused the blond to take a defensive step back towards the ice, and the flames instantly evaporated the ice into gaseous form without allowing it to become water due to sheer heat.

Now that they had accomplished their goal, Diluc quickly jumped back and allowed Kaeya to make a weak but imperceptible Abyssal shield for the two of them. 

He was lucky to be trained by his birth father to perform such tricks, even though he had forgotten most of them because of his avoidance of practising the skill.

The brothers gave each other a subtle but unmistakable smirk when the gas made contact with the unsuspecting man. But before they could celebrate, the man vanished out of sight again.

Okay, this was getting annoying…

“Don’t do it anymore,” Diluc silently ordered, but Kaeya could hear the underlying plea in his tone. His brother was worried that he could pass out again due to overexertion from Abyss. After coming to the conclusion, Kaeya couldn’t stop his heart from melting with the sudden warmth.

Not only did he not care about his connection to the Abyss Order, but he also only wanted him to stop because it was getting dangerous for Kaeya’s health. Who was he to deny his brother’s concerned request?

Dainsleif appeared again. This time, his actions were hurried, almost stressed, when he attempted to pierce through the redhead. Seeing that the blond was now aiming to kill Diluc, as well as Kaeya, he decided that he had had enough with their guest.

“The only threat here is you!” Kaeya furiously got his brother’s side and attempted to flank the violent man. “I came here as requested,” he pushed Dainsleif with an unrelenting series of attacks. “I respected your wishes to have a proper conversation,” He said as the blond panted heavily. “And you denied me my right to explain what even set you off in the first place? And you dare attack a respectable citizen of the nation of freedom.”

Diluc lunged from the other side, and Dainsleif dissolved into thin air again, but this time, he reappeared somewhere close almost immediately. His figure was trembling as if he was having difficulty even standing up, and he stared at the duo with nearly absent eyes.

“What have you done to me?” He rasped in clear confusion.

The redhead rushed to the man’s side and pushed the blade out of his hands before kicking him down. Dainsleif wheezed sharply and fell to the dirt below while still trying his best to keep his groggy eyes open.

“Hydro with special properties,” Kaeya smiled as he slowly approached the toppled man. Diluc held him by the blade’s edge as he dared him to make another move. “I just asked a fellow knight to lend me his Vision’s sedative capabilities. When the steam hit you, it was already too late.”

Diluc stared at him unimpressed for a brief second before turning his attention to their foe. 

Well, sue him for being prideful and explaining what happened! Diluc truly had no taste for a good show.

“Now I ask you again,” Kaeya dismissed his weapon to his Vision space. “What the hell were you talking about?”

Chapter Text

Dainsleif was still very clearly struggling to keep himself conscious enough to at least be aware of his surroundings. However, the effort wasn’t all that fruitful.

“I am talking to you,” Kaeya pressed, annoyed, and the blond blinked in his direction as he slowly processed the words but failed miserably to show any sign of understanding.

Diluc still continued to hold his blade pointed at the man’s throat, in case he tried to do any funny business, no matter how out of it he seemed at the moment.

Kaeya sighed and placed a hand on his forehead exasperatedly. “This isn’t working.”

Diluc briefly glanced at his brother’s side and opened his mouth before closing it again. He wondered how to phrase it without sounding like he was suspicious of the blunette, but ultimately decided that even if voicing the question was the right call, now wasn’t the time for it.

Of course, Kaeya had to catch him in his hesitation. But thankfully, all the knight did was narrow his visible eye and show his discontent.

Besides, all he was going to ask was whether he had any idea what Dainsleif was accusing him of. But, even if Kaeya did, he was clearly not ready to admit it in front of the man himself. They could talk about it some other time, when they were alone.

He could only hope that Kaeya was going to be honest about it…

It wasn’t like Diluc forced him to share every secret he harbored. In fact, he just stayed silent while Kaeya decided what to disclose and what not to. So if Kaeya said that he didn’t know what Dainsleif was talking about, then it was the truth, or it was something the blond shouldn’t know the details of. Whether Diluc deserved to know the answer… that was yet to be known.

All Diluc could do at this point was trust his brother not to have a hidden agenda that would harm people. In fact, Diluc owed Kaeya to believe this was the truth.

But still, something deep inside him, a primal fear of betrayal that was placed at the very core of his being when he was just eighteen years old, told him that he had to make sure Kaeya wasn’t up to anything. No matter how much he was disgusted with himself for even thinking that-

No.

The least he could do was leave him alone as a show of trust. He shouldn’t push the issue, and he shouldn’t let this emotion be seen by his brother.

His brother.

He just got him back, and Diluc wasn’t planning on letting go of his only family any time soon. 

He trusted Kaeya, and that was the truth.

Dainsleif was either lying or mistaken about whatever this was. Besides, Diluc certainly wasn’t going to side with a stranger against his own kin.

“This isn’t working,” Kaeya repeated. “We used too much of the sedative Hydro; he is too out of it.”

Diluc nudged the barely awake man with the flat of his claymore to stir a reaction. But all he earned was an almost inaudible groan that could be considered a whimper.

“It isn’t possible,” Diluc argued. “We knew exactly how much to use.” He tried not to use Adler’s name to give away the recruit’s identity to Dainsleif. “We were warned about the dosage.”

“We were clearly mistaken,” Kaeya gestured towards the man. It seemed that his brother shared the sentiment for not saying the boy’s name out loud. “We are not adept at using the new material, after all.”

Translation: Adler might not be aware of his Vision’s capabilities.

Diluc’s lips drew a tight line as annoyance bubbled within him. This was ridiculous! They had to wait until their attacker was feeling better so that they could interrogate him.

He exhaled deeply but still kept his form firmly.

“I really don’t know what he might be talking about,” Kaeya reluctantly spoke up and startled Diluc. Only after a full second passed did he realize that his brother wasn’t talking to Dainsleif but to him.

“I… I didn’t assume anything,” Diluc lamely replied, his eyes not leaving the man barely managing to sit up.

“I don’t,” Kaeya repeated, as if he wanted, no, needed Diluc to believe that.

Was he trying to put on a show for the blond? Because if that was the case, that was surely working, considering Diluc was also in the dark. 

“I believe you,” he said, in an attempt to keep the facade going. He was somewhat used to his brother’s tactics and antics by now.

He heard Kaeya sighing, but he couldn’t ascertain whether it was a sigh of relief or discontent. If it was the latter, then what did Diluc do wrong this time? He played along with his brother’s plan as was requested of him, right? Or did he misread the situation?

Silence surrounded the trio and didn’t seem to lift for several uncomfortable minutes. Eventually, Kaeya decided that he had had enough of it before stomping to the still dazed man and grabbing his chin violently.

“Enough is enough!” He demanded. “It has been a while. All I am asking is some clarif-” But he wasn’t allowed to finish his sentence. Because suddenly, life bloomed in the blond’s body without warning as he lunged forward to his brother.

Kaeya gasped sharply, clearly not expecting the sudden move, and Diluc pierced Dainsleif by the throat since the redhead was already in position, ready to attack.

But the man didn’t stop, even with the fatal wound. He was staggered slightly but pushed through the pain while Diluc lost his grip on his own claymore. Because, if he was honest with himself, he wasn’t expecting the weapon to be snatched off in such an unconventional way. When a person was stabbed in the throat, they tended to die almost immediately, after all.

Kaeya summoned his weapon from his Vision space as soon as he processed the action, but he didn’t manage to block the man in time.

“Let’s see what you hide within,” Dainsleif seethed through his bloody, gritted teeth. Then, in an instant, his hand pressed over the concealed eye of his brother and willed the Abyssal power to converge around his hand.

Diluc quickly moved to stop whatever was happening, but the overwhelming pressure summoned by Dainsleif sent him flying away. Thankfully, in the last moment, he managed to create a Pyro shield.

He made contact with the ground and grazed along the surface painfully. His old injuries made themselves known with a burning sensation as his tender, burnt skin was irritated harshly. But there was no time for that, not when Kaeya was seized by the blond.

He groaned involuntarily, but still jumped to his feet. 

“Kaeya!”

He blinked away the blur from his eyes when he saw the pessimistic scene before him. 

Kaeya was still down on his back, under the ferocious blond. But he was very clearly holding back an agonizing scream. Whatever was happening to him because of Dainsleif’s action caused him great pain.

His legs buckled with the sudden movement, and the unwanted dizzy spell made him sway slightly, but he didn’t care. Not when Kaeya was in danger.

He roared almost mindlessly, as his big brother instincts kicked in, and sprinted to their side. Even though he knew he wouldn’t be able to do anything to a man who just wouldn’t die, even with the gaping hole right in the middle of his throat. But there was nothing else he could do in the moment.

He needed to stop whatever was happening and save Kaeya.

But the pressure surrounding them, the feeling that felt like a slimy wind on his skin, continued to push him back. 

Diluc placed a hand over his face instinctively to shield himself, even though the matter pushing back clearly wasn’t a strong wind. He tried to take a look at what was happening to his brother, and his eyes widened when he finally saw everything without obstructions.

Kaeya was writhing desperately under Dainsleif, letting out occasional cries of incomprehensible speech. All the while, the blond still kept his deadly grip on his patched eye, not allowing the blunette to wriggle free from the agony. 

Dainsleif’s brows were furrowed deeply, as if he were also putting up a demanding fight.

As a last Hail Mary, he ignited his flames all around in an attempt to counter the suffocating Abyssal power. The two powers were known to clash with each other, like different opposing entities of ancient times, rejecting the other’s existence.

Pyro roared under his command, resisting the dense void surrounding it, and attempted to disobey its master. But Diluc pushed through; he forced himself to summon more. And as he summoned more, the more violently he felt Abyss’ piercing gaze on himself. It wanted him out.

That was when Diluc decided to change tactics. Abyss rejected anything that rejected it. So what if he accepted it? With a closing of his fist, he doused his flames with a violent hiss and allowed the viscous sensation to run through his veins. He had to let it in if he wanted to help Kaeya; he had to adapt quickly.

And that worked.

He was finally moving more easily, at least compared to before. Finally, he was allowed to pass through the violent pushback, and he rushed to his brother’s side.

“Don’t you dare!” He fumed, but he was ignored by the blond. Dainsleif was still too busy pressing Kaeya’s patched eye.

His foot slipped under him, and Diluc fell on his face. No matter how quickly and successfully he allowed the Abyss into his system, it was still a foreign force that originated from the blond who viewed Diluc as an enemy.

“Stop!” He ordered, but it came out as a beg. “Enough of this!”

Then… It did come to an end, unnervingly abruptly. Everything came to an unnatural stillness, and Diluc briefly considered if he had lost his ability to hear clearly.

Before he could question it, a portal opened up next to Dainsleif, and the man jumped in without looking back. But there was no time to think about what had happened. Not when Kaeya was lying on the cold ground, unmoving.

“Kaeya!” He scrambled to his feet clumsily. 

When he got to his side, he let out a nervous chuckle. Because his brother was alive, his pulse was steady, and his breathing wasn’t even labored. It was as if he were sleeping after he became exhausted.

Then he noticed the portal getting smaller quickly. Too quickly. He had to make a decision, and he had to make that decision right this second.

After sparing a single concerned glance at his brother, he got up and leaped into the unknown behind the portal.

Chapter Text

After he stepped through the portal, Diluc was greeted with a never-ending void surrounding everything his eyes could see. There was seemingly no ground for his feet to stand on, yet he was standing firmly. There was no sky or horizon in the distance for him to focus on.

Just the emptiness of nothing.

Although that wasn’t entirely correct. Because there was one thing standing before Diluc with a frown on his face: Dainsleif.

When the redhead entered wherever this was, he heard a faint whizzing from behind and turned to investigate the source. Only to observe the portal he passed through shrank in on itself before expunging from existence entirely.

“How did you do that?” Dainsleif asked. Judging by his tone, he was beyond baffled.

“Do what?” Diluc seethed in fury, but then shook his head. “You are the one being interrogated here,” he reminded. “What did you do to Kaeya?”

He did something to his eye and opened that portal. Diluc had no choice but to tail the suspicious blond. He knew the man was immortal, but Diluc wasn’t unfamiliar with other ways of acquiring information. They were considered immoral by most, of course, but he needed to protect Kaeya.

Dainsleif didn’t answer his question and tried to summon Abyssal energy in his palm. Diluc barged in to make him stop, but the man held up a hand to the redhead, indicating that this was important.

The nerve!

“I can’t create an exit,” he breathed, almost airy but edged with worry.

Diluc frowned. “What do you mean?”

“It means we are stuck,” he said, looking around.

What?

“What?”

“How did you close the gate?” Dainsleif faced him. “How did you do that?” He repeated.

“I didn’t do anything,” the redhead replied, now understanding the meaning of the first question.

“Then this might be his doing,” Dainsleif concluded, by looking up at the nonexistent sky.

Now that his throat was in full display, Diluc saw how the piercing hole there was slowly closing up. Dainsleif was lucky that he wasn’t stabbed by the windpipe, but the artery was clearly severed. Despite the circumstances, the blond seemed almost undisturbed.

“Are you blaming Kaeya?” Diluc asked after he understood the implications.

Dainsleif turned to him again, and an unimpressed expression was worn over his face. “I am not blaming anyone. But there are a handful of people who could trap us here in the domain I created.”

Trapped here? As in, there was no exit?

Still, that was a topic for another time. The reason he came here was to gather answers to help his brother.

“What is your goal?” Diluc repeated as he discreetly summoned a dagger from his Vision space behind his back. His claymore was discarded behind the portal when the man disrespectfully kept it hanging on his throat. It must have fallen off at some point Diluc didn’t see.

“We need to proceed forward if we want to leave this domain.” Dainsleif completely ignored his question again, and this time Diluc decided he had lost his patience with the blond.

He lunged like a viper fixated on his prey, and he didn’t even try to threaten his foe with a promise of a strike. He just aimed to maim. The man could clearly take the hit.

Still exhausted from the encounter from before, Dainsleif’s reflexes were very clearly hindered, almost lazy. He took the stab wound like he didn’t care for the consequences and stared at the redhead with a pained wince.

“Are you satisfied?” He asked as he hissed in agony before slowly pulling the dagger out of his abdomen.

“Stop dodging the question,” Diluc ordered. “You cannot die, that much is obvious. But you also feel the pain.”

“I am not hiding information from you,” Dainsleif answered, almost irritated, and placed a hand over his bleeding stomach.

Diluc scoffed. “Yeah, right. Then what are you doing, not replying to any of our questions?”

The blond frowned, puzzled before opening his mouth to retort. “I gave that Alberich his chance to explain himself. It was him not replying to my question.”

“You didn’t ask anything!” Just how lacking were his abilities when it came to social interactions? “You just attacked unprovoked.”

“He knew exactly what he did. And he knew exactly what I was talking about.”

“It seemed to me that he didn’t.” Diluc crossed his arms.

“He did,” Dainsleif replied with a tone to end this.

Diluc sighed and changed tactics. He needed to learn what the hell was happening.

“Then what did he do?” He asked. “I was also caught up in this. If you are not hiding anything, then tell me, what is all this about?”

Dainsleif’s stoic eyes stared at him for a brief second before he turned around to move forward. Diluc had no choice but to follow the man.

“You are either too naive for your own good to help a traitor without knowing his true nature, or a hopelessly loyal idiot.” Or you are collaborating with a traitor, he was going to say, but Dainsleif kept himself back. It was for the better, because he was already teetering on the edge of crossing a line. 

The blond glanced at him to test his reaction, but Diluc had no intention of giving him the satisfaction of riling the redhead up. 

“I saw him,” Dainsleif finally spoke up. “In Natlan, working directly under the Abyss Order.”

He… What?

“That is not possible,” Diluc replied confidently. “You are either mistaken or you are lying.”

“I saw him,” Dainsleif repeated a bit more harshly. “And he saw that I saw him. Still, I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Thinking that his lineage did not define his loyalties. I was clearly mistaken.”

“It wasn’t him,” Diluc tried to clear the misunderstanding. He felt the need to protect his brother’s image, even to this scum. “You saw someone else.”

“Believe what you will,” Dainsleif shrugged. “All he had to do was to explain his reasoning for helping the Order, but he failed to do that.”

Was he dense? “It wasn’t him,” he said once again. “How was he supposed to explain something he didn’t do?”

“Are you sure, Ragnvindr? Are you so sure to stake your life on it? Stake everyone’s life on it?”

“You aren’t making sense.” Diluc bitterly stopped in his place, crossing his arms.

“He was working with the Order. The very organization that cares little for the subjects of Celestia. Are you so determined to protect a man you don’t know?” He also stood in his place, glaring at the redhead over his shoulder.

“I know him,” he almost yelled. “He wasn’t there. Even if we entertain the fact that he was, then I trust Kaeya. I believe he must have motives hidden from the members of the organization.” Then he huffed. “Besides, it is impossible. He was in the city for the last two months. Unless you saw him and waited months to pursue the matter, it simply wasn’t him. He has daily strong alibis.”

Dainsleif spared him an unimpressed glance. “It is not impossible to traverse great distances by creating Abyssal portals. I saw him teleport. He is capable of wielding the Abyss.”

Well, as far as Diluc knew, Kaeya didn’t know how to make those kinds of portals, but he had no solid proof for the claim.

Taking the silence as his victory, Dainsleif continued to trek forward to nowhere in particular. Diluc sighed and quickened his pace to keep up.

“Where is this place? What did you do to him?”

“I didn’t do anything to harm him. He will wake up after he has rested enough. The spell wore him down because he resisted me.”

“So he is just exhausted?”

“Yes,” Dainsleif exhaled, exasperated. It was weird to see no animosity from the blond. “What I did was a domain-creating spell. When I saw him in Natlan, he didn’t have his eyepatch on. But when I got close to Alberich in Mondstadt, there was a strong energy radiating from his eye.”

Diluc frowned, not sure where the explanation was going.

“So I created a domain that revealed the essence of his eye.”

This time, the redhead’s eyes widened in horror and a tinge of disgust. “We are in his eye?”

“Not physically, no. But this domain reflects its purpose. So in a way, yes.”

Obviously, he wasn’t going to let this random asshole learn his brother’s secrets. So he ran ahead of the blond before turning to face him and blocking his path.

“Then you are not moving any further.”

Dainsleif raised a brow. “That is not up to you to decide.”

Diluc crossed his arms and refused to budge, while daring the blond to take another step. After reading Diluc’s intention with crystal clarity, he sighed and softened his tone, albeit almost imperceptibly.

“I will not abandon my course, no matter the obstacles. I suggest you stop being a hindrance before I decide not to be so patient anymore.”

“Your threats are empty,” Diluc replied. “Create a way out and see that you leave this place where you are unwanted.”

The blond let out a sharp exhale through the nose. It could either be a mocking bark or just a sigh, but Diluc couldn’t tell. “I have already informed you that I am unable to do that. Besides, even if I could, I wouldn’t leave this domain until I found my answers.”

“If we are stuck here, as you claimed, then we should work to find a way out, not go further in.”

“I am doing both,” Dainsleif shook his head. “When we reach the essence, I can try to create another exit.”

Diluc scoffed. “How convenient!” He blatantly mocked the man. “We can only attempt to leave after you learn the secret you are after.”

“It is convenient,” Dainsleif agreed, and an annoying smirk tugged at the edge of his lip.

Was Diluc being made fun of?

“You are not going any further,” Diluc said, standing his ground.

“I don’t believe you are aware of the situation you are in,” Dainsleif began without a trace of falter in his voice. “You have a limited time at your disposal, and you are not invulnerable. No matter the outcome of our next battle, I will emerge victorious. So you either follow me to the essence for a way out of here, or you will draw your final breath in my presence right here.”

Diluc considered the words. Dainsleif could not die; that was the truth. He was also capable of regenerating exceedingly fast. Even if Diluc were to win every battle, all Dainsleif had to do was to wait until Diluc was dead, one way or the other. 

There was no way he was bluffing, right? He didn’t catch anything that could indicate that. But he wasn’t simply going to accept the terms!

“I can still make you regret staying alive, unable to die, even with the never-ending agony. Not until you create a way out.”

“I have seen countless battles in my five hundred years of involuntary living. There is no torture you can use to scare me. I am only standing here, negotiating with you, because I do not want to spill unnecessary blood.”

Yeah, right, was his first thought. But then he thought back to their battle at the ruins. Dainsleif never aimed to kill, not even Kaeya, and he didn’t strike his hardest when Diluc was in the way. His actions seemed to be in line with his words.

Regardless, it didn’t matter in the slightest. Whether he was truly intending to hurt Diluc or not, he still intended to get past him, no matter the cost. And Diluc could acknowledge that he did not have the advantage in this dispute.

“Where were you going?” He reluctantly asked.

Dainsleif smiled once again, knowing that he had won. “The domain was created to unravel the secrets. And I feel something attracting me in that direction,” he gestured behind the redhead.

“What will we see there?”

“I do not have the slightest idea,” Dainsleif answered truthfully.

Diluc scoffed. “I thought you created this place.”

“I did. But I only gave it its shape. The spell I use is used to uncover any Abyssal spell's properties. Whoever the creator of Alberich’s eye was, they gave it its meaning, and I made this domain by willing its meaning into being.”

Diluc rolled his eyes and hesitantly fell to the blond’s side. He was going to get the upper hand somehow in the future. But right now, he had to make Dainsleif think he was safe. Diluc needed to collect information, observe, and lay low until he learned a key information that could turn the tide.

Just wait, Kaeya. I won’t let you down.

Chapter Text

First things first, he had to ascertain the extent of Dainsleif’s extreme healing capabilities. The wound in his stomach and his throat were almost completely gone, leaving no trace of their existence as they closed up.

Cuts and bruises were obviously not the answer to stop this man. But maybe Diluc could attempt to shred him into pieces without allowing a moment for the blond to recover. With the way Dainsleif reacted to the pain proved that the plan had a chance of succeeding. All the redhead had to do was cut him over and over and again until the man created an escape for himself out of this domain.

Still… This was too risky and should have been used as a last resort. Not only did Dainsleif prove himself to be a formidable foe, but he also seemed a little too numb to physical pain.

“We didn’t mean to use that much sedative,” he tried to sound guilty. He didn’t know how much humanity was left in the blond, so with this question, Diluc could both attempt to understand if he was a sensitive fool and if he faked that too much sedative thing.

Because if he didn’t, then all he had to do was to use the extra sedative he brought in his own Vision space. The brothers obviously thought of bringing a spare dosage in case they failed in their first attempt at soaking the blond in the steam.

Dainsleif’s eyes twitched at his side before snapping back to focusing on their destination. Then, all the blond offered was a noncommittal hum.

Okay, Diluc wasn’t planning on the man sharing every little detail of that encounter, but this was infuriating. 

If Kaeya were here, he would have known how to make Dainsleif talk…

He had to have faked it, right? Maybe not in the beginning, but he kept the game going until Kaeya was right next to him. That was the only logical explanation.

They walked in silence after that interaction, and Diluc thought of this moment as his opportunity to observe the man’s mannerisms. The easy gait of an experienced warrior, the stoic eyes that were focused on nothing but the road ahead, the lack of a single falter or tremble in his digits.

Dainsleif had the presence of an indestructible force.

But Diluc didn’t buy it. Strongest irons could be shattered, sharpest steels could be bent, and every warrior could be broken. It wasn’t a matter of if, but how.

“Brace yourself, we arrived at our first destination,” the blond finally spoke after many minutes of heavy silence.

“First?” Diluc asked with a nonbelieving brow raised. “I thought we were going to whatever the essence was.”

Dainsleif sighed and looked around. “This domain is a little more complex than I anticipated. Whatever is waiting for us is not the essence, but a layer surrounding it.”

“What do you mean when you say ‘essence’?” Diluc finally asked. “Isn’t everything about this place meant to represent what the eye truly is in its essence?”

“Yes,” he replied tiredly, as if he was moments away from massaging his temples to deal with the stupid questions. “It is the core of this domain. Normally, the answers should have been located at the essence, but as I said, this domain is more structured than the norm.”

“Norm?” Diluc scoffed. “How many times have you done this to establish a median in your mind?”

“Not that often,” Dainsleif answered and moved on from this conversation. “Now, get ready. I don’t know what awaits us after this point.”

Diluc took on a stance and summoned two more throwing daggers. After deeming that the redhead was indeed prepared for what lay beyond this point, Dainsleif raised his hand and created a gate for them to pass through.

Even though Diluc knew he had to direct his entire focus to the potential dangers ahead, he couldn’t restrain the morbid curiosity taking the reins of his being just for a moment.

He was planning to ask Kaeya if he was willing to teach him how to command Abyss at some point in their relationship. And after successfully letting that corrupt energy course through his veins in an attempt to reach Kaeya before he was stuck in this domain, the idea of using this foreign power became more than just an inaccessible fantasy.

In the short span of time, he drank in as much detail as he possibly could. The way Dainsleif moved his arm to will a portal into being, the muddy, uncomfortable feeling originating from the gate itself, and the way the blond winced from the unseen impact. Diluc observed all.

Then, without allowing him to process any of the movements, Dainsleif just gestured for him to follow before jumping into the unknown. Diluc didn’t dare to waste his time and lose track of Dainsleif, so in an instant, he was also past the threshold of the portal.

After the darkness dissipated, Diluc had to wince and blink several times for his eyes to adjust to the sudden light. When he could finally look around to see where he was located, he wasn’t ready for the sight before him.

“Where is this place?” Diluc found himself asking, because he had never once seen such a city before. And it was saying something, because the redhead was a well-traveled man.

The place they were in was brightly illuminated with artificial light, almost blindingly so. The tall buildings surrounding them caused Diluc to hold back a dizzy spell and made him briefly consider if this was a place in Fontaine. It was a logical conclusion, because everything around him was too technologically advanced for what he was used to in Mondstadt.

Self-moving vehicles crowded the street he was standing in, and meka-like robots roamed around, seemingly serving the citizens walking around. Some were cleaning the trash off the road, while the others were walking beside the people, obeying their orders.

“Khaenri’ah,” Dainsleif breathed out in disbelief, and Diluc had to do a double-take at the claim.

“What?”

The blond ignored him and continued to look around for two more seconds before forcefully composing himself back to reality. “This is nothing but an illusion. We should focus our energies on finding the essence and getting out of here.”

“How are we in Khaenri’ah?” Diluc repeated, getting slightly irked with being constantly disregarded like a troublesome toddler.

“It possibly has to do with what the eye’s true purpose is. Though I am not sure what this entails at the moment.”

Diluc sighed. At least that was an inkling of an answer.

“Are you familiar with where this place exactly is, or did you just make a guess of our location, judging by the structural components?”

Dainsleif observed the scene before him, and his eyes flashed with an emotion Diluc wasn’t sure of. He wanted to call it ‘longing’, but there was an underlying wrath in his detached expression.

“Main square,” he replied. “Most of my life before the curse was spent in the vicinity. It is close to the palace.”

The way he talked caused Diluc to pause. This place used to be his home, all those years ago. Before it was destroyed by the Gods turned against innocents, before it became ruins buried underground rather than the thriving technological utopia it once was.

“I am sorry,” he found himself saying, for he knew being away from one's homeland was a heavy toll on anyone.

“It is all in the past,” Dainsleif replied curtly and started moving in a direction again. Diluc had no choice but to drag behind the blond.

As they walked through the streets, the duo observed that they weren’t really paid attention to by anyone or anything. The animals didn’t jump with a sudden human proximity, and the people walking didn’t change their direction so as not to clash with them.

Diluc raised his hand and waved it in front of one person before proving his hypothesis.

“They don’t see us.”

Dainsleif hummed. “I didn’t expect them to. This is most likely a memory or a reproduction of the old,” then he quickened his pace as if to run away from this conversation. “Keep up.”

Well, it seemed he knew where he was going, so Diluc had no reason to argue against the order.

The more they walked up the incline of the street, the more Diluc was sure of their destination. They were heading to the palace; there was no doubt about that. The question was why they were going there.

Was it because Dainsleif had an uncharacteristic nostalgia wave and wanted to see the palace for himself before they leave the domain, or was he pulled towards there like the last time? However, it didn’t matter to Diluc either way, so he kept his question to himself.

The palace in the distance wasn’t anything grand. In fact, Diluc saw more extravagant structures that could be considered simple apartments in both Sumeru and Fontaine. Although it was larger in scale, the decorations and the moxie radiating from the structure weren’t something to write home about. It did have a diamond motif resting at the roof, though.

“Alberichs reshaped the palace for it to have a simpler appearance after King Irmin stepped down,” Dainsleif explained as if reading his mind. “The higher-ups knew the war was approaching, and the regent king suggested that in order to have their subjects' full support, they needed to be more down to earth.”

More questions that needed answers filled his mind, but he kept those to himself, thinking that he should consider himself lucky Dainsleif was being open in the first place. But he still tried to keep the conversation going.

“What about you? What was your duty in all of this?”

“I was the Bough Keeper, captain of the royal guards.”

Diluc frowned. “With the king stepping down, how did the royal guard react?”

“I ordered them to follow a new leader. Lord Anfortas, though adolescent in age, the time King Irmin was declared indisposed, still was of brilliant mind. Not to mention that he deeply cared for the safety of his subjects. He declared himself temporary Regent, and I approved of his decision.”

Diluc filed all this new information away and patiently waited for Dainsleif to continue, but it was obvious the man was done with his speech.

The rest of the road was accompanied by still silence that wasn’t broken by either of them. Diluc took his time observing the vast structural differences between the nations of Celestia and Khaenri’ah as he wondered if Kaeya was familiar with any of this.

The answer was probably ‘no’, but his mind still questioned. This place was destroyed five hundred years ago, leaving nothing but a ghost of its former glory. But if that was the case, where did Kaeya come from before he was dropped in the winery?

“I don’t know where to go from here,” Dainsleif suddenly spoke up and startled the redhead.

“What do you mean?”

“Something is pulling me from within the palace, but I cannot pinpoint it.”

Diluc just sighed. “We can check the quarters belonging to Alberichs,” he reluctantly offered, assuming that Dainsleif was thinking the same thing. “It is about Kaeya’s eye after all.”

He still felt disgusted with himself, assisting the man in uncovering a secret that belonged to his brother. He knew he had no other choice but to act like he was cooperative, but still…

Although the real reason was that he was also slightly curious about learning the answer, no matter how immoral the action was.

He trusted Kaeya; that was a fact. But just how long did he have to wait until he learned who his brother truly was? Diluc knew he didn’t deserve to know the truth, not after what he had done. But this… something, maybe fear, maybe curiosity, maybe the seeds of skepticism he harbored deep within himself, pulled him. Controlled him to move forward. He knew he needed to stop before the curiosity took over him, but not now. He needed to find a way to gain the upper hand against Dainsleif.

Then he could stop.

Until then, there was nothing wrong about learning facts about his brother…. Right?

It wasn’t his fault. Dainsleif very clearly outpowered Diluc in almost every way. There was no crime in being resourceful and patient.

Dainsleif agreed with his suggestion and pointed in a direction. “This way,” he said, and took the lead.

I will not let you down, Kaeya.

Chapter Text

There was an unnerving silence as they trekked through the palace halls. The guards patrolled around, following the route written in their protocol, and the staff rushed to attend to their duties, yet the scene before him felt like a moving picture. Something artificial and fictitious. Only real people who stood among the crowd were the duo, but ironically, they were the only official phantoms in this scenario.

His footsteps left nothing along their track, not a single sound of tapping, nor a dirt scattered away from underneath their travel-worn boots.

“Where are we going?” Diluc tried to fill the emptiness.

“I want to check something in the throne room first,” Dainsleif replied. “Then we can head to one of the chambers of the Alberichs.”

Did Diluc have to ask for every single thing? Why couldn’t his begrudging companion allow the redhead one answer without having to earn it?

Maybe it was a Khaenri’ahn thing.

“What will you check?” He asked, hoping that this time he could get straight answers.

Dainsleif sighed. “To see where and when we are. If there are inaccuracies in this place, then we are not in a memory but a fiction. And if we are in a memory, I need to see when it takes place.”

“Does it matter which it is?”

“I don’t know,” he answered curtly, but Diluc understood his meaning.

If what Dainsleif was claiming all along was the truth, then they needed to comprehend just exactly what they were dealing with. That entailed collecting all the information that was scattered around in this unknown territory.

“Do you remember enough?” Diluc reluctantly asked. He didn’t know how much a person could remember from five hundred years ago. And even if Dainsleif could, it was a known fact that no immortal could sustain the erosion over the countless years they had to endure. There were documented cases of Gods turning mad while losing their memories of their sanity.

“We will see,” Dainsleif answered halfheartedly, as if he was not sure himself.

Still, he must have remembered enough, considering he knew this was post-resignation of King Irmin.

The duo arrived at their destination and passed through the open doors leading to the throne room. With the sight before him, he couldn’t stifle an impressed gawk.

The enormous room was filled to the brim with Khaenri’ahn citizens, all of whom were causing a ruckus and demanding to be heard. The royal guards stood in front of the platform, pushing back what could only be called an angry mob.

All of them were shouting at the same time, and Diluc hardly caught the words before concluding that they were furious with the recent events, claiming that it was irreverence towards their glorious nation.

But all of these could wait, because the next thing he noticed in the room widened his eyes with shock. Because in the middle of the royal guards stood a person, none other than a familiar blond, albeit a lot younger compared to his current figure.

“It has to be the very first year King Irmin was declared indisposed,” Dainsleif commented. “Although, I am not sure of the specific date.”

“Did you catch any inaccuracy?” Diluc attempted to force himself out of his trance.

“No,” replied the blond skeptically. “But I am not sure.”

Diluc shifted his focus from the past version of Dainsleif as his eyes landed on the figure above the platform, trying his best to calm the crowd. Despite standing next to the royal throne, the teenager showed no intention of sitting down.

“Is that Lord Anfortas?” He asked, still baffled to see how young the boy was.

He had to have been what, fifteen? One might have argued that Diluc was younger when he became captain, but that didn’t count. Because at that time, Grandmaster Varka oversaw almost everything as he gave specific and clear instructions to every one of his officers. Did this boy have a consult or a superior? Diluc didn’t think so, considering he was the current Regent. At least that was what Dainsleif claimed.

“He is,” he said, almost emotionless. But Diluc caught the slightest disturbance in his tone, as if he either disliked the man before him or disliked the crowd for how they were treating him.

After assessing the room one more time with a quick scan of his eyes, Dainsleif turned on his heel and marched in a direction.

“Let’s go,” was all he said.

Diluc assumed that they were now going towards the quarters of the Alberich Clan, so he shot from his place to catch up to the impatient man.

“It has to be a memory, right? Otherwise, why would the domain show us an almost perfect replication of events?”

“It depends on what you mean by memories,” Dainsleif corrected. “The people of Teyvat are connected to Irminsul, and their memories are recorded to Ley Lines, in an attempt to let Celestia have control over their fates. Those are the real memories of the world. But one could recreate a scenario to live through it again.”

Diluc stifled an exasperated groan. “I am aware that you created this domain.” Why was Diluc regarded like he was mentally deficient? “I am talking about what we saw. Whatever the eye is, it must be connected to the events of the past, right?”

Dainsleif thought about it for a second before speaking up. “I don’t know. This entire thing could still be faulty, be it by minor or major changes. And even if we assume that every little thing here is played exactly how it played out centuries ago, we still could not be entirely sure that it is directly connected,” he gestured around. “All of this is just the outer layer of the much bigger domain. There is still much to see.”

Diluc huffed and banished the remaining questions from his mind. It was true that Dainsleif was exceptionally chatty at the moment, but everything that came out of his mouth was a glorified nonanswer. 

So they walked. Nobody dared to stop the duo from achieving their destination, not that anybody could interact with them, anyway. Their trek gradually slowed down with hesitation when they noticed how eerily and uncharacteristically empty the hallways were. The ground beneath them seemed to stretch into infinity as their destination became determined to move further away. The lights grew dimmer, and the walls felt like they were growing narrower by the second, creating a claustrophobic atmosphere.

They exchanged a glance and drew their weapons as they continued onward with no other plan in mind until they were interrupted by the faintest of shuffles in the distance. There was no doubt that the duo was not alone anymore, and it wasn’t a resident of the palace, so they had to stop in their position before taking on their battle stances.

A humanoid shape appeared in their path, but its identity was cloaked in darkness. Then, amidst the void, two blindingly luminous orbs opened up with seering ferocity before lunging at the duo with no intention of leaving them unharmed.

Diluc allowed Dainsleif to block the attack since he was the one with a decent weapon, while he jumped back before throwing the ignited daggers over his companion’s shoulder towards their opponent.

The person dodged the incoming attack as they leaned to the side, and Dainsleif took this as his opportunity to teleport behind. Diluc immediately registered the blond’s intention and ran directly in front of the figure to attract their attention.

Satisfied with the flank, Dainsleif commanded a mighty Abyssal surge into the center of his palm before delivering a blow directly to the back of their guest.

The shadowy figure snapped a single gaze at their back before setting off an eruption that caused a pressure wave around themselves. Both Diluc and Dainsleif shielded their faces instinctively, but they were sent flying to opposite sides of their opponent, nonetheless.

The blond suddenly reappeared by his side, clearly wanting to utilize the numbers advantage.

“What is that?” Diluc hissed as he jumped back to his feet. The figure didn’t show the slightest hint of fatigue, and with a dizzying speed, they were right next to the duo.

This time, Diluc forced the figure to change its line of attack by summoning a Pyro shield covering both of them. Then, he took the briefest of falter of their opponent as his cue to summon a small phoenix of Pyro, as wide as the hall they were in, before sending it directly to the figure.

“I don’t know,” came the answer, and Diluc glared back in fury.

“Is it the time?” He asked incredulously. They were being attacked by who knew what at the moment!

“I don’t know!” Dainsleif repeated harshly. “Probably a defense mechanism placed beforehand. That would explain why we were stuck in the first place. But I don’t know if I am correct about it.”

The figure ducked under the blazing bird after retreating a while. Then, as expected, he rushed forward to deal the finishing blow to the duo.

“Do that again,” Dainsleif breathed like he was hit with an epiphany.

“Do what?” He asked and threw several daggers at their opponent, while attempting to conceal the gradually increasing irritation that was starting the gnaw within. 

Why was he doing everything himself while Dainsleif dawdled about?

“That fire,” Dainsleif explained. “That thing dodged it after doing their best to keep their distance from it.” Then, as if to prove Diluc’s opinion of him wrong, he teleported behind the figure and attracted their attention. “How big can you make it?” He yelled from a distance.

Diluc smirked gloatingly. “Give me a second.”

With that, he willed the most violent Pyro to stay condensed around him and commanded it to hold in its place until it became bigger and stronger. All the while, their guest became too preoccupied with the blond to do anything about the increasing fire.

The temperature rose, and the flames started to lick everything around it; they were ready to destroy, to devour.

“Stand back!” He yelled at Dainsleif, and in an instant, the man materialized directly behind the redhead.

Now that his companion was out of the line of fire, Diluc let go of his authority over the impatient element. It surged forward with only one goal in its primitive mind: to consume.

The hallway was immediately engulfed in flames and destroyed everything in its path. Diluc created a shield in front of them, but the figure wasn’t all that lucky as they melted in the middle of intense heat right before their eyes.

Wait… No.

The figure didn’t melt. It was only the shadows that surrounded the figure that poured down on the ground, revealing a living, breathing human underneath.

“Someone’s there!” Dainsleif commented, so Diluc parted the inferno in front of them, creating a path leading to the person. 

The flames were too violent at the moment for him to extinguish. Still, he managed to order it to stay pinned to the side as Dainsleif immediately walked over to the now placid person: a woman in her middle ages.

“It can’t be…” Dainsleif trailed off in disbelief as he walked towards her. “Lady Ethel?”

The woman showed no trace of acknowledging her surroundings. Then, she was surrounded by a sudden cyclone of white flowers before dissipating into nothingness.

“Who was-” Diluc began, but a sudden change of their environment caused him to sway with dizziness. From one moment to the next, he found himself back in the palace halls without the eerie elements.

“We are back,” Dainsleif pointed out as he looked around.

Was Diluc being ignored again?

“Who was she?” He asked again, this time his voice was filled with displeasure.

“Lady Ethel,” he explained as if that cleared things up. Diluc assumed the sentence ended there and opened his mouth to scold before Dainsleif continued. “Late wife of Lord Agmundr and the adoptive mother of Chlothar Alberich, the founder of the Abyss Order.”

Diluc’s eyes widened, and he closed his mouth back.

Okay… That was an explanation, alright.

Before Diluc could react to any of that information, Dainsleif marched onward towards a door in their vicinity. “Shall we?” He asked, implying that he wanted to enter.

“What’s behind?”

“Her room,” he said airily, and Diluc found no reason to object to his suggestion.

Since they couldn’t push the door open physically, the duo passed through the wooden structure and found themselves inside their destination. But once again, the redhead wasn’t ready for the scene before him.

The same woman from before was lying on the bed. Her brown locks spread over the sheets, and her golden dress went beautifully with the darker tone of her skin. The starry decorations scattered around her hair shone under the dim light of her room, but none of that was what the redhead was focused on.

Because next to Lady Ethel lay a child with blue hair and periwinkle eyes. The boy giggled joyfully as her mother slightly nudged his side as she continued to tell him an epic story about a brave knight.

Both of them looked so serene and peaceful on where they lay down. Like there was nothing else in the world that mattered, but only a boy and a mother standing together. Like, they were the only people who existed. Like they were safe in their small bubble, and no monster could dare to reach them.

“Is he Kaeya’s ancestor?” Diluc reluctantly asked, still in disbelief at the sight of the similarities between the boy and Kaeya.

“No,” Dainsleif answered, but he sounded weirdly frightened. “No, he is not.”

Diluc frowned. “What do you mean? You can’t possibly mean that this boy is Kaeya.”

Dainsleif shook his head. “You misunderstand. That is not Kaeya Alberich’s ancestor, or Kaeya Alberich. Lady Ethel had no child of her own, and there was no child in the palace that looked like this boy.” Then the blond reluctantly took a step forward. 

“This is a person who does not exist,” he said confidently.

Chapter Text

Diluc stared at Dainsleif like he had grown two heads. Then, he glanced at the boy on the bed, who was no older than five, before returning his gaze to the blond.

“What?”

Dainsleif refused to meet his gaze as he continued to drink in the scene before him. After blinking owlishly for several seconds, he spoke up. “He is someone who does-”

“Who doesn’t exist, I heard that,” the redhead finished in his stead. “You don’t make sense.”

“It’s not possible,” muttered the Bough Keeper under his breath, and his eyes went unfocused as he visibly pondered deeply.

“You know something, don’t you?” Diluc demanded and attracted his attention again. “Kaeya just didn’t pop out of thin air. There must have been an ancestor. You are either pulling my leg or your memory is faulty.”

The blond’s frown intensified, and he cast his gaze to the ground in thought.

“Lord Agmundr fathered only one child: Cholathar Alberich. The birth mother of Cholathar and Lord Agmundr’s first wife had succumbed to an incurable disease before Lord Agmundr’s remarriage.”

“...Okay,” Diluc slowly took the meaning in. “Then maybe this isn’t a memory, but a desire?” He suggested.

“That is the current hypothesis, yes.”

That. Or there are gaps in your memories, Diluc didn’t say.

“Maybe whoever is the creator of the eye wished for Lady Ethel to have a child of her own?” Diluc mused, trying to make sense of it all.

“This way of thinking suggests that the maker of the eye is Lady Ethel herself; otherwise, who else would wish something like that?” Dainsleif pursed his lips.

It could have been Kaeya himself, wishing for a mother of his own, or Lord Agmundr wishing his son to be legitimate. If the man cheated on his late wife. But Diluc didn’t voice any of these thoughts.

“Or you misremember the past,” Diluc bitterly reminded.

“I don’t,” he repeated, this time slightly irritated. “There was nobody in the palace who looked like the boy.”

“Maybe you weren’t in the know for all the affairs in the palace,” Diluc stared back unimpressed. “That is, of course, assuming that you are completely sure you are not mistaken.”

Dainsleif crossed his arms and elected not to retort in this meaningless debate. “There is still much to be seen,” he changed the topic instead. “I can make a way forward from here.”

That was a surprise. “We can leave this place?” He asked, almost hopefully.

“We can leave from this layer to the next,” corrected the blond, and Diluc huffed in response.

Refocused on his task, Dainsleif raised a hand to conjure a portal to their next destination, but the redhead blurted to him to halt without fully considering what he had just done. So, Dainsleif raised a brow in his direction.

He shouldn’t have done that, but his system was brimming with curiosity for the unknown.

For more power.

“How do you wield it?” He asked as he locked eyes with the blond to show his determination.

Dainsleif frowned before eyeing him up and down. Then he narrowed his gaze as he raised his chin up to make Diluc feel like he was being looked down on. Or maybe that was a delusion born of insecurity.

“It is not wise to wield a power you don’t fully understand. There is always a price when it comes to Abyss.”

Diluc scoffed. “Yet you channel it more often than not as if there is no consequence.”

“I am aware of the consequences and what I have lost,” he answered, his tone tinted with sorrow. “I can show you how I do it, if that is your wish, but I do not recommend it.”

He was ready to teach Diluc, just like that?

“What is the catch?”

“Nothing,” he replied. “Throughout my journey, I realized that I cannot handle every problem by myself, and you are seemingly more open-minded than most I have encountered.”,

“You aim to invest in our connection?” He tentatively voiced his conclusion. “So that I would feel indebted to you and offer my assistance in the future.”

“Such is the nature of every relationship, is it not?”

Diluc gave in. If there was more to his motivation, the redhead was bound to learn at some point. “What is the price to wield it?”

Dainsleif looked almost disappointed. “It is a power that is unlike the elements. People of this world are not adapted to channel it, so one must give away their own being in order to allow the power to pass through their system.”

This all felt like they were correct, since Kaeya himself told him that his birth father did something to his eye to prevent the consequences.

“What does that entail?” He couldn’t help but ask. “Giving away one’s own being.”

“Depends,” Dainsleif shrugged. “Could be your humanity, memories, aspirations, or it can even be a physical sacrifice.”

The similarities between what Dainsleif had counted and those of Delusion’s caused Diluc to halt briefly. He didn’t want to admit it, not out loud, but it didn’t seem all that bad. Ultimately, all was fair in war.

Right?

Besides, Kaeya would be thrilled to see Diluc being unbothered by Abyssal power. His brother was trying to conceal it to the best of his ability, but Diluc could easily sense how tense he became every time his Abyssal ties were the topic of discussion.

No…

It was true that his brother was tense about the topic, but Diluc at the moment was just searching for justifications for his thirst for power. Going through with it was the wrong course of action.

“I will consider it,” Diluc sighed, hoping that if enough time had passed over this interaction, he would lose his desire to wield this power.

This was just his fear speaking for him. He didn’t know what he was fearing for exactly, but having more power under his command would make him feel more in control. But he wasn’t going to allow himself to be coerced into making bad decisions under the influence of his unrestrained emotions.

Dainsleif looked satisfied with his answer. “For what it’s worth, I think you are making the correct decision not to go through with it.”

Diluc didn’t say he abandoned the idea; he just said he was going to consider it. But he supposed it didn’t matter at the moment. So, instead of answering, he just gestured for him to create the portal.

The blond spared him one last glance before swiping his hand in the air to conjure another gate. After their way forward came into sight before them, Dainsleif didn’t waste a single second before jumping into it.

With hesitant steps, Diluc followed suit.

Behind the gate was an extensive field of flowers on a hill that reached beyond the eye could see. To be fair, that was an unfair comparison, considering the view ahead was obstructed by the underground cavern’s structure, but the field was still considerably large.

“This garden is close to the city,” Dainsleif explained. “Artificially made by the researchers of Khaenri’ah to preserve and to investigate the flora.”

That would explain the greenhouses randomly stationed around, and the manmade path fractalizing in a repeated pattern that made way to certain checkpoints in the area.

“What do you think awaits us?” Diluc asked, vigilant.

“I don’t know,” repeated the man, infuriatingly. The redhead lost count of how many times his companion said the same three words in their short time spent together.

Diluc rolled his eyes and instead inspected the flowers spread beneath his feet, creating a colorful painting over its green canvas. To his surprise, none of these looked remotely familiar to the redhead. Not the black clover-like flowers with golden veins, or the pink-petaled flower that has stamens shaped in the way that created the illusion of a bug landing on top.

However, there was one flower he had certainly seen before. He knelt on one knee to have a closer look.

“What is this one called?” He asked after losing a battle against his curiosity. It was a flower with four white petals and a single light blue petal.

Dainsleif’s head remained firm in its place as his eyes wandered towards what Diluc was pointing at. “Inteyvat,” he answered his question curtly.

That was a weird name… Also, why did Lumine use this flower as a decoration? The redhead knew the traveler’s missing brother had connections to the Abyss Order, since she trusted him enough to share it with him, but Diluc didn’t want to prod her further into sharing sensitive information and kept his mouth closed until she felt ready to tell more about her brother.

With a quick nod, he got up and gestured for the other to lead the way, but Dainsleif shook his head.

“I don’t know where to go from here,” he explained. “I think the last portal created a direct passage to where we needed to go next, unlike the first one.”

“So we search for anything unusual,” Diluc deemed and looked around before picking a direction to go. There was a greenhouse in their close vicinity, and they had no plan in mind.

He felt a faint surge of triumph when Dainsleif allowed him to take the lead on this one. Until now, it was always the other who determined their next destination.

“If you are so sure that the boy wasn’t Kaeya’s ancestor, then who was?” Diluc asked, fishing for any sort of information. “He had to have been born at some point, right?”

“He is likely adopted by one and has no blood relation to the Alberichs,” Dainsleif said, like it were obvious, but Diluc stumbled in his place and almost choked on his spit.

“ What? ”

The blond raised a brow at him, feigning ignorance on why Diluc might have been baffled by the sudden news.

“How did you even come to that conclusion?”

Dainsleif briefly glanced at him before refocusing his attention on the path ahead with a hint of a smirk at his lips-

A smirk?! This vexing man!

“I have my own reasons to think so,” he said, annoyingly.

Diluc was being fun of, right? There was no other explanation.

“Then you are either a madman or an idiot. You claimed that his lineage defined his loyalties, and now you think he is not even related to Alberichs?”

“Family is more than just blood,” he objected with a frown on his face. “Kaeya Alberich carries his surname as a badge, and I will respect him with his connections.“

Now he was being painted as the bad guy! He never argued that family was merely a blood relation. He saw Kaeya as his own kin, for Celestia’s sake!

“Don’t change the subject,” he seethed. “Why do you think he is adopted?”

Was Kaeya adopted twice in his damn life?

Dainsleif sighed. “How much do you know about the curse?”

“Only that-” he started, but the environment began to distort in a way they were now familiar with. The light snuffed out, and the flowers began to wither beneath them.

The duo quickly straightened and summoned their weapons as they moved back to back to cover each other.

“Ready your fire,” Dainsleif whispered, but Diluc wasn’t hopeful it would work this time.

“The area is wide, unlike the hallway.”

“Then-” started the blond, but he was interrupted by a shadow emerging from the ground, at the side Dainsleif covered. 

Diluc felt the slight nudge against his shoulder by his companion, a warning to stay vigilant before a flinty order escaped the blond’s lips. “Get ready,” he said with a tone suited to the captain of the royal guard.

Chapter Text

This time, it was Diluc who took the initiative despite the fact that their guest was closer to Dainsleif.

He dismissed the throwing daggers in his left hand as he circled around from his position before giving the blond a quick pat on the shoulder, suggesting that he stood back, at least for the time being.

“Prepare the field for me to unleash my flames,” he quickly said, and with pinpoint accuracy, he hurled the knife directly to the shadowy figure’s forehead. The thing let out an indistinctive screech that matched the whizz of the dagger as it moved through the air. “And figure out who this person is,” he concluded.

He heard a huff of protest that was akin to grumbling from his companion.

To be fair, Dainsleif was justified in his discontent, considering the fact that their guest had no recognizable features. That thing before them, just like the previous one, took on the shape of a humanoid form of void with nothing else to distinguish it by.

Still, from the peripheral of his eye, he saw the blond get to it with his mission. Pleased, Diluc also sprang into action by giving his all. Relentlessly, he didn’t allow the shadow to have a breathing room as he delivered strike after strike.

This figure, like the previous one, attempted to avoid making contact with his fire. Diluc suspected that it was due to the Abyssal nature of this entire domain, which probably made it clash destructively with Light-based forces. Unfortunately, since the figure was both much faster than the redhead was and had ample room to maneuver, none of his attacks even grazed the surface of his foe.

“Dainsleif,” He gritted, a bit exhausted, hoping that the blond was nearly done with the preparations. Even though Diluc had no idea how he was going to handle the task.

“Any second!” Came the answer, but Diluc didn’t understand what the other was trying to achieve.

Seeing that he had to distract the shadow for a little while longer, he allowed himself to pant only once before changing tactics. In a snit, his one hand attempted to pierce the figure with a blazing dagger, and caused it to jump to the side in self-defence, while the other hand reached for a grab.

And he managed to seize its arm, or so Diluc thought, because his hand should have stopped with physical contact, right? His hand passing through wasn’t the normal reaction to this situation.

Though now that he thought about it, there was so much he didn’t understand about any of what was happening.

So that shadow wasn’t corporeal. Sure, why not?

It wasn’t like they didn’t have to physically block both this one’s and the previous one’s strikes, but they were impervious to the duo’s attacks. Because that was convenient!

The redhead was pushed back with another wave of merciless and powerful blows, staying on the defensive due to necessity.

“Now!” Dainsleif shouted, and Diluc almost sighed in relief before a dome of fire surrounded the three of them, keeping the entity trapped in a small area.

Diluc gasped in shock, baffled by how Dainsleif even managed to summon Pyro, but he didn’t have the time to dwell on it.

“I trust you to protect me from your flames,” the blond declared, and Diluc briefly wondered why he was even needed to conjure fire when the other was clearly capable of doing that.

Still, there was no time to argue, so with a quick nod, he got on to business and took in a deep breath before emitting a huge heat wave that arrived at every corner of their small dome except for Dainsleif and himself. The small safety bubble created specifically for them was maintained in its place firmly as the shadow screeched in agonizing wail.

That was the moment Diluc understood what the dome was, when his fire made contact with everything in the enclosed space. It was pure Abyssal energy that had the appearance of fire. Dainsleif probably created the barrier in hopes of preventing their foe from passing through due to fear.

How Dainsleif managed to make it look this legit was beyond Diluc, but there were more pressing issues at hand. The clash of his Pyro and Dainsleif’s Abyssal dome. When his violent flames made contact with the edge, it was promptly snuffed out, destroying the barrier along with it.

Although it didn’t matter, since the barrier fulfilled its duty to discourage the entity from simply stepping out. Now that their guest was engulfed in flames, it didn’t need to be kept in place.

“Did you recognize who that was?”

Dainsleif stared back, slightly irritated. “Of course not, it is just a shapeless shadow. But we will have our answers soon.”

Diluc knew it was impossible, but he hoped to know who their target was this time. Maybe, if they knew the identity of their attacker, they could have acted upon it. Yes, it was true that there was probably nothing more they could have done, even with the extra information, but that didn’t stop Diluc from wanting to learn.

“It should be enough,” Dainsleif indirectly ordered him to put the fire out.

To be frank, he was getting exhausted by generating this much fire in the short span of time, but still, he showed great effort to conceal his tiredness from the blond. With an unbothered air, he once again parted the flames, since it wasn’t possible to douse them in an instant when they were this wild.

Dainsleif quickly took a step forward to identify the shadow. Diluc also stared in the direction of the melting figure to see what it would reveal underneath.

To his surprise, he saw a preteen boy. But that wasn’t the bizarre part of the sight before him. 

Because the boy was missing some parts of his body. A chip of his upper arm, a missing piece of his head, a small hole in his chest, and many other abnormalities that permeated his entire body.

The parts that were missing caused the remaining skin to be covered with rust-like particles, as if they were also on the brink of crumbling away.

Still, the boy looked peaceful, like he wasn’t in pain at all, despite his decaying body. Instead, he smiled while looking nowhere in particular, and like Lady Ethel, he was enveloped by the flowers before disappearing.

As expected, the environment returned to normal, and Diluc let out the air he was holding, but there were still so many questions to be answered.

“How did you do that?” He asked, not intending to clarify.

Dainsleif looked a little shaken by what he had seen just now, but recomposed in a moment. “If you are talking about the dome, it was nothing special.”

Diluc stared back unimpressed and crossed his arms.

The blond sighed. “A special method to conceal the usage of Abyss. Its nature remains the same, but it appears to be one of the elements. I use it mainly to prevent attracting attention in my travels.”

Diluc’s eyes widened. “So it’s just an illusion?”

“A little more than that,” Dainsleif shrugged. “But in essence, yes.”

The redhead rolled his eyes and decided to drop it for the time being. “Okay,” he said. “What about the boy? Who was he and why was he…” He briefly searched for words before landing on one. “Eroded?”

For the first time during their time stuck in the domain, Dainsleif portrayed an exaggerated emotion and groaned loudly.

“Our destination awaits us,” he replied. “Unlike what you might assume, I do not possess all the answers.”

What?

Why was he being ignored? There was still so much Dainsleif was hiding from him. Like why he claimed Kaeya was adopted, or who the eroded boy was, or what his conclusions were on what this domain was trying to tell them.

With furrowed brows, he decided to play along until they reached the next memory. That was if it was similar to their previous encounter.

Also, it wasn’t a memory, if they were accurate in their assumptions, but still.

Around the greenhouse, lay a grassy field free of the flowers that surrounded it. A few benches were placed next to the structure, probably creating a small environment for the workers to go out if they needed fresh air from the enclosed atmosphere of the greenhouse.

Next to the nearby tree, two boys were giggling with unadulterated joy. One was the same little boy with Lady Ethel from the previous memory, and the other preteen boy was the one they had just seen emerging from the shadowy figure.

The elder boy was playing airplane with the younger one. Holding him over by extending his every limb to the air, while the other one laughed as he spread his arms to the sides like he was flying.

The blunette who seemed to be at a similar age, maybe one year younger, was having the time of his life with this silly game. And the elder smiled back at the toddler, satisfied with how he managed to get him to laugh.

Dainsleif sighed. “I still don’t know who the blue-haired boy is or how he is related to all this,” then he pointed at the black haired preteen under the blunette. Both of their eyes had the signature diamond-shaped pupil, and supported Kaeya’s claim of how it was a Khaenri’ahn trait. “That boy is Cholathar Alberich. And to answer your question, I don’t know why the other version of him was eroded.”

Diluc didn’t believe he was entirely truthful with everything, but he filed the information for later. Then the implications hit him like a sumpter beast.

“How is he associated with the blue-haired boy?” He couldn’t help but ask. “We assumed the last one was a desire, so how does this fit into it?”

“It can still hold true,” Dainsleif argued, but his voice wavered like he didn’t truly believe in the words he himself said. “Lady Ethel may wish for her own son to get along with his adopted son. Although I am still not sure why this new boy had suspicious similarities to Kaeya Alberich.”

There was more to it. There had to be more to it. Assuming that these all were just a manifestation of one’s deep desires did not fully explain how Kaeya fit into this or how his eye was related.

“You don’t believe that hypothesis anymore,” Diluc pointed out, even though he knew the answer. 

Dainsleif hummed. “I didn’t believe it then, and I don’t believe it now. But there is no other explanation that comes to mind.”

“If not a desire, then what is this?”

“It can still be the manifestation of a desire. But if it’s not one, then I have not the slightest idea.”

They could still have been memories, but Dainsleif adamantly denied the possibility. He briefly wondered why the man was so against the idea before concluding that Dainsleif probably didn’t want to admit he had lost memories of his homeland.

He might have been incorrect in this assessment, but it sounded accurate.

“There is still much to see,” Diluc urged him to get a move on. “And you still have an explanation to do about Kaeya’s lineage.”

Dainsleif reluctantly nodded and created a portal. Then he side-stepped and allowed Diluc to enter first.

Chapter Text

The new location was vastly different from the flower field they were in. Diluc scanned his surroundings to have an understanding of where they might be at the moment before deducing that the massive room he was in could have belonged to a government building.

Once again, the lighting was done with artificial sources, and the walls were decorated with what seemed like motifs with significant meanings. The ceiling was way above his head, making him compare the inner structure to that of the cathedral in Mondstadt. 

There were many people scurrying around, and most of them were in uniforms. In fact, now that he looked closely, most people who were dressed to a code were younger in age compared to those who weren’t. But, regardless of the dress and the age, every one of them was carrying something with them. Be it a stack of books, a suitcase, a backpack, or even things that looked like lab equipment.

“Is this a school?” Diluc questioned, and Dainsleif hummed in confirmation.

“University,” he corrected. “Best one the nation has to offer. People of Khaenri’ah argued that it was more scientifically advanced than Akademiya back then. But obviously, there was a bias at play.”

That made sense, considering the fact that Khaenri’ah was more advanced in many subjects compared to the other nations, even back then. Still, claiming to have a better school than the one Goddess of Wisdom had built was a bold move. Some might even call it sacrilegious.

“Do you agree with the claim?” Diluc couldn’t stop himself from asking.

Dainsleif didn’t answer right away, but the question did seem to cause him to falter. His eyes searched for something in the building pensively, but eventually came the response with a sigh.

“I think that it doesn’t matter which is more advanced. But there are lines nobody should dare to cross, be it for the pursuit of knowledge or the pursuit of power. The Sinners made that mistake, and innocents paid the price.”

Sinners… Those sounded important, but unfamiliar. He could press on the matter, but the redhead was more curious about other topics and did not want to test Dainsleif’s patience with questions.

Maybe Kaeya knew something about that.

There was nothing else he could do but nod, so Diluc kept his silence for the time being. After wasting a few more seconds, he sighed and glanced at his companion, who was still in a slightly dazed state with the view before him. Even though Dainsleif tried his best to conceal it, there was no doubt that this all was too much for him.

“Where do we go?” Diluc took pity on him and acted like he didn’t notice. The man blinked once before shaking himself back to reality.

“I don’t know,” he said, looking around. “Somewhere here.”

That was… unhelpful. However, Diluc still feigned contentment with the answer.

“My best guess is one of the laboratories,” the redhead suggested. “If we are being shown this scene by the domain, then it must be something important,” he hummed in thought. “Like a breakthrough in a research project?”

“The others weren’t all that significant,” Dainsleif protested, not agreeing with Diluc’s thought process.

“Even though the actions weren’t all that grand in themselves, it was clearly important to whoever they belonged to.”

He didn’t want to say memory, for it was still unknown.

“With that logic, our next destination must be an office. If the creator of the eye cherished their relationships with their loved ones, then this one is surely related to a mentor figure.”

“That-” Diluc started before shutting himself up.

That made sense, actually.

“It could still be in a laboratory,” he bitterly objected. “Blue-haired boy and his mentor working on an experiment.”

Dainsleif once again put on that annoying smirk on his face and gestured for Diluc to follow. There was nothing more he wanted than to wipe that grin off his face, but with great show of self-restraint, Dainsleif was allowed to have his face remain unharmed.

They walked for a while, going through the large doors of the institution one by one, until they reached a spiraling stairs downward.

“The laboratories are stationed underground,” the blond informed and began descending.

Diluc still kept a stride length behind as he followed his companion before forcing himself to voice his question.

“You still owe that explanation.”

Dainsleif stopped in his tracks, and Diluc almost bumped into him with the sudden halt. He was ready to rebuke the man for his carelessness, but the words were shoved back in his throat when the blond turned back to face him.

“It is better if we do not get interrupted like before,” he justified himself, and Diluc didn’t find a reason to argue.

Because he was right. If their next enemy was at the end of these stairs, Diluc was once again going to be left without answers.

“I asked you about what you knew about the curse.” Dainsleif reminded.

Diluc searched the man’s face for any sign of dishonesty or an intention of inexactitude. But the effort was futile.

“That the purebloods were given the curse of immortality,” he resigned. “That there is no cure.”

Something peculiar flashed across the blond’s eyes, and it was gone in a blink before it could be addressed. “And what does immortality entail?”

What sort of question-?

“Of not dying?” He answered, unsure.

Dainsleif sighed. “By the decree of Heavenly Principles, we are denied by Death. The very concept that serves for Celestia.”

That… kinda made sense.

“But that is not all,” Dainsleif continued. “There were many purebloods who survived the Cataclysm. So I ask you, why are there no Khaenri’ahns in plain sight after centuries?”

Diluc's lips drew a tight line as he pondered. “They would have gone into hiding after that catastrophic event.” That was the only explanation, right?

“That is partly correct. There are indeed many who intend to conceal their existence from the ever-watching gaze of the Heavens. But there still had to have been those who lived peaceful lives among the seven nations. So why aren’t there?”

Now that he thought about it, Diluc had never once run into a Khaenri’ahn descendant, not once in his life, not even during his travels. If what Kaeya told him was correct, the diamond-shaped pupils would have been rare, but not unseen sight.

“There is more to the curse,” Diluc concluded.

“There is. One of the Sinners, Gold, offended the Heavenly Principles with her many powerful creations. So, Celestia ensured it was never going to be an issue ever again.”

Diluc stayed silent; his mind spiraled at dizzying speed. The more he dwelt on the implications of what had just been said, the more sure Diluc had become of his conclusion.

“Curse does not only deny people from their Death, but from creating Life, too.” He whispered. His breath hitched, and his vision became blurry with the dizzy wave he was hit by. If he was accurate about this, then that meant…

“Exactly,” Dainsleif replied and caused the redhead to feel like he was doused by a bucket full of ice water. “You now understand why Kaeya Alberich must have been adopted.” He crossed his arms.

“That is not true,” it was insane. “His pupils,” he argued.

Dainsleif shrugged. “Probably caused by an illusion magic.”

That couldn’t have been correct. “He might have been born before Cataclysm,” he weakly suggested.

“Then he would also have the curse. You witnessed him growing up, right? Or he wasn’t a pureblood, but then he would have been a hilichurl. Which would have been hard to miss.”

“Then his parents got rid of the curse,” he confidently declared. That was the only possible explanation.

“That, I have no solid objections to. But to my knowledge, there is no cure. But I do not understand why it is so important for you to defend his lineage. Why does it matter if he is not Alberich by blood? His parents still saw him as such.”

That was a good question. Why was he trying to defend that Kaeya was Alberich by blood?

Maybe, despite how he claims out loud, he was still inclined to value the family ties due to his upbringing. He was raised as a Ragnvindr, an heir to the surname. All his actions not only represented himself, but also his father and his forefathers. 

Did he subconsciously make Kaeya feel like he was not part of the family? Did father make him feel that? He didn’t know the answer…

But Diluc refused to believe that was the truth. Surely there was one other thing that bothered him when Kaeya’s familial ties were questioned.

It was probably because of his own relationship with Kaeya. They were a family that was built, not forced upon. That was the difference with Kaeya’s birth parents. Those people did not possess the inkling of love towards their son, unlike Diluc and their father, who accepted him with open arms.

Or at least that was what he wanted to believe.

“Then where are his birth parents?” He asked reluctantly.

“I always assumed he was an orphan groomed into a role. Still, I kept my distance and observed him thoroughly. If his existence were to threaten the safety of innocents, I was planning to intervene, just like how I did.”

“Kaeya is not a threat,” Diluc seethed. There was no doubt about that fact.

“Do you believe that?” Dainsleif promptly asked, as if he anticipated Diluc’s anger. Then he sighed resignedly. “However, I admit that there is more than meets the eye. I will not assume anything until I know the full truth.”

“That person you saw…” Diluc began. Suddenly, a light bulb went off in his mind. “Could it have been that mystery blue-haired person we had been seeing?”

Dainsleif didn’t answer and turned back. But Diluc caught a glimpse of doubt in his eyes, as if he were also beginning to consider the possibility.

While they were going down the stairs, the lights suddenly snuffed out again, and they were met with eerie silence. The stairs stretched into infinity under them, and the ceiling was now beyond where the eye could see.

“It is happening again,” Dainsleif whispered, and Diluc refrained from cursing.

They were standing in the middle of the stairs, which was definitely not ideal for battle. Still, all they could do in the moment was make do.

Then, another shadowy figure appeared seemingly out of thin air right behind the redhead. Unprepared for the sudden intrusion, Diluc instinctively stepped down the stairs to avoid contact with his enemy, causing Dainsleif to lose his balance briefly. Thankfully, both of them managed to find their footing before tumbling down clumsily.

Diluc felt a burning glare at his neck, but elected to ignore it because right now, the shadow was getting ready for a strike.

“I distract,” Dainsleif quickly made a plan and teleported behind the shadow. It was a clear order for Diluc to ready his flames. 

The redhead raised his hands to will the fire into being, under his command. But it was getting more and more tiring. He had already pushed himself hard the last two times, and now he was expected to-

“Huh?” He heard Dainsleif’s confused voice and glanced up to see what had happened.

When he saw, his eyes widened in surprise. The shadows were melting from around the figure.

“What did you do?” He asked, baffled.

“Nothing,” replied the blond. “Just a slash and it crumbled like dust.”

That was an accurate description, because unlike the other figures, this one’s shadow poured down like sand, while the other’s shadowy layer melted down like a liquid.

If there was one thing Diluc learned in his travels was that he wasn’t supposed to question the good things when they happened.

But the other thing he had learned was that if something was too convenient, it was probably bad news.

“Watch yourself,” Diluc ordered and readied his ignited daggers. Dainsleif also stood vigilant behind the crumbling figure, ready to lunge if it were to attempt something dangerous.

The shadows dissipated, and both of them drew in a sharp breath at the scene before them. In hindsight, it wasn’t all that bizarre, considering they had seen this person several times now. But it was still a sight they weren’t ready for.

Because this time, the person in front of them was the blue-haired boy, grown up to his late teens. And he looked exactly like Kaeya at that age.

Chapter Text

“This proves it,” Diluc quickly spoke up. “Whoever we have been seeing is definitely not Kaeya. Is it possible for the defense mechanism to alter its shape to accommodate its host?”

Dainsleif pursed his lips. As evidenced by his frown, he was also completely flummoxed by what was happening.

“Somebody with the curse made the eye and bestowed it upon Kaeya at a young age,” Diluc mused. “Then, the scenes or memories, or whatever these things are, were distorted to allow Kaeya in them. Whether that was intentional or not, I don’t know.” Diluc concluded and eyed the blond, hoping he would also agree with the thought process.

After a beat, the man sighed in defeat. “Sounds plausible. But it doesn’t explain the reason for the erosion we have been seeing in the shadowy figures. They get more intense the deeper we delve into, too.”

The redhead paced in his place. “It is explained if we assume the creator of the eye is someone with the curse,” Diluc reminded. “Don’t Gods lose their minds over countless years?”

“Are you implying that these are eroded memories?” Dainsleif asked somewhat heatedly. But his expression seemed to indicate that he was inclined to agree with the suggestion.

“What else could it be?” Diluc asked, as he briefly snapped his gaze on the imposter that looked eerily like his brother. As if seeing him wasn’t uncanny enough, he, like the other shadowy figures, held a serene smile on his face.

“What is the purpose of the memories?” Dainsleif contemplated out loud as he crossed his arms. “What is-” He continued, but the sudden change of the environment startled him into reality.

They were both in front of a door in a basement of sorts, and their weapons were both drawn, showing how on edge the duo had become.

Diluc cleared his throat and dismissed his dagger. “Is it the underground part we were moving to before we got interrupted?”

Dainsleif looked around. “No,” he said, narrowing his eyes, probably due to the lack of light in the area. “I was heading towards the department of Abyss, but this place is for alchemical studies.”

“You are awfully familiar with the ins and outs of this place,” Diluc commented skeptically, only to earn a raised brow in return.

“I had to have graduated at some point,” he said in an even tone and effectively shut Diluc up. So, he coughed awkwardly before attempting to move on.

“What were you saying before we got here?”

Dainsleif sighed almost imperceptibly. “Why the memories?” He asked again. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“Memories and dreams are complementary concepts, through their connection to Ley Lines and Dendro Authority,” Diluc took the reins. “It is a known fact that dreams can be converted into Jnana energy to use as a power source, even though the area of use is somewhat limited.”

“Are you claiming that these memories are powering something?”

“Not something,” Diluc protested. His tone was getting higher-pitched due to his excitement with the breakthrough. “The eye. Think about it, why else would memories be floating around in the domain? Your revelation spell showed us the Jnana energies' true form.”

That made sense, right?

Dainsleif, for some reason, didn’t seem convinced. “What you claimed cannot possibly be true. Because if that were the case, then the memories would have shown us the version of him with the eyepatch.”

Diluc frowned in confusion. “And why is that?”

“Let us assume that these are indeed distorted memories that were altered to make place for the host. The first question would be: Why? Why would the memories need to be altered to act as energy? But the most important one is the person we have been seeing.”

Dainsleif took a short breath before resuming. “If this is related to its host, then Kaeya Alberich would have been projected as his current self, with the Abyssal eye and eyepatch.”

That made some sort of sense… “It still could have been influenced by Kaeya’s desires. Maybe he continuously dreams of not having an eyepatch?” But even saying it out loud didn’t sound convincing enough.

Dainsleif gave him a once-over, as if trying to have an understanding of the redhead’s state of mind before speaking with a sharp tone, clearly bored with this conversation.

“The memories would have to be in an endless Samsara if your hypothesis is accurate,” he added one last time and turned around to scan his surroundings.

“Do you want to go back and check?”

The blond shrugged. “Maybe later. I want to see why we were led here by the domain.”

That was the million Mora question. “We weren’t even heading this way,” Diluc frowned in thought. “Why are we here now?”

“I think it’s because we needed to be detected by the defense mechanism. It took approximately the same time every time we were attacked.”

“That is not true,” Diluc shook his head. “We were given plenty of time to reach the palace the first time we entered a memory.”

“And if you remember, I was being pulled by a force towards the palace. I think the creator of the eye felt strong emotions toward certain locations in the memories, and we were meant to reach there before attracting the shadows.”

“So…” Diluc thought back on the events. “The palace, the flower field, and the university?”

The blond’s lips pursed in a faint moue, as if the taste of this assumption was too bitter in his mouth.

“That is, if we are both accurate in our conclusions,” then he gestured for the closest door with an open palm. “We can either stay here and continue our guessing game, or we can get a move on.”

Diluc stared back unimpressed and huffed in irritation. Taking the action as permission to go on, Dainsleif moved through the closed door. So the redhead followed suit with nothing else to do.

Behind the door were countless lab equipment, specifically for alchemical purposes. Like many ingredients scattered messily around the office desk, an advanced alchemy table, a few distillation apparatuses for different purposes, powerful burners, many flasks, and many more items that Diluc did not know the names of.

But the most eye-catching element in the room wasn’t the state-of-the-art equipment, no. It was, of course, the imposter who was conducting an experiment on the alchemy table with great enthusiasm.

This was getting more tiresome by the minute. Did they have to run into the Kaeya-lookalike in every memory?

“Art of Khemia,” Dainsleif commented with a silent puff. Diluc had to get closer to hear him better.

“What is?”

“See the symbol on the table? That is the base sigil for the art. It is pretty rudimentary, so that is how I recognized the symbol. I am nowhere near being an expert, but clearly, neither is he,” he gestured for the blunette with his head.

“That makes sense,” Diluc chimed in. “He is as young as any other student.”

Dainsleif hummed and stayed silent as he continued to watch the scene.

There was simply something magical about seeing the blunette experimenting with the basics of the art with such fascination in his eyes. Like he was born to be an alchemist, like he was fated to be.

It was too bad that this person didn’t exist. Or he did, but all of his dreams were crushed by the incoming Cataclysm.

“We need to keep going,” Dainsleif broke the silence and mercilessly ruined the magic of the moment. That was certainly to be expected from the man himself, considering he was just a sour man with a pitiable life.

Maybe Diluc was just angry with him for all the things he had put the brothers through.

Kaeya should have been here, not Dainsleif. His brother should have seen the truth for himself. But now it was only him and that unhappy dude snooping around.

Or maybe Diluc was angry with himself for betraying Kaeya’s trust.

He was good at projecting his guilt as anger towards someone. He was an expert, even. But it would not be completely unfair to blame Dainsleif for creating an impossible situation and forcing Diluc to act behind Kaeya’s back.

“Let’s go,” he replied bitterly and waited for the portal to open. After eyeing him one last time, Dainsleif simply let it go and conjured another void gate.

The duo passed through, but the environment wasn’t something either of them was ready for, yet again. One would think they would get ready for surprises.

This time, they were in an endless void, just like the first time they entered the domain. But with two exceptions.

The first one was an enormous orb that seldom bubbled with its gooey substance, made from what Diluc could describe as a liquid Abysssal product. It was easily the size of the Barbatos statue in Mondstadt. And despite the lack of a light source, it still absorbed any illumination that dared to come near and created an aura of emptiness around it, which made Diluc want to stay as far away as possible.

But the other one was less shocking. Because it was yet again the same person, but this time, he was slightly older than the one in the previous memory.

Or, now that Diluc thought about it, he wasn’t all that older, but matured. Exhausted even.

His eyes were no longer carrying the same light as the others, nor was his expression lifted by the faintest of happiness. This man was, for the lack of a better word, fatigued with life. The bags under his eyes were now ever-present, and the lines on his face didn’t belong to the young man they rested on.

Still, even under all that, Diluc saw not a light, but the hint of an ember that refused to die out.

The man before them was looking at the orb with undeterred determination. Whatever the blunette was planning, Diluc was sure he would burn the world ablaze without a second thought.

“We are at the essence,” Dainsleif breathed, and Diluc blinked in his direction before the words hit.

“Are you sure?”

The blond refused to remove his gaze from the orb in the middle. “I am. There is nothing deeper than this place. We are at the core of the domain.”

Chapter Text

They weren’t given a chance to discuss a plan of action because as soon as Diluc and Dainsleif both passed an invisible threshold while walking towards the orb, the man suddenly turned around to face them, to look at them.

Wait, what?

Diluc turned around to check if the blunette was looking through them to observe something that lay behind them, but no. As expected, it was pure nothingness.

“Welcome,” The man spoke up, and Dainsleif put on the exact same dumbfounded expression on the redhead.

After making sure the man’s gaze was following them, the blond reluctantly answered. “Are you talking to us?”

He chuckled as if he found the action endearing. “We are the only people here. Who else would I be talking to?”

“Who are you?” Diluc quickly barged in, not intending to waste this opportunity to get some solid answers.

The blunette’s cheerless smile dropped as he turned his attention back on the orb. “The better question right now would be: Who are you two?” He said while not looking.

“Dainsleif,” his companion stepped up. “Bough Keeper and the captain of the Royal Guard.”

That seemed to stir a reaction from the blunette, no matter how subtle. He glanced back at the speaking man before humming somewhat sorrowfully.

“I must apologize for my manners,” he sighed. “My memories are but a fractured mess. So I did not recognize you. What about the other gentleman? Does he have a name?”

It wasn’t wise to introduce his name to a potential enemy. “Lev,” he used his alias from his time in Snezhnaya. “A diplomat.”

He hoped his lie was either convincing enough for the man to move on or that he wouldn’t care. Dainsleif still glanced at him, unimpressed.

“I see…” he trailed off. “I am afraid I won’t be able to share my name, for I don’t remember.”

“Who or what are you?” Dainsleif asked impatiently, causing the man to tut in disappointment.

“My memories may be gone, but I do remember simple etiquette to treat strangers. Like sparing pleasantries and minding one’s choice of words.”

“We are not strangers,” Diluc joined. “You are not even someone who is supposed to be here. So we ask again, who are you?”

The man sighed before resigning. “I guess,” he started, though the tone was uncertain. “I am the only significant part of what I used to be,” he then turned to scrutinize the blond, clearly searching for something unknown to the duo.

“That is not an answer,” Diluc seethed. He was getting tired of this whole domain.

The man shamelessly and clearly ignored Diluc and continued on his search. His attempts must have failed because it was followed by a defeated sulk.

“You don’t remember me, do you?” Asked the man, directed at Dainsleif.

Slightly startled by the sudden query, Dainsleif recomposed by crossing his arms. “No.”

Even with the unsatisfying answer, the man’s eyes didn’t lose that faint but visible fire. “It’s a shame,” then, the edge of his lips curved with the ghost of a smile. “But it means that it worked.”

What was this guy even talking about?

“What worked?” Diluc asked as he subtly leaned forward. As if he were too restless to stay still, as if getting closer would help him receive answers.

“My project, of course.” He replied and once again turned to face the orb. “It was a present. But for whom, I am not sure. It was for myself at first, but what happens when one loses every memory they hold dear? They no longer are themselves. So the present wasn’t for me, for I wasn’t going to be me anymore.”

What was he talking about?

“My brother comes to mind. But I had failed him,” he chuckled with no joy. “I failed every member of my family. I was just unlucky enough to witness the effects of my shortcomings on my brother. So this present wasn’t for him.”

“Explain-” Diluc tried to intervene, but was cut off.

“Maybe it was for all the people who yearned for a home, like me. But to be quite honest, I did not care for them,” he said, his eerie smile not matching the words uttered.

“So it is a present for nobody,” he concluded. “To answer your question. It was my gift finally being finished that worked.”

“We need more than that,” Dainsleif narrowed his gaze. “What is this gift?”

The man kept his silence for seconds before violently turning back. “Is he doing fine? Living the best life he deserves?” Then his expression softened without the input from the duo. “Of course he is. What was I thinking? He was fated to be, after all.”

“Who?” Diluc’s voice wavered. There was one possibility that came to mind, and the thought of it sent shivers down his spine.

“Maybe this was a gift to the new me?” He mused, moving on from the previous conversation. “If one were stripped down from his precious memories, he would be a new person, right?”

He had already said that. “You already said that,” Diluc tried to butt in to the man’s conversation with himself.. “What did you mean when you said ‘he was fated’?”

“Who was fated?” The blunette asked, genuinely confused.

Diluc stared back, bewildered. “You cannot feign amnesia.” That was what was happening, right?

Dainsleif patted his shoulder. “I don’t think he is.”

The redhead snapped back to face him and waited for an explanation.

“He said he was a part of what he used to be. I think this is just a part of a memory with enough consciousness to hold a small conversation. That or this man had gone mad over the years, trapped in the device that is Kaeya Alberich’s eye.”

“Is he okay?” The man’s ears perked up when he heard the name. “Is he faring well?”

Diluc blinked. “Do you know Kaeya?”

For some reason, the blunette once again ignored the question. “He must be,” he chuckled. “What was I thinking?”

Maybe he couldn’t answer the question? That or he was a straight-up jerk.

“Can you tell us about the project?” Dainsleif moved beside the prattling man. “This gift you mentioned.”

“Of course, the Bough Keeper is interested in restoring our homeland,” The blunette explained fondly, and Diluc understood the scope of what the man could answer to.

“Restoring your homeland?” Diluc appeared by his other side, eyeing the giant orb as he mirrored the other two.

“Loom of Fate failed, and left me desperate to seek new methods.”

Dainsleif, for some reason, stiffened with the explanation, but Diluc had no time to question it. “So I thought, instead of weaving, why not give shape to already existing Fortuna?” Then his arms opened up to showcase the orb. “Thus, my most proud creation.”

“What does it do?” Dainsleif asked, his voice strained with a hint of dismay.

“An old life used to give shape to the new. The new me will not know the sacrifices I had to endure. In fact, nobody will know. Nobody will remember, maybe except for the Prince, but he cannot know, not yet.”

“What is the Fate you are aiming to create?” Dainsleif slowly managed to ask, but it felt like he already knew the answer.

“Our homeland. It is a shame I had to borrow power from Heavenly Principles to achieve my goal, but all is fair in war,” his eyes gleamed with enthusiasm. “Gold’s intelligence knew no bounds. She both knew how to play the game in order to survive under the Heavens' gaze while securing her own place among them, and was a brilliant scholar. Let’s just say, I was inspired by her colluding with the enemy to find a loophole for her curse,” then he shrugged with a smug grin on his face. “So I did the same.”

Diluc was about to ask a question, but the man beat them to it.

“Look at this,” he said, seemingly excited by what was about to happen.

Without a warning, the orb before them shook dangerously, and the duo had to take a defensive step back. The blunette wasn’t at all bothered with what was happening.

Then, after shimmying one last time for good measure, the orb parted from the middle and revealed a giant pupil staring at the three of them. Finally, Diluc understood that it wasn’t an orb.

It was an eyeball.

The eye shone almost magically, despite its black color, and Diluc was now sure that it was the same eye Kaeya had.

“What are you doing?” Diluc asked, still focused on the giant eyeball.

“Showing you my goal, of course. Isn’t that what you asked?”

The pupil suddenly disappeared with a sudden hiss, as if it had been snuffed out, and was promptly replaced by a blinding light.

Actually, it wasn’t all that blinding, but the stark illumination difference between the endless void of a room they were in and the eye caused them to wince.

After their eyes adjusted, they could now see the humanoid figure standing in the place where the pupil once was. The person was unmistakably standing amidst a field with windmills. 

Then, the world around was set ablaze, and the figure stood among the flames as if they weren’t bothered by them. In fact, they seemed like they were enjoying the situation they were in. 

The fire consumed everything around itself and left nothing but ashes in its wake. The figure paced around to look at the view before him before kneeling down to grab the ash from the ground.

Then he got to work. He gathered the ashes, and within seconds, a new city emerged from the ruins of the old. This one had a palace and tall buildings, and Diluc had an idea where this place could be.

“Isn’t it wonderful?” The blunette commented, oblivious to the horrified expression on Diluc’s face. “I will be successful. I know that I will be.”

“...Why?” Diluc croaked out, then, with a newfound vigor, he rushed to grab the man by the throat. “Why?” He demanded.

“The old memories weren’t strong enough.” The man completely ignored the deadly grip on his throat. His speech wasn’t even hindered. “So I will grant it the last of what I am. My hope.”

Dainsleif pulled him back by the shoulder and kept the stricken man in place. “Did it work?”

The man smiled as he slowly disappeared. “I don’t know,” Diluc once again jumped forward, but this time he tried to catch the particles before they faded away. “You will have to ask the new me.”

And they were alone again. Diluc stared at his hands; his head was buzzing with the newest information. But he wasn’t even allowed the time to comprehend what had happened, because he heard the blond shifting behind him.

Diluc quickly turned back to see the man taking a stance with the drawn blade. His eyes were razor-focused on the now lifeless orb.

He was very obviously going to destroy the mechanism that was powering the Fate.

Chapter Text

There was no time to register what was happening, no time to consider the consequences. Because from one moment to the next, Dainsleif shot forward with one goal in his mind: Destroy.

Diluc didn’t know what would happen if he allowed it to happen; he didn’t know if he was even doing the right thing, but his body moved on its own, and he was now in front of the striking man with a hand raised.

Dainsleif looked baffled and morbidly fascinated with the redhead’s reaction, and it took a few long moments to realize what had happened.

His hand…

Apparently, his first instinct of stopping the man with a blade rushing forward was to block his path with his free hand.

As if on cue, lightning prickled up from his hand all the way to his shoulder. Intense heat that was unlike his flames took over his body and demanded that it protect itself.

However, this pain wasn’t unfamiliar. This feeling was a reminder for Diluc that he was still alive and he was still fighting. And right now, he wasn’t fighting for his survival, or he wasn’t fighting to avenge his father. He was fighting for something more important, more dear.

“Put the weapon down,” Diluc ordered, not accepting any sort of objection.

“You heard that man!” Dainsleif yelled, still pinned in his place and still holding a sword through the redhead’s raised hand. “I promised not to assume or act until I knew the full truth. This,” he seethed and slightly moved the blade to gesture for the orb. The action itself wasn’t helping the pain at all, but Diluc managed to stifle the wince. “This is the full truth. Kaeya Alberich is a threat.“

“There is more to it, you know that!” Diluc pulled his hand back while holding the best unbothered expression he could muster. “We still don’t know who you saw in Natlan, or how the eye operates.”

“The man reacted to the name Kaeya Alberich when he mentioned the created Fate. That other man is irrelevant to the destruction that is yet to occur.”

“He could be lying! Or he might not know the truth himself,” Diluc tried to subtly come closer, intending to disarm the blond as soon as he dropped his guard.

“He wasn’t lying. I don’t believe it is possible for him to lie. This is the essence of the domain; this is the answer I was looking for.”

“Are you ready to condemn an innocent life to death?”

“Innocent?” Dainsleif scoffed, “What part of anything that has happened caused you to assume he-”

That was his chance. Without letting him finish that sentence, Diluc grabbed the hilt with his uninjured left hand and pointed at the blond.

“I will not let you,” He declared, restraining the twitch at the edge of his lips. Dainsleif looked downright befuddled with what had just happened. “Kaeya does not wish to wreak destruction, especially not when it involves innocent bystanders,” then he tilted the edge slightly to emphasize his next order. “Now create a way out.”

“Fate cannot be changed, even if he does not wish for it to happen. It is recorded and forced upon him.”

Diluc frowned. “Then what makes you so sure you can even destroy this device? If he is fated to destroy Mondstadt, then there is nothing you can do here to prevent that.”

“That-” Dainsleif began to protest before shutting himself up. He pursed his lips in thought as if he hadn’t considered it until Diluc pointed it out. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“We can discuss this when we are out of here,” Diluc said impatiently. “Now create a way out!” He repeated, this time a little bit more heatedly.

“The Stella Fortuna can be removed from its rightful place, the fake sky, with brute force, but its purpose cannot be altered,” Dainsleif murmured to himself, completely tuning out the redhead from his musings.

This was getting annoying…

“So?” Diluc attracted the attention back. “What does it tell us?”

“It tells us that this is imperfect, fragile. That man sacrificed his own existence for a new one. And it means Kaeya Alberich’s life is hanging by a thread.”

That… 

No…

Diluc made the mistake of glancing back at the orb, and it was Dainsleif who took the opportunity and left his place by teleporting in an instant.

Diluc knew where the man ended up being; it was the same destination as before, and he even had the same intention.

But this time, the assumed consequences were different. Dainsleif wasn’t aiming to destroy the device that claimed Kaeya’s Fate; he was aiming to destroy the device that claimed Kaeya’s Fate and Life.

The reason he stopped the blond was because he didn’t know what would happen to Kaeya if he didn’t. But right now, he knew exactly what would happen if Dainsleif were to succeed in his attempt.

Not like this…

I just got him back…

The blond converged a destructive Abyssal energy in his palm and lunged forward to make contact with the orb.

The time moved more slowly. His mind went numb.

Not like this…

The room they were in was abundant in Abyssal power; all Diluc had to do was let it in. He would do this for his brother. 

Power surged through him and allowed him to move at lightning speed. It was the same feeling as the Delusion, as if he was now in the presence of an old friend.

Discarding his own being for the sake of the greater good. It had always been like this for Diluc. His father was the greater good; his hometown’s safety was the greater good.

His brother was the greater good.

Diluc was already so far gone, so why would it be an issue to let the corrupting power take over?

Dainsleif gasped with the sudden intrusion, but the redhead didn’t feel himself to be in a mental state to notice his environment. There was an enemy before him, the person who dared harm one of his own.

And he was going to pay for it.

He heard someone saying something, like Diluc was being called out by someone, but he didn’t care. Not when the threat was in front of him.

The other person wasn’t allowed to reach the orb; they weren’t allowed to stay in this dark room. Diluc was almost sure he had a valid reason for the things he wanted, but he didn’t care to remember. It was useless to focus on things that did not matter.

Kaeya was a better person, better than anyone in his hometown, better than himself. Why didn’t the person in front of him understand that? 

Sure, he deceived everyone around him; sure, he weaseled his way into the arms of the most caring person in the world, but…

The person before him didn’t seem all that aggressive anymore, for some reason. But it didn’t matter. They were a threat to his brother, even though they were on the defensive; it didn’t mean that they were safe to be left alone, left standing, left alive.

And he was right, because a searing pain coursed through his hip when one of the person’s strikes made contact. Before he was allowed to react, the person vanished in the blink of an eye and reached the orb Diluc was so meticulously trying to keep the other person away from.

His exhausted and injured body betrayed him and didn’t permit him to move fast enough. The blurry person raised his hand, and in an instant, the orb was impaled through with a crushing force of his unrelenting foe.

Before Diluc lost his consciousness, he remembered hearing a deafening roar.

Chapter Text

The beast stood in the open, lonely clearing. The swaying plant life under the autumn breeze denied their peace to be broken by any intruders, but the beast did not care. Not when it was finally feeling… tranquil. 

Because it was not alone this time. Just like it wasn’t alone all those years ago. The blue tall one leaned on the beast’s stomach to use it as his pillow and watched the sky that matched the color of his azure hair while lying on his back.

The two of them were a family again. A smaller one, a broken one, but one it wouldn’t dare to ruin. Not again.

The turmoil inside the beast was still present, still frighteningly loud. But it was now being muffled by the warmth it couldn’t feel all these years. If only the beast knew it was this easy to step into the sun, if only it had the courage to try before the darkness consumed him for years.

The tall one exhaled deeply, like he was tired after a long day, and the beast knew just how drained his family was. It whined and curled its head closer to its companion. Hoping that proximity would at least ease the other’s troubles.

However, this didn’t stir a reaction from the tall one. The beast huffed and inched its head closer for a single boop of its nose, but there was nobody there.

Panicked, the beast opened its eyes and found nobody lying down next to it. The sun had set, and the beast was once again left to face the dangers of the night all by itself.

It narrowed its eyes and looked up at the sky. Then its jaw clenched both in frustration and in thought when it saw what it was looking for.

It was Mother again, the fake one. But the sky didn’t just belong to the imposter anymore. There was now a diamond-shaped star glowing with all its glory. The beast wanted to berate him, tell him that it wasn’t fair for him to leave the beast all alone, but even it knew that life was never fair.

It was ready to go back to its hunt alone. It knew it would see its family again in the near future, and it knew that their lives were now drifting in different directions, but something stopped the beast.

Its stomach dropped, and its mind whirled. Something bad was happening, and the beast had little time to react.

It wanted to protect its family, so it turned back to warn him. But only then did it realize what the problem was.

A shooting star.

It was approaching the surface with great velocity, and the beast was just too tiny to deal with it. The color of the falling star was suspiciously blue, but the beast refused to acknowledge it, because it couldn’t have possibly been his family’s fault.

The star grew closer and closer, and the beast realized just how enormous the threat actually was. There was nothing it could do but accept its own fate.

Unless…

The grass beneath him felt like silk to his skin, but Diluc still found it to be uncomfortably itchy. The problem most probably wasn’t the sheet; he was simply too restless to find comfort.

He groaned and tried to think back to what had happened that led him here, while the dream quickly faded away from his mind, too elusive to be held onto.

“You gave me quite the fright,” a familiar voice said, and Diluc jumped in where he lay down.

A threat? He was fighting something, was it this person?

He got on his feet before his mind caught up to his movements and summoned a dagger from his Vision space to protect himself.

“Whoa!” Kaeya created an ice shield in self-defense, and Diluc blinked in response.

“Kaeya?” he asked weakly. His hand was shaking from adrenaline, fatigue, and a stinging pain he couldn’t remember the reason for.

“Put the knife down,” Kaeya pleaded. “That hand was injured,” he explained while still keeping his hands up. One index finger slightly moved to point at the dagger in the redhead’s hand.

Diluc looked around, confused, and tried to understand their current location.

“The master bedroom,” Kaeya explained just as he figured it out. “You owe me the story of what the hell even happened.”

Still shaking, he dismissed the dagger and winced in pain when the pressure in his palm was gone. He clearly aggravated an injury, as evidenced by the burning sensation.

“Do you need painkillers?” Kaeya sounded concerned. “We only focused on the serious injuries, and trust me, you being in pain was the least of our concerns. You refused to wake up, even if we patched your cuts and burns, and your unnatural fever would not break.”

Diluc failed to process all the words directed at him, but he still managed to catch the significant-sounding ones.

“We?” he croaked. “Unnatural?”

Kaeya sighed. “Please just lie back down. I will inform Adelinde that you woke up,” he got up and slowly approached the tycoon. His visible eye narrowed subtly, and his movements came to a halt after two steps, clearly waiting for permission to make contact.

Diluc stiffened; for some reason, he didn’t appreciate the action. Kaeya being so close to him felt… wrong. Diluc hurriedly held his hand up, keeping Kaeya at arm’s length, and slid under the blanket.

His brother frowned, not understanding what had just happened, but from his eye, Diluc could see that he had decided to let it go. The redhead considered himself lucky for that, for even he didn’t know the reason for his own action.

“Don’t get up,” Kaeya ordered, pointing down. “Do you think you can stomach a meal?” He added with a concerned once over.

Diluc hummed, not truly committed to listening to what had just been said to him as the memories from before slowly caught up with him.

He was fighting with Dainsleif because he was trying to harm Kaeya. He remembered channelling the abundant Abyss energy in the domain to use against the blond, crossing a threshold he was warned not to cross. 

His palm pulsed with his heartbeat and reminded Diluc that it was pierced through. He sighed and raised his arm carefully to inspect it closely. Just like Kaeya said, it was cleaned and patched by… them.

Now he understood that ‘they’ were probably just Adelinde and Kaeya.

But how did he get here?

He was already exhausted from overexerting his elemental powers in fighting the shadows. He also played with dangerous forces he did not fully understand. And to think that he failed-

Diluc shot from his bed, and his eyes furiously searched around to find his brother.

Kaeya must have left the room at some point because he was nowhere to be seen. Diluc felt his heart sink with dread and slammed the door open on a quest to find the blunette.

He saw the orb being damaged by Dainsleif.

Was Kaeya safe? He just saw him, and he seemed fine, but what if he was hiding a fatal injury? How would a damage to the device manifest on Kaeya? Was he supposed to look for physical marks, or was the damage done mentally? Would Kaeya just cease to be in time if left unchecked?

Diluc didn’t know, and it terrified him.

He failed his brother again.

He rushed down the stairs, no matter how much his body protested, and made a beeline towards the kitchen, hoping that was where Adelinde and Kaeya were.

He chuckled nervously in relief when he found the duo conversing silently. The maid looked furious with the redhead and was ready to scold the grown man, but Diluc had a goal in mind.

“Master Dil-” she began and cut herself off when the man suddenly yanked Kaeya’s shirt up to check under it. 

“Diluc!” Kaeya protested, flustered, and tried to resist the action.

Their objection could wait. “Are you injured, Kaeya?” He asked frantically while forcing his brother make a turn to check his back.

“I- What? Why would I be injured?” Kaeya tried to pull back, but Diluc held his grip firmly on his shirt.

The redhead knew that Kaeya was probably stronger than this, but was keeping gentle not to jostle Diluc.

“Just answer me,” Diluc replied impatiently and released his shirt, now on his way to inspect his shoulder.

“Diluc, stop!” Kaeya took a step back. “I am not injured anywhere.”

“This is important,” Diluc almost begged. “I need to-” 

Then he realized.

Maybe something happened to his eye.

His hands stilled in their places, and his worried gaze momentarily flicked towards the eyepatch before Diluc forcefully cast it down on the ground.

“Master Diluc, you need the rest,” Adelinde sounded stern.

“I…” He trailed off. His mouth gaped open for a full second before he remembered to close it. “I apologize, you are right.” He took a step back, but his gaze was still locked on the wooden ground. “Can you join me in the master bedroom, Kaeya?” He meekly asked.

“I was planning to,” came the answer, so Diluc had no choice but to retreat after a curt nod.

His legs dragged on the surface, refusing to carry the body back to its rightful place: The bed. Diluc was aware that he was a little worse off than how he acted, but right now, his comfort was not important when Kaeya’s life was on the line.

His mind raced, searching for an explanation.

Dainsleif claimed that the curse forbade the Khaenri’ahns from creating life. So how did Kaeya come to be? There was clearly one other person who looked exactly like Kaeya, so was his brother the clone of that person? But that was impossible, because the curse would not allow it to happen.

That person said he borrowed power from Heavenly Principles, so was it related to how Kaeya was created? Was Kaeya created, or was he born like a normal person?

Normal.

Diluc scoffed and discarded the idea. It didn’t matter how Kaeya was born. What mattered was that he was here and he was his brother.

A brother who was fated to destroy everything he held dear.

That… Diluc wasn’t allowed to think about that. Because if he did, then he would rationalize how it was for the greater good to eliminate a threat. Which wasn’t even an option.

Kaeya wasn’t an expendable piece to trade to save lives. His brother was one of the lives that needed to be protected, and Diluc was never going to make that choice, not even going to entertain the idea.

But…

He wasn’t allowed to think about the ifs and the buts. Right now, all he had to do was return to his bed and wait for Kaeya. Then they could talk.

The walk back was excruciatingly painful, and it wasn’t related to his injuries. For some reason, he didn’t feel ready to head back to his room. Because if he did, then he would be one step closer to his conversation with his brother, which was…

It wasn’t something he was too eager to get to.

He stopped by the bathroom to inspect his injuries for himself. Then, he took a leak he didn’t realize he was holding. Now that he was out of excuses to go back to bed, he begrudgingly made his way.

Kaeya was back not long before and unhurriedly closed the door behind him. Then he perched down on the chair he had been sitting in before and tightened his jaw nervously, waiting for Diluc to make the first move.

Diluc sighed and pulled the cover closer to his face to busy himself. Then, he pushed it back down and got up into a sitting position as he rested on the headrest.

“Are you seriously not injured? Not anywhere?” Diluc managed to utter, not sure how to convey what his real concern was.

Kaeya eyed him suspiciously before speaking up. “Well, last night we had that encounter with Dainsleif,” he admitted. “There are some bruises from that fight, but nothing significant.”

“I need to see it,” he hesitantly declared, and Kaeya visibly held back an eyeroll.

“Only if you tell me the reason,” he crossed his arms. “Something is bothering you.”

Diluc debated whether he should share what had happened or not before settling on another thing to ask. “How did we get here? We both passed out.”

Kaeya didn’t seem pleased with the aversion. “I woke up before you did,” he explained. “I saw you feverish and dare I say, delirious. Not to mention the bruises all over you, the cut in your palm, and occasional Abyssal corrosion on your person. Like something had attacked you with Abyssal energy.”

The last one sounded like Diluc was being interrogated. Kaeya certainly had come to his own conclusions while Diluc was unconscious, but deemed to focus his energy on fixing Diluc rather than investigating the scene for clues.

Still, was that the whole truth, or did his brother leave out a key piece of information? From the clock in his room, he could see that it was well past afternoon, nearing the evening. So Kaeya found him, carried him to the winery, patched him up, and did nothing until he woke up?

Maybe Diluc woke too early to give him time to investigate, but he didn’t want to ask about the timeline of events that led here. Because if he did, Kaeya would most likely understand his intention and attempt to confuse him.

“It was Dainsleif,” Diluc offered half an olive branch and hoped it was enough. He was not planning on sharing what he had seen in the domain with Kaeya.

Because if he didn’t know, then Diluc did not want to give his brother more reason to hate himself. He was already worryingly self-destructive as is, and Diluc had no intention of fanning that flame.

But the outcome he was more afraid of was that if Kaeya knew this.

“What did he do?” Kaeya gritted in anger, as if he was ready to strike the invisible enemy in the room that dared to harm Diluc.

“I don’t know,” he tried to sound genuine. “He did something to pass you out. Then, I was alone to deal with him. He told me about seeing you collaborating with the Abyss Order.”

Kaeya shot to his feet. “I did not!”

Diluc almost smiled fondly and raised his hand. “I don’t believe a stranger more than I believe my brother. Besides, even if you were to work with them, I would not assume the worst.”

Kaeya held back a disbelieving frown before reluctantly sitting back down. Diluc would be lying if he said he didn’t expect a show of gratitude or relief, but then it dawned on him.

Kaeya didn’t believe his words.

That was… fine. Diluc would repeat it a million times if he had to. He owed his brother that much after he attempted to kill his kin for being honest.

“I was overpowered,” he concluded with a sour expression. It wasn’t a total lie, since he didn’t win against Dainsleif in that domain, but it still sounded like he wasn’t a reliable ally to bring with. “He was too fast for me.”

Kaeya sighed. “It can’t be helped. He also managed to trick me.” Then, he slowly scanned the redhead before adding. “Is that all?”

Diluc swallowed and averted his gaze. “That is all I remember.”

Kaeya hummed, unsatisfied before getting up. “I will prepare a tray of my own to eat with you,” then he glared with annoyance. “Don’t leave the bed. I will be back in a moment.”

Before Kaeya could leave, Diluc had to make sure of one thing. “Kaeya!” He yelled a bit more forcefully than intended.

The blunette stumbled in his place when he heard the desperation in Diluc’s tone before snapping his attention on the redhead. “What happened?” He asked, alarmed.

Okay… He wasn’t intending to frighten his brother. “May I… may I see the bruises?”

This time, Kaeya rolled his eye, and the tension melted down when he realized it wasn’t important. Then, he approached the bed and showed him some small bruises on his arms and legs.

They didn’t seem important. So the problem could have been the eye. “And…” He hesitantly added. “May I see your eye?”

That surprised Kaeya. After blinking once, he readjusted his clothes. “And may I ask why?”

He tried to come up with a reason. “You said I needed to be more comfortable, right?”

A lame reason…

Kaeya narrowed his gaze and crossed his arms, so Diluc sighed defeatedly.

“I just need to see it to make sure Dainsleif didn’t do anything to it after that unexplained move. Humor me?”

After searching for the reason for Diluc’s bizarre requests, he caved in and removed his eyepatch, revealing the familiar Abyssal eye.

“Is it as dashing as before?” Kaeya teased.

Diluc snorted. “I should not have doubted,” he rose to the teasing. “Though nothing can fix the rest of the face.”

Kaeya grabbed the second pillow on the bed and smacked Diluc.