Chapter Text
A howl under the sky.
That’s what made him realize he was reliving the same memory all over again.
The rain was pouring down as if it was crying. Looking around in panic, he guided the knights to gather the wounded and treat them as fast as they could. If they could save a single life, they would do what they could.
That was his duty.
But his mind was elsewhere, and his eyes darted all over the place to find the one whose scream made his heart stop. A shout of pure agony.
He kept himself composed, for his panic would only bring the rest of the knights to waver as well. But like no other moment in his life, he wanted to scream her name from the top of his lungs, he wanted to run desperately through the camp and look in every broken tent to see her blonde locks and smile again.
She wasn’t dead.
She couldn’t be dead.
She was too strong.
And almost broken free of a curse, a cold hand was placed on his shoulder, the redheaded man turning around in a panic. There he saw the face of his brother, which brought a sigh unto his lips, unloading all the tension those minutes imagining the many possibilities.
“What is it, Kaeya?” his voice sounded strong and stern, but his tone flattered.
The weakness little people knew existed in him showed up, even if he tried to hide it.
“Jean, she…”
His eyes widened when he heard her name, but as his brother started explaining what happened, the heir’s face grew paler by the second. The anxiety in him became divided in two: One was fear… and the other was sadness.
Every step they took, the wailing just grew louder. Just behind a tent, surrounded by blood, destroyed items and some dead bodies, some knights stood there, nervously looking at the scene, unable to move a muscle by the sight they had found.
And in the middle of a pool of grass dyed in red sat one woman, her slim figure trembling.
Only the archons could know how many wounds were etched upon her body, but she didn’t seem to care the least about those, for her arms were strongly holding a young girl’s body. The girl’s dress, once white and bright, was now stained in the same deep red that removed life from all.
Anyone who had two eyes could know Jean was holding a corpse.
As for whose corpse he was holding and what they meant to eachother was something few people knew, although a look on their hair and eyes was enough for many to understand.
But the little sister’s eyes would not open again.
And so, the young knight would keep crying and screaming until her throat broke down, without even thinking of letting Barbara go of her arms.
The young captain stood silently behind her, watching her subordinate he’d grown to love so much be overcome with grief. But, he couldn’t stay idle. He needed to do something.
For her sake.
Kaeya grabbed him by the shoulder, in an attempt to stop him, but Diluc shook his head and continued forward to get by her side. Kneeling ever so quietly, he softly put his warm hand on Jean’s back and leaned forward in an attempt to see her face.
“You’ll get a cold. Please, leave this to us and get some rest…”
“She’s… gone, sir. My… my only… she is…” Without moving an inch, her bangs still covering her eyes, she muttered those words. Her voice was tired and raspy from the screaming, no sign of her usual overwhelming energy.
By that moment, Kaeya was also behind the both of them, trying to support his friend and his brother the best he could. Not that he knew much on how to do it.
“Jean…”
“She…” her erratic breathing didn’t stop disrupting her words. “She… really did whatever she could… to save the wounded… to protect us… to protect Mondstadt…”
It was the first time her voice sounded so weak… so desperate. But something else welled up inside her.
She rose her face, looking at his superior eye-to-eye, her gaze frenzied by desperation and rage. The tears were nowhere to be seen but long red streaks were marked on her cheeks.
That expression… is etched at the bottom of the Pyro wielder’s heart to this day. Just like the words that followed.
“Why couldn't I protect my sister?!”
“Hey, Diluc. Wake up.”
A playful voice woke him up. As he rose his head, he saw again his brother with that shit-eating grin that suited his face too much.
“Good morning, Acting Grand Master.”
“... Good morning, Cavalry Captain. Any news to report?”
“Other than you falling asleep after pulling an all nighter to sign some papers, nothing weird happening in Mondstadt.” Picking a single paper from his brother’s desk with two fingers and a disgusted face, he looked at the contents while squinting his only eye. “I seriously hope you haven’t drooled on any of them.”
“... I don’t drool.”
That response, though, didn’t come as the classic annoyed Diluc way of responding teasing. And that somewhat worried him.
“... If you are tired, you could go back to the Winery and get some rest.”
Realizing his brother’s unusual kindness towards him, he stood up from his chair and began walking towards the door while stretching. That change in attitude made Kaeya shrug and continue reading the documents to see if they were all orderly.
“Don’t worry, I’ll go drink something in Angel’s Share and come back renewed.”
As he opened the door, Kaeya leaned backwards to look at him with a smug smile on his face.
“Getting drunk this early in the morning is bad for your health, you know?”
“Ha. Ha.”
And Diluc shut the door behind to the Grand Master’s office, leaving Kaeya inside. But, two words after he heard his brother go out, his eyes opened and turned around in a frenzy.
“Wait, Diluc, she’s…!”
By the time his brother tried to reach him, he had already been outside the Favonius headquarters and was feeling the gentle breeze of Mondstadt early morning. Looking at his reflection from a mirror for a second, he tightened his loose ponytail and kept on walking towards Angel’s Share.
The pub was closed that early in the morning, but he had the keys of the establishment since his father, Crepus, was the owner. When he managed to free himself of the work at the Knights, he’d go to the bar and help as a waiter or as a bartender. It was a fun and lighthearted job comparing it with the Knight’s overwhelming number of assignments they could get in a single day.
However, when the man turned the key to open the tavern, it didn’t turn completely, meaning someone was already inside.
Frowning for a bit, the redhead opened quietly the door, his red vision shining just in case. But… nothing unusual in the place. He closed the entrance behind him and slowly got closer to the counter. Then he realized, yes, there was something out of the ordinary… it was too tidy.
Then…
“Good morning, Master Diluc.”
A woman’s voice that brought a chill to his spine. His eyes slowly moved towards the stairs, where an old friend stood. The woman he saw in his dreams... and his nightmares.
“... good morning to you, Jean.”
As she went down the stairs, Diluc sat in a chair next to the counter.
For a second he cursed Kaeya. Why didn’t he warn him she was going to be in the bar? He could see her no problem, but it was still hard to speak to her, to interact to her.
4 years passed since Jean left the Knights. Since she left Mondstadt and the Gunnhildrs.
Only 1 year since she came back. The winery’s workers found her with her body in shambles, covered in bleeding wounds and broken bones in the commercial route to Liyue.
Crepus took her in and made sure she would receive all the medical help she needed. Her healing process was a fast one, but Diluc couldn’t almost recognize her. She bore scars he was scared to ask about, her long hair was cut short and her pristine appearance had become one of a beautiful warrior.
However, her eyes remained the same. Not the same as they once was, but the same she bore in the image he’d etched in his mind so deeply. But all that grief and rage turned into a freezing coldness that made people be scared of her. And even now, one year later… he was still hardstuck on how to tackle that “new Jean” that had appeared in his life.
Suddenly a clack woke him up, making him look at the counter. A single glass of grape juice stood there and the short-haired woman looked at him with a blank stare.
“Here you go. You liked this, if I recall correctly.”
Wide-eyed before the glass he’d been offered, he stood silently processing what just happened. Then, a soft smile appeared on his lips and slowly took the glass, closing it to his lips.
“Thanks...”
No more words were said that morning, but when he came back to the Headquarters, a smile was shining in the Acting Grand Master’s face.