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Kaeya has never dreamed about anything.
When he was five or six, when he slept, he only saw darkness and then he woke up without remembering anything if there was something to remember.
When he grew up, everything he dreamt about were not exactly dreams but memories replaying inside his mind. It's the closest thing he had to a dream, but it would be more suitable to call it nightmares. There are not good memories inside him, only a city in ruins, a hard journey where he almost dies and his father's back disappearing between the forest and the rain.
Please, don't go.
He tries to reach him. But his hand it's too little, his legs don't respond to him and he's so cold, so hungry, so lonely...
Dad, please, don't leave me...
He doesn't stop. He continues walking without looking back. He's becoming more and more a shadow, and Kaeya can't do anything to stop him.
The rain neither stops.
"Kaeya..."
He hears a soft voice and looks everywhere, but he doesn't find the source of that voice.
"Kaeya..."
Who is he? Who is calling him? It's a warm voice, but he doesn't recognize it.
"Kaeya, wake up..."
For a second, he thinks about his mother. But it's impossible, she was left behind so long ago, she couldn't resist that inclement journey and his father didn't have considerations with her fragile health.
He didn't have time for that.
"Kaeya, please..."
His body starts to tremble, but this time is not for the cold. It's something outside him, almost as if the wind...
"Kaeya, wake up!"
Then, he opens his eyes and sees light. Brilliant red eyes and red hair with a source of light around it as if he has a halo above him.
"Thanks Barbatos, you're awake!" Diluc hugs him, and Kaeya tenses at the sudden contact. "You were trembling, were you having a bad dream?" He asks as he sits at his side.
Diluc Ragnvindr is the son of the man who kindly took him up and gave him food, clothes and a bed. He treated him as if he were his own son, and Diluc seems more pleased to be with him than jealous.
How to explain to him he couldn't dream? Mondstadt is the land of freedom, Barbatos their kind god, Diluc probably won't understand how people of Khaenri'ah couldn't dream.
They don't have the permission to. Even Kaeya at the early age of eight has it forbidden.
You're our last hope.
But even the last hope doesn't have rights to have dreams.
"No... I mean... Something like that. You don't have to worry, Master Diluc..."
"I told you to call me only Diluc!" He says. "And don't worry! You don't have anything to be ashamed of."
"It's not that..."
"You can trust me." He smiles. "You know, I couldn't sleep either because I had a nightmare too... But I'm too old to go with dad! So... I was passing by and then I saw you. You left the door open! I didn't want...!"
"Don't worry, it's fine." Kaeya says to relieve him. "I... Thank you, Diluc."
Diluc smiles more, and he thinks his smile is... so bright. He's sure it could light an entire room only smiling.
"You're welcome!" He laughs.
The sound is so warm, sincere... It fills his little heart only a bit, but it's such a good feeling that he only wants more.
"What kind of nightmare did you have?" Kaeya asks, curious about what could be hurting that kind child.
He regrets it at the second he sees Diluc's happy smile turning in a sad one.
"Well... You hasn't been here for too much, so it's normal you don't know. Mum has gone to Celestia... I hope she's good there, and I know that she didn't want to leave, but I miss her..."
His red eyes fills with tears. Kaeya doesn't want him to, for the Seven, what has he done?
"Hey, I'm... I'm sorry, I didn't... I didn't want to..."
Diluc shakes his head.
"It's not your fault. I mean... You didn't know."
But the tears keep falling, and Kaeya only wants to wipe them off that white and round face.
"I know how it feels... My mother has passed too..."
But he doesn't know if she's in Celestia. After all, she was a sinner. Like him, like his dad, like everyone born in Khaenri'ah.
They were born like sinners, they would die as one. That's what his father told him to never forget, along with his mission.
"Your mum...? And you don't miss her...?"
Everyday. He remembers her smile, her soft voice, her tales when he was so tired and cold that kept him awake while his father was hunting to give them protection.
He couldn't even cry her death. Crying costs him energy he has to save for the rest of the way.
But now... Now he's safe, in a warm bed, beneath a safe roof, inside a big room all for himself and with Diluc on his side. Someone who wouldn't hurt him.
Someone who wouldn't leave him behind.
"I miss her. I miss her so much..."
And then he feels his eyes burning. Why are they burning? What is happening?
He touches his face and notices the humidity in his cheeks.
"Hey, you can cry. It's okay. I'm crying too."
His smile is radiant. Even between tears, it's so beautiful... Kaeya cries more, and he doesn't even know why.
"I'm... crying?"
He didn't cry since... He couldn't remember. His father never let him cry. It was a waste, it isn't even useful. He can do anything instead of crying, like walking faster or helping to hunt.
"Yes?" Diluc says, the doubt in his voice. And then he stretches his arms. "Come, dad says that if someone is crying, a hug can make them feel better."
Kaeya... Well, he doesn't even know if he still knows how to give hugs, but he tries his best. He imitates Diluc, and surrounds his body between his arms. With his head pressed to his chest, he can feel the heartbeat and the constant breath of Diluc, along with his warmth. Diluc is so warm. So comfortable...
Kaeya cries more.
Cries everything he hasn't cried in all that time. And he feels so relieved, with Diluc only brushing his hair without saying anything but also everything at the same time.
He doesn't say it, but there's an "I'm with you" implied while he caresses him with softness. And that's enough. For Kaeya, that's everything he ever needed.
Someone to tell him he wouldn't be alone.
"Better?" Diluc says after a moment, when he doesn't hear more sobs.
Diluc's shirt is wet by that time, but he doesn't even seem to care.
"Yes... Sorry, I shouldn't have to..."
"Don't worry! We're friends, aren't we?"
Friends? He didn't have any back on Khaenri'ah, there were not so many children...
"I... I guess, yes..."
"Say it more convincingly!" Diluc complains. "Anyways, we're friends, so it's what friends do."
And he smiles again. How can he smile so often and everytime he does it's like the sun itself? Kaeya can't explain it.
"Thank you, Luc."
When he realizes what he has just said, he blushes so hard he only wants the Geo God to come there and use his element to bury him alive.
He looks at Diluc ready to apologize, but he seems... happy?
"Did you... just call me with a short name? Oh, I'm... I love it! For now and on you have to call me like that, okay?" Kaeya slowly nods. "And I will call you...! Hm... I will call you Kae! Do you like it?"
Even if he doesn't, how could he say no to that eyes, to that shining face?
"Yes! I like it!" And Kaeya tries to smile, even if he knows he wouldn't reach that beauty.
"Good!"
Diluc starts ranting about how much he wanted them to be more close and everything they could do together. At the beginning, he talks about the pranks they could do and the games they could play, but after a while he plans for the future.
"We can be knights together! Like Arundolyn and Rostam!"
"Like who...?"
"Two heroes of Mondstadt!" He says, excited. "They grew up together and joined the knights. They defended Mondstadt against everything! They were such a powerful team, I'm sure we can be like them too!"
"You think?"
"I'm sure!"
"You two. What are you doing awake at this hour?"
The voice makes them jump on the bed. Diluc's father laughs at their reaction.
"I... I'm sorry, dad, we were just talking because we couldn't sleep." Diluc says.
The man sighs and moves closer.
"You should sleep, tomorrow you have piano lessons."
"We will!" Diluc promises, and Kaeya nods. "But... Can I ask you something, dad?"
"Of course. Tell me."
"Can I be with Kae? Just for tonight!" He's fast to clarify. "If Kae is okay with it..."
"I... I don't mind at all..."
"Well, if Kaeya doesn't mind, I guess me neither. But you have to sleep, understood?"
"Yes!" They say at the same time, and then laugh.
Crepus makes them lay down in bed and cover them with the blankets.
"Okay, I'm going to turn off the lights and then you'll sleep" He says, giving them a kiss in their foreheads. "Good night, kids."
"Good night" Both children say, laughing and then, the darkness comes again.
Diluc holds his hand beneath the blankets, and Kaeya looks at him in confusion.
"If you're having a nightmare, I will feel it and I will wake up. The same for you." He says happily. "So you could sleep in peace, because I will protect you!"
Kaeya then smiles and holds his hand tighter.
"Good night, Luc."
"Good night, Kae."
And when Kaeya closes his eyes and falls asleep, for the first time he could remember, has a dream.
In that dream, Diluc is there.
In that dream, as he said, they are together.
(And while Diluc keeps holding his hand, nightmares won't come back.)