Chapter Text
Today was the day of Varka’s return. Similar to the way the city looked during the Windbloom festival, garlands and flowers decorated every corner of the streets, the people of the city wearing their brightest smiles.
Two long sky-blue carpets were laid down the cobblestone, the edges of which were decorated with golden stripes. Similar colored flags that depicted the Ordo’s logo were adorned on the city walls. All kinds of flowers embellished the town’s houses, each of them carefully selected by members of the church with the help of Donna and Flora. Amber and some kids from the Adventurer’s Guild, Bennett and Fischl, jumped from rooftop to rooftop with the help of their glider, putting up the garlands throughout every single street. Though it didn’t seem to go all that well, as the pyro-user was reported to have been falling down or getting tangled in the blue fabric more than a dozen times.
The whole town ran errands throughout the entire morning, finishing up the last of their preparations that were started immediately after the news of their beloved Grand Master’s return reached the city gates merely two weeks ago. The people were in their best moods since then, awaiting dear friends and family members to finally come back to their homes.
Though it wasn't unusual for him to take some Knights on an expedition, it had now almost been well over a year since the so called "Titan of the Knights of Favonius" had taken almost every single one of his men to go on yet another Journey. Carefree as he is, leaving Jean once again to perform the actual duties required of his position. And while they were all used to his antics by now, functioning while being heavily understaffed for such a long preiod had occasionally turned out to be a more troublesome task than the Grand Master had probably anticipated, to put it mildly.
Apart from how stressful the morning had been, Kaeya was already entertaining the thought of sharing a couple of drinks with his soon-to-return Cavalry as he walked past Angels Share. Even though he knew that getting his crew back would interfere with his more… ‘private’ ways of investigating, it was good to feel like he was actually doing the job that his title was meant for. And besides, they were a bunch of quite lovely drunkards after all.
The Quartermaster and the other knights were working since sunrise, ensuring everyone knew how to act and more importantly, how not to. They gave each of their members a specific spot to guard and a specific time for when they could switch places, most of them being not their regular ones as all of them had to attend for today. A lot of the knights were staffed around the city’s walls, staying in line as they looked out for potential threats that could ruin the festivities. The others were placed inside the city, having their spots admits the crowds to keep an eye on them and act if needed.
Nothing could go wrong today, everything needed to be perfect. That was the closest one could summarize from Jean’s motivational speech at the very least. In truth, she was completely stressed out by today, so much so that she chugged down a freshly brewed hot coffee from Lisa as soon as she was out of bed and ended up giving her sister at the cathedral a quick visit because of it.
Speaking off, the church made a great effort to make this day go with ease as well. It was them that sponsored the decoration around town, most of the sisters even helped hanging it up and get it to the right places. Some also rumored that Barbara would sing over at Cat’s Tail later that day, but the beloved Idol didn’t appear to have confirmed any of those rumors .
Sister Rosaria also did her part. Some people claimed to have seen the chain-smoking nun walk around the city the night before, looking out for potential traps or different dangers that could ruin the day that seemed so important to everyone in Mond.
Then, as soon as the sound of a trumpet was heard, the cheers began. At Mond’s city entrance was the man known as Knight of Boreas, Varka, walking in with his fellow knights behind him. Their horses were brought back to the stables as soon as they reached the gates and the crowd made space for the troop to pass through the streets. The Grand Master had finally returned, he smiled brightly and genuine at his people, waved at them, and despite what his tall and broad body might suggest, he was soft for his citizens. The man had a golden heart for his people and the people’s hearts held a spot of gold for their protector.
The crew of Knights lead by him made its way up to the Knights of Favonius headquarters. There already waiting stood his most entrusted people from the Ordo, posing in honor for their leader. Jean, Lisa, and Amber stood at the left, the Acting Grand Master staying on the highest stair, the Librarian in the middle, and the Outrider one further down. On the right side stood Kaeya, followed by Albedo. Klee would’ve joined them, but the little girl demanded to be allowed to wait with the Wall-Guards at the city gates in hopes of her mother’s return- despite Alice’s letter that had arrived a week earlier. Albedo said he would’ve gone with her under normal circumstances, but he knew that even though Varka would surely understand, it’d still be disrespectful to not properly welcome him as the others did.
All of them smiled, glad that the Grand Master and the rest of his people returned safely. However, Jean was still a little sad that she’d have to return to her old office now, she got more used to the title of Acting Grand Master than she would ever allow herself to admit in front of others. Well, at least that seemed to be her plan before Kaeya helped her clean the rest of the office yesterday. That long sigh she made before closing the door behind her a final time -or at least the last time she could call it her office- spoke more than enough words for her. Even though Jean was never one to let her title be what earned her respect, there was something nice to it, a feeling of accomplishment for being allowed to sit in that chair, Kaeya could understand that. He ended up offering his old friend to treat her to a Pizza at Cat's Tail after they placed the last box of supplies in her old-new office, and the Dandelion Knight had happily accepted.
But all of those thoughts about yesterday's events came to a halt when Varka layed eyes on him and his expression shifted from gentle to serious- then he spoke.
“Sir Kaeya, Sir Albedo, step forth.”
Both of them simultaneously shared a look with each other, searching for knowledge but only finding shared confusion in the other’s face.
They stepped forth.
He could hear Lisa whispering something to Jean, it sounded a bit concerned and he could feel their worried frowns digging through his back, the Cavalry Captain trying to hold back is own expression from changing. A few of the other knights that were gathered behind the Grand Master started whispering to each other as well, but some kept quiet, the apathetic stares they gave their superiors saying that they knew more than the rest.
Then, Varka let out the words that he had prepared for the two.
"You have twenty minutes to pack your things and leave the city walls. Leave the region of Mondstadt today, do not ever return. Otherwise, I must force my hand and take more drastic measures."
That turned everyone silent.
What? What did he just say? Kaeya was not sure he understood right, despite the fact that Varka’s voice was very loud and clear, at least enough for the people closest to the entrance to be heard. Yet, he felt dumbfound and had to ask.
"What's the meaning of this? Varka, I don't understa--"
"I met your father." he answered with his eyebrows narrowing.
Kaeya's heart sank deep, any words he had left were suddenly stuck in his throat as it went dry. Crepus was long dead, both knew that it wasn't the father he was referring to.
Any questions that he wanted to voice about Varka's sudden decision before, had been answered now. By that one, short sentence. He knew he was Khaenri'ahn. He knew Albedo was Khaenri'ahn.
He knew they were traitors.
He felt his stomach turn. Sick, he wanted to vomit. Drown himself in Death Afternoon and never wake up or instead wake up in hopes this was all just a bad and bitter dream. Everything seemed to spin around. He'd just lost everything. And the fact that he knew Varka was going easy on them didn't help it a single bit. Traitors would usually face trial, which would nearly in almost all cases end up in a quick death sentence, especially for those high up in the Knights ranks. But before he could continue to process this even remotely, the growing storm behind his eye got interrupted by the raised voice of his fellow punished.
"Have you seen my Master?!" Albedo asked Varka with more emotions erupting from his voice and body than anyone has probably ever heard before. It was almost pleading, even begging.
Kaeya could see the rage that started to build up in the Grand Master's eyes. The man might’ve gone easy on them, but that didn’t mean he was fond of the now exposed traitors. The blue-haired laid a hand on Albedo’s shoulders, who immediately went silent and still.
"It's no use, let's go..."
The Alchemist turned to look at Kaeya. His eyes were glassy, and his brows furrowed in disbelief. He looked so brittle, like chalk that could turn to dust by any second. In all those years, he had never seen the man look so desperate- probably no one did. But it was also no one else but him who could maybe understand at least some part of what was going on inside of the Chief Alchemist's head right now, a storm of emotions erupting behind those blue eyes that the young Kreideprinz had probably never felt before. And the Quartermaster could at sadly relate in a way.
After a moment that felt like time had frozen in place, Albedo closed his eyes and took a deep breath. His head was lowered, his posture less stiff and he finally gave in to the grip on his left shoulder that slowly turned him around to face the Ordo's doors. As they both walked up the rest of the stairs, no one spoke a word.
That was until, just as Kaeya reached for the doorknob, he could hear Jean's footsteps- and a glance over his shoulder revealed to him that she had walked over to Varka, now asking him what all of this meant and why it was happening. But he dismissed her. She starred at him filled with incredulity, then her body started to turn in a wish to face Kaeya, but before their eyes could meet, he looked away and went inside.
The sound of the doors closing echoed through the empty halls.
Kaeya and Albedo walked up the stairs to the Quarters, parting in different directions without speaking a word.
Some time passed, Albedo was the first to walk down into the hall again, Kaeya soon following. Both of them were equipped with backpacks, only gathering the most necessary items on such short notice.
Kaeya was going to speak first, but both of their eyes focused on the front door as it suddenly opened and watched as the little Spark Knight Klee ran inside. There was the sound of some guards trying to stop her before she could enter, but the small girl was unstoppable, now clinging to Albedo's legs who stared down at her with something akin to shock on his face.
"Big brother Albedo! The other Knights said you and big brother Kaeya will be leaving Mond, but you'll come back, right?!" Her voice was pleading and while she looked up to him and tried to look strong as well as hopeful for the sake of it, ignoring the tears that were already forming at the corners of her eyes.
Albedo stared down at her for a moment longer. He was pale, his expression hard to read at first- but it quickly shifted from that into what looked like frustration. He quickly sank down to his knees and grabbed the little girl, pulling her into a close embrace.
"You're a good child, Klee. Your mother Alice would be very proud of you. I am too."
Klee went still. The built-up tears started to roll down her cheeks. The girl with pointy ears couldn’t see it, nor could Kaeya, but Albedo's eyes went even glassier than they have been before, as if they could shatter if one wasn’t careful enough.
The whole situation started to feel a bit too familiar to Kaeya, like there was a private moment between a family that he shouldn't interrupt.
But after she finally let go of Albedo, who put up a kind smile and wiped away some of her tears with his thumb, Klee quickly hugged him once more before she ran over to Kaeya and gave him a big hug as well. He was taken by surprise, a small 'oomf' leaving him by how stormy the girl had been. But the cryo-user ultimately also got down to his knees, returning the gesture and then ruffling her hair. "We can't get you out of trouble now when Jean's catching you, so remember to follow the survival guide I wrote, okay?" The Captain said as he put up a smile for the young Knight.
Klee nodded as she let go of him, wiping over her eyes to dry them once more using her jacket's sleeve. "Okay... I'll make sure to only go fish blasting when no one is looking…"
Kaeya left out a small laugh at that and even the corners of Albedo’s lips went up a bit.
As the Spark Knight let go, he stood up and walked over to the Alchemist. Both waved at Klee who decided to stand back this time and returned the gesture with a brave smile before they turned to exit the building. Albedo quickly wiped a few tears from his eyes before leaving, just like Klee did before.
Once they were outside, the crowd that had gathered in front of the headquarters before was almost completely gone. Just a few knights were still around, simply chatting with each other near the wall. Kaeya assumed that Varka took the rest of them and had them go to the festivities, sending Jean and the others out to take care of a couple of things and go about their day as they usually would to not bring further attention to this. So they couldn’t even give a proper goodbye to them, and the cryo-user felt like a coward for the fact that it eased him a bit. He had learned how well people could take the truth, after all. It’s probably better if he keeps the sweet memories before adding this to the count of how many times he had been rejected throughout his life.
He glanced over at Albedo, who looked like his thoughts were somewhere far away. Kaeya could guess where that might be. He considered saying something to get the man back to reality but was interrupted before he could even think of the words to use.
Two Knights from the little group, the Guards Athos and Porthos, walked over to them. The Captain didn’t fail to notice their uneasy guise and soon after glanced down at the wooden handcuffs they were carrying.
“Is this really necessary?” he sighed.
“Varka told us to bring you to the city gates. Since the both of you are trained Knights as well as Vision users, there’s too much of a risk that you’d ruin the festivities.” One of them tried to explain with a more than sheepish expression.
And Kaeya could see right through it. “If that was the case, I’m very sure the Grand Master would’ve sent more than the two of you to take care of us. But since he didn’t, I’m sure that he is not the one who’s really worried about us misbehaving, now is he?” he accused and only shook his head, crossing his arms in front of his chest before he continued.
“Listen. If we both wanted to do something stupid, we could have just escaped through the back doors. Neither Albedo nor I have any plans of staying longer than Varka intended us to. The entire city is filled with knights today and I’m sure they’d be capable enough to stop us if we tried anything.” He wasn’t, really. “So just let us just get this over with, please?”
His visible eye looked at the man in front of him with such an intensity that the other appeared to think about giving in at first. “I… I’m sorry Cap- Sir Kaeya, please just cooperate.” But of course, it can’t always go his way.
Sure, whatever. The sword-user just sighed and gave in. Too tired to drag this out any further, and time was ticking, after all. The knight stepped forward and put the handcuffs on his former superiors before he ushered them away.
The walk through the city shredded every last piece of dignity they had. The puzzled looks on the people’s faces once they noticed them walking down the stairs like prisoners, handcuffed and guarded, felt like thorns piercing through each side. He tried not to pick up on the murmurs and ignored the sinister glances from the ones who got the message. They weren't looked at like people of Mondstadt anymore, they now were seen as rats that needed to be exterminated.
Yet, he couldn’t manage to blur out everyone like he wished to.
From the corner of his eye, he noticed Sucrose and Timaeus over at the Alchemy table, the young bio-alchemist holding her hands over her mouth at the sight of her teacher being taken care of like a criminal.
Then he heard a sneeze that made him noticed that bard, Venti, as they walked past Cat’s Tail. The usually cheery kid’s eyebrows narrowed in confusion and concern at the sight of them.
There were also Bennet, Fischl, and Oz who had gathered in front of the Adventurers Guild, abruptly stopping their chat with Katherine to witness the scene.
Ah, and if all of this wasn’t enough chaos already- Kaeya wasn’t sure if he should be happy or start to cry when he saw the familiar red mess of hair across the bridge. Diluc appeared to bring some new wine supplies from the winery to Angels Share again. At the first time Kaeya witnessed this, he thought that there must be something important if Diluc stocks up the wine by himself- but after seeing him come and go with the cart a few more times over the last couple of weeks, he realized that his former brother simply wanted to take the walk by himself, probably taking a chance to get away from helping Elzer manage the paperwork and breathe some fresh air, in some cases clear out some Hilichurl camps to protect Mond before the Knights could.
The wine tycoon came to a stop when he saw the familiar blue hair across the stone-bridge, next to him some blonde hair he’s seen a few times by now- and the two armed guards that followed them.
Diluc frowned. He started to walk towards them, each of his steps picking up more speed as he went. In the meantime, the other two Knights unlocked Albedo’s and Kaeya’s handcuffs, causing them to stand there for a brief moment. Kaeya was already putting up a smile that he was too tired to properly fake. By the time both of their wrists were free, two hands grabbed the cryo-user by the shoulders, giving him a light shake as they got a steadier grip on him. “What’s the meaning of this?” Diluc asked, his eyes drilling into Kaeya’s face with demand. The man was concerned, Kaeya noticed. The slightly shaking hands that were squeezing his bones eventually betraying the redhead's attempt to come off as just angry.
Kaeya felt a pang through his heart from that, and immediately after it he felt very... tired. Too tired, in fact. A part of him wished that the once so reassuring grip on his shoulders wouldn’t let go of him. That he could just turn around and walk back to Angels Share with Diluc, laughing as he started nagging the man about various things and making a toast to his returned Cavalry just like he planned to do back in the morning.
But right now, he felt too tired to hold onto any of that.
“The cat’s out of the bag.” He simply replied with a fragile laugh, averting the elder’s gaze. “Thank you, though.” Not only for keeping a secret. For everything. He put up a smile once more and gave Diluc a pat on the shoulders before he could feel the man’s hands slowly loosening up. The bluenette tried his best to ignore how pale his brother just went, especially with that look of horror that the pyro-users face revealed, his hands slipping down from the former Captain’s shoulders and going limp as Kaeya and Albedo continued their way to cross the bridge.
So tired. May the Archons grant him some rest tonight.