Chapter Text
Kaeya couldn't see his hands, or anything for that matter. He was pretty sure that the abyss mages had maanged to capture him, that or he had gotten too drunk and passed out again. Both were good options but the first one seemed way more likely. Maybe if he tried to go over his latest memories then maybe he could figure out what was going on- he heard a door open and a warm feeling filled the room, well, warm would be an understatement. This feeling was getting hotter by the second, then he heard laughter-it was the scracthy voice of a pyro abyss mage.
Yeah, definitely the first option
As Kaeya started to wake up more he registered more and more different feelings on his body, one being that he had no shirt on, another that he was blindfolded, his hands were chained together, he couldn't feel his vision and lastly- he didn't have his eyepatch. What a great fucking situation to be in. He could still hear the pyro mage laugh and he wanted to groan, but it most likely wasn't the best idea to so right now. The warmth got closer and closer and Kaeya instinctively tried to get away from the source but to no avail. Whatever was around his eyes- eye- was torn away with force, but since it was most likely some random piece of cloth it did not hurt the cavarly captain. Kaeya blinked a few times before his vision started to return back to normal and he could get a good look at his surroundings- only to find out that he still had no idea where he was.
The only things that surroounded Kaeya were two pools of water, some pilars, four walls and a few slimes and crystals- and though he could not see it he could feel that he was chained up to a pillar with a sturdy chain circling around his chest and a pillar behind him, his arms were stuck behind his back and chained together with a similar mechanism. Right in front of him though was something he wished that he would never have to see again- an abyss mage. Kaeya was sure that the heat emitting off of the mage wasn't that hot, but as a cryo user hot temperatures became uncomfortable for him way faster than for someone else. Which is why he was sweating pretty badly by the time the abyss mage finally stepped away from him. If mages had faces Kaeya was sure that this one would be smiling right now- and that smile would not be a pleasant one.
"The cavarly captain of the knights of favonius. Kaeya Alberich." The mage started. Kaeya really hoped that the thing wouldn't start to monologue because with every word it said it also let out a hot breath of air into the already burning air that lingered around the captured man. "You have caused us a great deal of trouble and embarrassment, but that is not why we have brought you here." Despite the growing temperature Kaeya still managed to pay enough attention to hear what the mage was saying- he had to admit that he was surprised when he heard the last sentence being spoken. "So why have you brought me here?" The cavarly captain asked- wincing a little at how quiet his voice was. He knew that pyro mages weren't exactly the smartest beings to walk on Teyvat- from the info that he had managed to gather it would seem that the pyro mages were at the bottom of the list when it came to abyss mages. It seemed like either hydro or cryo mages were at the top- though it was impossible to say which ones were the rulers.
"We have figured out the identity of the darknight hero-" Kaeya had to admit, the name that the people of Mondstadt had given his brot- Master Diluc- was a really stupid one, he was sure that Diluc agreed as well. "-And we have also figured out that you are his brother, and by capturing you we can get him to come right into our open arms!" The pyro mage exclaimed. Kaeya wanted to burst out laughing- did the mages really think that Diluc would come to some ruin for Kaeya? That Diluc would endanger his life for his ex-brother who he barely even looked at anymore? These guys really needed to get their intel from a better source. Kaeya decided to stay quiet, if the mages discovered that he was useless to them in anything regarding Diluc then they most likely would get rid of him. He didn't even have his vision intact- though he had no idea how a bunch of dumb mages had managed to get it off. A question for a better time, if such a time would ever come.
"So your plan is to keep me here until Master Diluc comes to save me?" Kaeya's voice was still quiet and weak but he tried to ignore it- he needed to get information out of this guy. The pyro mage nodded- or at least Kaeya thought that it was a nod. "But do not think that we will let either of you go! Or that your stay here will be nice or comfortable!" The mage exclaimed- as if thoughts like that had even crossed the cavarly captains mind. He was chained up in some ruin without anything covering his scarred chest and an abyss mage of all things was talking to him about how they were going to use him to get to Diluc- yeah, nice and comfortable weren't words Kaeya could use right now. He looked up when the mage continued it's already long speech. "Even if you are not the darknight hero you have still caused us quite a lot of trouble and humiliation. Which is why-" Kaeya immediately started to back away when the mage floated closer and extended it's arm toward the captains chest. The air around Kaeya started to get warmer again as the annoyance pressed the palm of it's hand in the middle of Kaeya's chest. "-We will be having the same amount of fun tormenting you as you had tormenting us."
Kaeya barely even registered how magic started to float around the mage's arm when he already felt almost an unbearable amount of pain hit his chest. The captain managed to keep himself from screaming even though the pain grew with every passing second- instead he just let out pained groans which turned into small whimpers when the burning stopped, though the pain did not. It barely even lessened. Kaeya didn't even realize that he he had shut his eye until he noticed that he didn't see anything, he forced himself to open his only eye and glare at the mage in front of him- the bastard was laughing. The smell of burning flesh lingered in the air and Kaeya felt sick- he refused to look at his chest, though he didn't have to do so in order to know what it looked like. He had personal experience from burn wounds.
The abyss mage floated away from Kaeya and the man could finally breathe in peace- at least for some time. At least the temperature around him dropped which he was grateful for. He watched as the mage went to pick up one of the small electro slimes that were bouncing around the room, it then began to float towards Kaeya again. The realization that he was sitting in a pool of water hit him in an instant, but there was nothing he could do than watch as the slime was dropped into the water. Kaeya held his breath and hoped that the shock wouldn't be that painful. The slime was small so to Kaeya it just felt like something was tickling him- until the pyro mage created a small flame and pressed it against the slime- creating an overload reaction that also caused the small slime to let out way more electro at once than it's small body was supposed to. Of course the electro reacted with the water that Kaeya was in- creating another reaction. And this time it hurt.
Kaeya screamed.
Jean sighed more and more work was starting to pile up on her desk- way too much for one person she had to admit it, but if she could not handle all the work then people would lose faith in her. She wasn't grandmaster Varka after all. The blonde pressed her face against the palms of her hands, perhaps she could ask Lisa or Kaeya for help? They both had told her that they would help her with anything if she just asked, but still those two had their own jobs to do as well. Besides, Kaeya was away on a mission and Lisa most likely would be too lazy to get the jobs done on time. Jean let another sigh fall off of her lips.
The blonde jumped a little when someone suddenly knocked on her door, but before she could even open her mouth the door was slammed open and the a flash red and brown ran to her desk- outrider Amber. "Amber, I would appreacite it if you could wait for me to tell you to come in." Jean fixed her posture and forced her voice to sound professional. "Sorry but I was in a hurry!" Amber sounded tired, out of breath. "I was just gliding around Mondstadt and- K-Kaeya, his squad they're all- they're all dead! I mean I couldn't find Kaeya but Jean there were so many corpses!" The brunette's rambles became disoriented to Jean, she didn't even notice when Amber let out a few sobs. She had found Kaeya's squad dead? But no Kaeya? Where was he? What had attacked them?
Was Kaeya dead?
Jean forced herself to calm down, if Amber hadn't found Kaeya's body then that meant that he could be alive. The blonde stood up and walked to the front of her desk to grab Amber's shoulders in a reassuring yet fierce grip. The brunette stopped her rambles and sobs to look into the blue eyes of her superior- Jean wished that she had at least a somewhat determined look on her face. "Amber, where did you find the cavarly captains squad?" Jean had to stay calm now or else her panic would be transferred into Amber as well. Said brunette thought for a moment before answering, her voice was uncharacteristically quiet. "Wolvendom, close to where stormte- Dvalin resided in." The acting grandmaster nodded- it made sense. That's where she had send Kaeya after all. So what had went wrong. "I need you to describe what you found the best you can. Is that okay?" Jean really hoped that Amber could do what she asked her to do- she needed to get as many details of Kaeya's dissapearance as possible. Luckily- the brunette nodded.
"Well, at first it just looked like he and his squad were resting. Like they had set up a camp- I wanted to go talk to Kaeya so I dropped down from the sky and ran to the camp but- They weren't alive. None of them were. They were just corpses with expressions full of fear that had been propped up against wooden boxes to make it look like they were chatting to each other happily. Like someone had made a joke out of them. A sick joke. The thing that I mistook for Kaeya was just a bunch of wheat stuffed into his shirt with a piece of blue cloth over the whole thing. Whoever did it had even taken his eyepatch and put it on the fake. I checked the bodies, all five dead and all that is left of the cavarly captain is his shirt and eyepatch."
Amber was right. It did sound like a sick joke. Who would do something like that? Five dead, one missing. Who would be so sick to play with dead bodies?
"Please go get master Diluc, he needs to know of this. Even if he and the cavarly captain aren't close anymore. After that give me the names of the dead knights and I will personally go tell their families what happened." Jean ordered while sliding her hands off of the other girls shoulders. Amber nodded and took a deep breath before running out of the room- leaving Jean alone. The said blonde let out a sigh even bigger than the one earlier, her legs shook and she felt like they would give out under her any second. Her vision blurred and she soon realized that the reason for that was tears. Kaeya was gone, no one knew where he was or if he was alive. Her best friend could be dead and the reason for that was the mission that she send him on. Jean took a few steps back and her back hit her desk, her legs finally gave out and she slid down to the ground and hid her face against her knees. She bet that she looked pathetic to anyone who would enter- but she did not care.
Kaeya was gone.