Work Text:
“I need you to do me a favor.”
“A favor?” Kaeya asks, smirking just the slightest bit. “It’s not often you come to me asking for favors.”
“You’re right.” Jean agrees, and it truly is unfortunate that she is one of the only people in all of Teyvat who remain unaffected by Kaeya’s flirty and seductive gaze. “And that’s why I need you to listen very carefully.”
Kaeya shifts out of parade rest and plops down into the chair in front of him, resting his elbow on Jean’s grandmaster’s desk and his chin in his hand because so far, he’s lived his life by the motto ‘Go Big or Go Home’, and it hasn’t proved him wrong yet. “Hit me, boss.”
Jean’s expression doesn’t change, but that’s okay, because for once in his life this expression of grandeur isn’t about eliciting a reaction but instead about showing that he is okay and ready to work despite the fact that in all his years of being a Knight Jean has never once asked him for a favor—
“I need you to rescue Albedo from Dragonspine.”
Kaeya doesn’t flinch, but it’s a close thing. “That guy? He basically lives in Dragonspine, I didn’t even think it was possible for him to get lost there.”
“Not ‘find’, Kaeya.” Jean replies, and her voice sounds almost kind in how clinically dry it is. “I need you to rescue him.”
“Rescue.” Kaeya repeats. “Sorry, what’s the difference?” He asks, trying to keep the mood light. He wants to make some sort of quip about how the language of Teyvat isn’t his first language, so forgive him if he doesn’t quite know the meaning of some words, but that is a can of worms he absolutely does not need to open right now.
(It’s also a lie. Kaeya knows exactly where this conversation is headed.)
“Albedo hasn’t reported back to us in two months.” Jean shuffles around some papers on her desk, looking every bit like the Grandmaster she’s been since Varka retired. “Of course, we sent a scouting expedition to go check up on him two weeks ago, because sometimes he forgets, but they found his camp completely abandoned and all of his other registered research locations untouched.”
“So he’s missing.” Kaeya summarizes. “Either that, or doing some batshit crazy science thing.”
“Yes.” Jean continues shuffling papers.
“And you want me to go find him— sorry, rescue him.”
“Yes.”
Kaeya laughs. “Jean, come on. You know I can’t do that. I have a cryo vision, for one, and you want to send me to Dragonspine? All by myself? What am I going to do, have a snowball fight with the hilichurls?”
Jean finally looks up from her papers. Kaeya is pretty sure he sees a grocery list on the top of her stack, but that’s none of his business. “No one said you were going alone. We need you to lead the mission, as the highest ranking officer currently available, but we’re sending another knight with you.”
Kaeya jerks upright in his chair. “No,” he says, because there’s absolutely no way. “Don’t tell me—”
“Klee is more than capable of the job. Her vision will be useful, and she’s been behaving better these days. She will be a more than capable asset on this mission.”
Kaeya snorts, because it hasn’t always been like that. Not long ago were the days of spontaneous explosions and solitary confinement. She’ll always be a little arsonist at heart, but better an arsonist that works with the Knights of Favonius rather than against, he supposes.
“Still.” Kaeya argues. “She’s just a kid, and more than that, she’s his kid. Isn’t there something in our contract about personal bias, or whatever?”
“Out of everyone here, she knows Albedo’s research best. She knows his hiding places like no one else.” Jean reminds him. “Except you.”
“Jean, please.” Kaeya begs. He wouldn’t normally, but unprecedented times call for unprecedented measures. And searching for Albedo in the depths of the harshest mountain in all of Teyvat was not on his To-Do list for the day. Or ever, really.
Jean sighs. “Kaeya,” She starts, and oh— is that pity he hears? Yikes. “Dragonspine is a dangerous place. Albedo is more than capable of taking care of himself, but some things cannot be controlled. Sometimes, nature can be selfish.”
Kaeya closes his eyes. “Jean, please don’t make me do this.”
“No one else can.” Jean says firmly. “And besides, could you really live with yourself knowing if something happens to him that you could have been there to stop it?”
Kaeya breathes in deeply through his nose, and out through his mouth. He agrees, and they make plans for the expedition, but what he does not say is this:
Grandmaster Jean. The worst thing to ever happen to Albedo was me.
---
Kaeya and Albedo broke up four years ago. This isn’t about that, though.
“Okay.” Diluc says, sounding like someone who is far too tired of his formerly-estranged-former-brother getting drunk in his tavern again. “Then what exactly is this about?”
“I don’t know.” Kaeya mumbles into the table. The wood is nice and cool against his forehead. “Nothing. Everything.”
Diluc sighs wearily, like he has fifty eight years weighing him down instead of twenty nine. “Will you continue to make no sense all night, or should I try again later when you’re more…”
“More what?” Kaeya asks. “Don’t leave me hanging, bro.”
“More human.” Diluc’s voice is drier than an overcooked skewer. “But I see now that there’s no chance of that happening.”
“Rude.” Kaeya replies. The pounding in his head gets worse.
Kaeya hears Diluc sigh again, and wow— he sure does breathe a lot. And quite heavily, too. There’s a bit of shuffling, and then more, and then there’s a heavy weight sitting itself into the empty stool next to him.
“Look,” Diluc starts, and if Kaeya were 1. not so drunk and 2. not so concerned over his future, he would find the nervous trepidation in Diluc’s voice absolutely fucking hilarious. “What are you afraid of, seeing Albedo again? You’re both Knights, surely you’ve had to interact at some point over the past few years. This will just be like that, only a little tiny bit more awkward.”
Kaeya snorts, and lifts his head. There’s no doubt a red mark on his head from where it was pressing into the bar, and the room is swimming around him in a cocktail of candlelight and reflective glass, but it’s nothing compared to the adorably pained face Diluc makes as he tries to comfort someone.
“I’m not afraid of seeing him again.” Kaeya says. “Try again.”
Diluc’s brow furrows, but he must be in a surprisingly good mood this night, because he actually does. “Are you afraid of Dragonspine? I know cryo users are nearly entirely useless there, and it’s been a while since you’ve gone, but Klee will be coming too, right? And you two have gone to Dragonspine together plenty of times.”
Kaeya grins, showing all of his teeth as unpleasantly as he can. “You’re closer,” he says, “But I’m not afraid of a little cold.”
Diluc, for all Kaeya enjoys making fun of him, is relatively smart, all things considered.
“The girl.” He deadpans. “You’re afraid of the five year old girl.”
Kaeya gasps dramatically and swoons, hand pressed to where his chest peeks out of his shirt. “Klee is fourteen now, how dare you.” And thank the Archons that here in front of him is another one of the people of Teyvat who Kaeya can never seduce. This would be so much more awkward otherwise.
“Okay.” Diluc says, clearly not understanding.
“Little brother.” Kaeya says, as seriously as he can when his cheeks are red both from laughing and drinking several servings of wine above his tolerance. “I am traveling to the most dangerous land in Mondstadt with a teenage girl with arsonistic tendencies who makes bombs for a living and has every reason to hate my guts. I’m not just afraid, I’m completely terrified. Utterly intimidated. Frightened. Terror-stricken.”
“Okay, I get it. Shut the fuck up.” Diluc rolls his eyes. “You’re scared the girl’s going to murder you in your sleep. Did you ever tell her why Albedo broke up with you? The way I remember it, she was just as attached to you as she currently is to him.”
Kaeya flutters his eyelashes at Diluc, and maybe he should find better coping mechanisms for telling his brother painful truths than half-hearted flirting, but why fix something if it isn’t broken?
(Also, the last time they were this honest with each other, they also tried to kill one another. So, baby steps.)
“Don’t you know?” Kaeya asks, voice as sweet as honey. “I broke his heart, not the other way around.”
“What the fuck.”
“I don’t really understand how you came to that conclusion.” Kaeya continues, swaying with the light reflected on the floor as the lanterns flicker. “I mean, look at me. I’m fabulous, and strong, and really— anyone would be lucky to be my lover.”
“I came to that conclusion because you followed me around Mondstadt for two months afterwards, drinking all of my very expensive wine and not paying me back a single cent, but that’s not the point.” Diluc takes a deep breath. “The question I’m trying to ask is why the fuck would you do that? You two were so in love it was disgusting.”
“Two months.” Kaeya giggles. The lights are very pretty. “That’s how long he’s been missing.”
A hand strikes Kaeya across the face, and it does wonders for clearing up his mind. When he turns back to Diluc, he is met with a glass of clear water in the offending hand and an unimpressed look.
“Answer my question. Why did you break up with Albedo?”
Kaeya pauses for a moment, because words are only just coming back to him, and if there’s any time at all to say something that makes sense it’s right now.
“You said we were disgustingly in love, but he was always buried in his work. I had my own things to take care of, and with him always in Dragonspine or with Klee and me helping Jean, there just wasn’t enough time for us. To be together. Sometimes these things just don’t work out, so it’s better to end on a high note rather than trying to pursue something that will only lead to us hating each other.”
Diluc tilts his head for a brief moment in thought before nodding. “Alright, that makes sense.” He says. “But if I wanted to listen to you lie to me some more, I would have let you stay intoxicated out of your mind. Tell me the truth, because I did not spend the past two years defending your honor to anyone who asked for you to lie to me again.”
“The truth.” Kaeya repeats, because he can’t even begin to unpack that last statement right now. What the hell, he might as well. If he’s going to spill all his secrets, he’d rather it be to the one person who already knows them all. Well, excluding—
“I broke up with Albedo because I loved him too much.” Kaeya says, and doesn’t even stutter over saying Albedo’s name for the first time in a very long time. “I woke up one morning and realized that it’s either going to be this for the rest of our lives, or he breaks my heart. And neither of us have much of a future, not here at least, so I thought what the hell— I’ll break his first.”
“Plus, I kind of wanted to see if he would break.” Kaeya feels the corners of his mouth tilt up, but it’s not a smile. That would require him to be feeling anything at all other than staticky blackness where his heart should be. “He’s so perfect all the time, I wanted to see if he could break. Break into pieces, like glass. Turning into dust.”
It’s funny. It’s funny, and Kaeya is laughing, because it is funny, and Diluc will never understand. Diluc will never understand that Albedo’s kisses always tasted like ash, that his pale skin is more than just a byproduct of spending half of his life on a snowy mountain, that his mouth would be warm on Kaeya’s dick but his fingers were always cold, cold, cold.
Diluc is quiet through Kaeya’s laughter. “What did you tell him?” He asks, when Kaeya is gasping for air and brushing the tears off his cheeks.
“I told him I was getting bored.” Kaeya replies, and his voice contains none of the mirth he just displayed. “Told him that because it was Lumine who got us together, without her around to keep things interesting, three years with him was just too much. It was time for both of us to move on.”
“And he believed you?”
Kaeya sighs, because Diluc is still completely serious, and it’s kind of a buzzkill. “He did after I moved all of my stuff out of his room and stopped coming to see him during his breaks.” It was easy to stay away when he was on a two month long sabbatical bothering his formerly-estranged-former-brother, after all.
Albedo had been coldly polite after Kaeya had returned, which was exactly what he wanted. The perfect amount of space between the two of them, with no room for lingering feelings or regret or guilt, sullied only by Klee’s melancholic confusion and Lisa’s subtle disappointment.
Kaeya thinks the two of them might have been planning their wedding together. Oh well, no point in thinking about what has already passed.
Diluc stands from his stool and rounds the counter again, picking up some dishes to start cleaning them. There are only a few patrons left in the tavern, and Kaeya really should be getting going soon if he wants to be able to meet Klee tomorrow bright and early.
Diluc clears his throat, and it’s the most awkward he’s sounded the entire night, which makes Kaeya perk up in anticipation.
“I’m sorry if what happened between us made it more difficult to tell others the truth about personal matters.” He delivers the apology with the air of someone sentenced to death, and Kaeya can’t help but immediately burst into laughter.
“No way, at least sound less like you’re dying if you’re gonna say something like that.” He says, if only to see the way Diluc narrows his eyes at him and tightens his grip around the cloth in his hand.
“It has nothing to do with you, though.” Kaeya continues, because for once, he wants to be completely serious. It’s no one’s fault but his own. “I’m just the kind of guy who lies to others. That’s just how I am.”
Diluc’s expression doesn’t change, but the strain in his fingers loosens slightly. “Well, see if I ever apologize to you ever again.” He replies, as if these past seven years since Lumine crashed into their lives haven’t been one long drawn out apology on both sides.
They settle into a nearly comfortable silence, and Kaeya thinks that might be his cue to leave, what with Diluc polishing his glasses and Kaeya doing everything in his power to not think about Albedo’s face when he told him it was over. Over in the corner of the tavern, he can hear Venti singing and playing his lyre, the joyful music entertaining the drunk adventurers in front of him.
They quiet down for a single moment, but it’s enough for the lyrics to pierce through the din and make Kaeya blink twice in shock. “Is the former Archon god of Mondstadt, Lord Barbatos himself, singing a song about how big your dick is?”
Diluc raises one eyebrow. “I don’t know, is he?” There’s no trace of blushing on his face, and his hands don’t stop polishing the wine glasses. For a split second, Kaeya thinks he can see Venti’s eyes trace his gloved fingers in unadulterated thirst.
Yeah. That’s definitely Kaeya’s cue to leave.
---
“Wait!” Kaeya bursts into Diluc’s room, late enough into the night that it’s basically already morning. “You defended my honor? After we broke up? In front of other people? Wow, you really are the cutest little brother!”
“Get the fuck out of my room, you fucking monster. How did you even fucking get in here in the first place?” Diluc growls. He hurls his pillow at Kaeya, likely following the sound of his voice so he doesn’t have to open his eyes. Kaeya sees a head of black and green hair on Diluc’s naked chest— which, ew— but then the blanket slips lower and— no way, is that a hand—
“I’m going!” Kaeya calls, slamming the door as quickly as he can. There’s a thump, as a second pillow hits the door behind him.
---
By the time Kaeya gets to the Mondstadt gate, at the bright and early time of seven in the morning, Klee is already standing there waiting.
And a lot of things have changed over the past four years, but the one thing that strikes Kaeya is how tall Klee is now. She still has her hat and her very recognizable backpack, but her cute dress has been replaced with a perfectly serviceable red shirt, black pants, and long white coat in the classic Knights of Favonius style.
“Good morning, Captain Kaeya.” She greets him, perfectly polite. “Are you ready to go?”
Kaeya doesn’t know what Albedo told her four years ago, when he stopped coming around. He doesn’t know the explanation Albedo gave her, whether the language he used was dry and adult, or emotional and personal, or his reasoning as to why it was Lisa, and later Bennett and Razor, taking her to Dragonspine instead. There’s a lot of things Kaeya doesn’t know anymore, and for someone who has only survived this long by knowing more than everyone else, it’s a hard truth to swallow.
Kaeya also has no idea if Klee even remembers him. Of course she knows who he is, what with both of them being involved with the Knights of Favonius, but four years is a long time for a child, even compared to the three that they were together for, and he himself doesn’t quite remember all the important things he swore he would when he was ten. There’s Diluc, of course, and Master Crepus, but Kaeya only sees his fathers face in hints and whispers in his dreams.
Or nightmares. Depending on who's asking.
Klee is fourteen now. She’s older and calmer and wiser, and whatever Albedo did to raise her this way has seemed to work. She’s confident and bold and brave and Kaeya loves her with every bit of the heart he hides under the ice of his vision. She’s taller, too, taller than Kaeya thought she would ever be, reaching all the way up to Kaeya’s shoulder. In fact, if he really thought about it, Klee might even be taller than Albedo now.
“Sure thing, Spark Knight.” He replies, shaking off the memories and saluting in jest. “Ready when you are.”
And so off they go.
---
Kaeya has always been an extraordinarily lucky person. He’s lucky Master Crepus was there when he was, capable of taking Kaeya in while not asking too many questions. He’s lucky his vision came when it did and prevented Diluc from killing him. He’s lucky the Knights of Favonius were willing to accept a traitor like him, that Albedo finally caved and said yes to his advances, that he managed to find a new family in Jean and Lisa and Bennett and Klee.
Kaeya has always been lucky, so it makes sense that the luck had to run out at some point. He and Klee barely make it to Albedo’s main camp before a snowstorm kicks in in earnest. The whipping snow and winds outside the cave entrance make it impossible to see more than 10 meters in front of them, and therefore make it impossible to continue their mission. For now, at least.
“We’re lucky we made it here before the storm set in.” Klee says, and it’s the first thing she’s said to Kaeya ever since they left Mondstadt.
They had fought through roadblocks together, but even in combat hadn’t needed to exchange words. Instead, Kaeya summoned ice through his sword as Klee melted the hilichurls around them. It was an age-old dance, the steps coming to life as an old memory deeply rooted in Kaeya’s bones. What could words have done in the face of instinctual familiarity?
And now, here they are, setting up for the night in Albedo’s main camp. Klee is sitting primly on a crate of radishes, having just used her bombs to light the torches in the entrance, and her hair reflects the orange and red of the fire.
She moves about the space as if it’s her own home, and considering the number of times she’s been here, it might as well be. Kaeya takes careful note of the things that have changed: the alchemy table moved to the other corner of the cave, the easel out of sight in the back behind the shelves, untouched.
“This place is still stocked.” Kaeya notes. “Abandoned for a while, sure, but there’s still food and wood for a fire. He didn’t plan on being gone for so long, I’d guess.”
It’s likely that something bad has happened to him. Kaeya doesn’t say it, because as sharp as his words can be, he doesn’t always enjoy being the bearer of bad news. Plus, it seems like Klee already knows.
“Maybe he got stuck in the storm.” She stares pensively out into the ice and snow. Klee bits her lip, face pinched, and for a split second Kaeya sees a glimpse of the little girl she used to be.
It feels like a suckerpunch to the stomach, like a memory so far back in the recesses of his mind that it feels illegal to touch.
“There’s no use going out and looking for him now. We can try again in the morning.” Kaeya suggests. “The weather might be better then.”
“I guess.” Klee replies, but she doesn’t sound very sure. Kaeya doesn’t feel very confident either, but it’s his job as the older br— as the older Knight in this situation to command his troops and maintain a sense of calm.
They settle down to get some rest, Klee tucked around her stuffed animals like absolutely nothing has changed in the past four years. Kaeya breathes in time with the wind, and only manages to fall asleep when the warmth of the fires have finally set into his bones.
---
They wake up the next morning to the bitter cold.
Or at least, Klee must have. Kaeya wakes up to Klee’s face very close to his own, tiny but strong hands shaking his shoulder.
“Captain Kaeya, wake up.” She whispers, and for a minute, Kaeya forgets.
“Where’s Albedo?” He murmurs blearily, reaching to his right. When his hand hits freezing cold stone instead of cooled sheets, he remembers.
Klee’s expression doesn’t change. “That’s why we’re here, Captain Kaeya. To find him.”
That’s not what I meant, Kaeya doesn’t say. If Klee is at all curious as to why he’s calling for his ex-boyfriend, she doesn’t say anything.
“The wind blew the fires out last night. I managed to light the torches again, but it will be a while before this cave warms up all the way.”
“Yeah, I figured.” Kaeya says. The winds are still howling outside, the storm even worse than it was the night before. “What time is it?”
Klee shrugs. “Late morning, probably.”
In Dragonspine, at this time of year, the sun rises late and sets early. Their chances of being able to go out and look for Albedo today diminish with every sweep of snow battering the trees outside their camp. The storm is brutal, and Kaeya can’t afford to be thinking like a solo man on a mission.
“We can’t go out today.” Kaeya makes the executive decision. “It’s too dangerous.”
Klee raises a single eyebrow. “I’m starting to think you don’t want to go looking for Albedo at all, at this rate.” Kaeya wonders when she got this sassy.
“I’m just trying to keep us alive, Klee.” He snaps back.
“And I’m just saying that the longer we wait to go look for him, the likelier it is that we never find him.” Klee barely flinches, staring back with all the intensity of a teenager who firmly believes she is right.
Kaeya doesn’t reply, because there’s nothing more he can say. He knows the two of them are barely circling around the knowledge that if it’s been two months since anyone’s seen Albedo, their chances of finding him are slim to none.
“There’s enough food stored up here to last us through the night.” Kaeya is exhausted. Raising children is way too fucking hard. “Let’s try again tomorrow.”
They spend the rest of the day in silence.
---
“He stopped painting after you stopped visiting.” Klee says, on their third day stuck in Albedo’s camp. “He pretty much stopped doing anything besides work, really.”
It’s the end of day three of quite possibly the worst three days of Kaeya’s entire life, including when his father abandoned him in a foreign country and when his brother almost killed him. He’s starting to worry that they won’t have enough food to last them much longer, and they’ve already searched the campsite for any possible hint of where Albedo might have gone four times.
“Is that so?” Kaeya responds, half-heartedly. He doesn’t really want to know the answer to that question.
They’ve already settled down to sleep, but considering the heavy anxiety that sits between the two of them, just like the nights before this one, there probably won’t be a lot of that happening. Every night their sleeping bags have somehow moved closer and closer to each other, because waking up to freezing cold winds is much kinder when there’s a body to block out most of it, and it reminds Kaeya of what used to be. He does what he can— and it feels right, as though protecting his fiery little sibling is what he was born to do.
“Are you and Master Diluc together?” Klee asks, and Kaeya nearly hacks out his lungs with how suddenly he sits up.
“Together?” He croaks out. “Could you be a little bit more specific, please?” There’s no way Klee is asking what he thinks she’s asking
“In love, like you and Albedo were.” She says matter-of-factly. “Together romantically.”
“What do you know about love, kid? You were ten.” He lies back down, but doesn’t take his eyes off her. Kaeya hates late night conversations about his feelings, but one look at the determination and pure curiosity on Klee’s face holds him back from ending the conversation right then and there. If this is a good distraction for Klee from the severity of the situation, then so be it. Never say Kaeya doesn’t know how to sacrifice himself for the greater good.
“I know Albedo is less fun now. Less happy. He’s stopped going out as much and stopped having as much time for me while you started spending more time with Master Diluc.”
Kaeya winces, because even if everyone in his life is convinced that breaking up with Albedo wasn’t the right decision, he really didn’t mean for things to affect Klee this much. He feels a stab of anger at Albedo for letting their relationship’s issues bleed into his relationship with Klee, before realizing that well— it might be his fault too. Just a little bit.
“Yeah, well, he’s my little brother. And every kind of interpersonal relationship is tough. And considering, well, everything going on, I figured seven years was long enough, and it was more than time to go and fix that relationship. Or at least try.”
“Well you guys don’t look alike.”
“Adoption, baby girl. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten what that is.”
“I haven’t forgotten, I just didn’t want to be rude.” She says indignantly. “And, little? He acts like he’s older than you.”
Kaeya laughs loudly. “Ouch, first of all. Who taught you to be so rude? And second of all, well, do you want to know a secret?”
Klee stares for a moment before replying. “Only if you’re willing to share it.” Kaeya wonders when she became so diplomatic. When did she get so old? He turned around for a moment and blinked and then suddenly, she’s no longer his little girl anymore.
But the two of them have been stuck in this cave together for three days, and perhaps his inhibitions are lowered, because there is no hesitation when he begins talking.
“I don’t actually know how old I am. My birth family was too busy with more important things to ever hold birthday parties or anything of the sort, so when Master Crepus and Diluc adopted me, I had to make up my birthday and age. And after hearing how old Diluc was, I thought being an older brother would be cooler than being the younger sibling.”
“Is that how it works?” Klee sounds a bit dubious.
“Sure it is.”
Klee contemplates this for a moment. “Does Master Diluc know?”
“What, about my age?” Kaeya asks. Klee nods.
“Well,” Kaeya hedges, “I think he’s guessed. But that doesn’t change anything. No matter what, even if we fight again, and even if it turns out I’m actually younger, that doesn’t change the fact that he’s always going to be my baby brother.”
It’s the principle of the thing. Kaeya and Diluc are brothers, despite their parentage and looks. Kaeya is never going to stop being Diluc’s annoying older brother, and Diluc will never stop being a baby about it. That’s just how things are.
“What about me?” Klee asks quietly, almost as though she doesn’t quite want to. “You used to call me your little sister, didn’t you?”
Kaeya is surprised she remembers. He hadn’t done so since he broke up with Albedo, always treating her with the proper distance required by a Captain and his Knight, but that title had never really gone away in his head.
“Yeah, you’re still my baby sister.” He admits, and the words come out fond and sweet. That’s not something that’s ever going to change, either.
“Hm.” Klee scrunches her face in concentration. “No.”
“No?”
“If you get to be Master Diluc’s older brother, then I’m forty two. I’ll be your big sister.” She declares.
Kaeya smiles. “Are you sure?” He half-teases. “I’m a lot of work.”
Klee turns on her side, so the two of them are facing each other. Her eyes are dead serious in the light of the torches. “Albedo thinks you’re worth it.”
Breathing? What’s that? Kaeya isn’t sure if he remembers, at this moment.
“Thought, Klee. Past tense.” There is no more Kaeya and Albedo, after all. Just Kaeya, and Albedo.
But Klee’s facial expression doesn’t change. “Don’t tell him I told you this, but I think he’s still waiting for you to come back.” She says, her voice completely devoid of any hostility or anger.
Kaeya doesn’t know if he’ll ever breathe again, and maybe that’s for the better. He prays to Barbatos and whatever other god that might be listening that they would find Albedo alive at the end of this journey, that the three of them might be able to go home and start over again and that he could repent for his sins, because he’s starting to thing that he might have made a mistake in letting go of one of the best things in his life.
“Yeah, well. I’m here now, I guess.” Kaeya says, and turns away so Klee can’t see the way his heart cracks open in his chest.
---
The next morning, the storm has cleared enough that Kaeya deems it safe to begin their search.
“We should go up.” Klee says. “Albedo likes looking out over the mountain from the very top.”
Considering the two of them originated in an underground country, Kaeya believes her.
“Alright then, Miss Spark Knight. Which way?”
They fall back into their rhythm, melting their enemies with clear precision and familiarity. They’re about halfway up the mountain, approaching the worst of the storm, when Klee gasps and runs off the path.
“Klee!” Kaeya shouts, running after her. “It’s dangerous!”
“It’s his sword!” Klee yells back. “Look!”
Kaeya races back to Klee’s side. “Don’t touch it.” He gasps, and turns his gaze to where Klee is pointing. Sure enough, it’s Albedo’s infamous sword, Festering Desire. It glows a sickly purple in the bluish reflection of the snow, and Kaeya gently moves Klee away from it.
“Don’t touch it.” He repeats, picking up the sword gingerly. It sends a shock all the way up his arm. “It’s cursed.”
“Cursed?” Klee asks, but thankfully doesn’t get any closer. “Why are you touching it, then?”
Festering Desire’s power sings in Kaeya’s blood, tempting him with glory and fame and redemption, but that’s not a good answer. “I don’t mind getting cursed. Not if it’s him.” He sheaths the sword in his belt, and leaves it at that.
They continue their search, but Kaeya is starting to lose hope. When the storm gets too thick, he guides Klee into the caves, but even there, they don’t find anyone other than a few very irate abyss mages. When they emerge from the caves, the sun has already set, and the storm is picking up again.
“I think we should call it a day, baby girl.” Kaeya says, and it’s a testament to how cold and tired Klee is that she doesn’t argue.
It’s not until Kaeya is leading Klee back down the mountain that he sees it. A slab of ice, packed into the mountainside with snow and fallen debris, with just enough visible through the storm to take Kaeya’s breath away and trigger bile in his throat.
“Oh, Barbatos.” He can’t help but say, stopping still in his tracks. “Holy fucking shit.”
“What?” Klee asks, leaning around him to peek over his shoulder. “What is it?”
Quickly, Kaeya turns, grabbing Klee’s arm as tightly as he can before she can get very far. “Don’t look.” He says, voice rough and grainy. “Close your eyes, and don’t you dare fucking open them.”
Buried in the ice and snow is Albedo— or what’s left of him, anyway. Only his head and the right half of his body is showing, but it’s enough for Kaeya to know that there’s no hope— no chance of him still being alive. In the bluish hues of Dragonspine, the blood spreading from the gaping hole in Albedo’s head looks like an inky black spider, sucking the life from its victim. His body is mangled, clothes shredded, the entire lower half of his leg missing.
Albedo’s hand is extended in front of him and his mouth is open. Kaeya knows it’s all in his head, but the entire mountain trembles with the unheard cry for help. For someone to come, before it’s too late.
“Is it him?” Klee asks. Her voice is tight and subdued. “Did you find something?”
“Yeah.” Kaeya croaks out, and swallows the nausea threatening to rise. He tears his eyes away from the gruesome sight towards Klee, who stands with eyes squeezed shut and face pinched. “He’s trapped in the mountain. Don’t open your eyes until I say so, okay? I’ll guide you back down safely.”
Klee doesn’t move. Still, she’s being remarkably obedient— moreso than he had ever seen her be before. “Can we get him out?” She pleads.
Kaeya looks back towards Albedo’s body. He can’t help it, like a moth drawn to flame with the full knowledge that it is the very same fire that will kill him. Albedo’s face is cracked and bleeding. Kaeya is just glad he died with his eyes closed.
“No.” He replies. “I’ll mark this spot on a map and get Jean to send a better equipped digging team, but there’s nothing more the two of us can do here.”
“Even with my bombs? I’ll be gentle, I promise.”
Kaeya imagines what it would be like to blow Albedo’s body out of the mountain. He imagines clearing all of the ice and snow only to retrieve a body that is only 40% complete, at best. He imagines allowing Klee to see what has become of her older brother and guardian figure and forcing her to be the one who digs his dead body from the very mountain that killed him, and it’s this thought alone that has Kaeya letting go of Klee entirely and leaning over the side of the mountain to vomit what’s left of his stomach.
“No.” He says, voice faint. Whether he says it to the snow or to Klee is anyone’s guess. “Please. We can’t.”
Klee is silent, and when Kaeya turns to look at her once more, he doesn’t see the little girl who used to run around the Favonius Headquarters with a bomb in one hand and her fluffy Dodoco in the other. Instead, he sees Albedo’s little sister: a young woman dressed in an outfit that makes no attempt to hide the fact that it was based on that of the Chief Alchemist, handed off from one guardian to the next like nothing more than an afterthought, forced to grow up far too soon in a world that’s far too cold. She stands alone on the frozen path, shivering in the snow, eyes squeezed shut, hands clenched into firsts at her side.
“Klee.” Kaeya rasps. “Klee, please. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” He doesn’t know what he’s apologizing for. For not being able to get Albedo’s body out, maybe. Or for not allowing her to open her eyes and see the wreckage. Maybe he’s apologizing for not being by Albedo’s side when he was needed most, both two months ago when Albedo first went missing or four years ago when he chose to walk away to spare himself the future heartbreak.
This. This is exactly what he feared.
Klee rubs her arm where Kaeya had grabbed her, and he feels a pang of guilt, because the last thing he ever wanted was to hurt her. So Kaeya wraps his arms around Klee, gently, and begins walking her back down to the camp.
“It’s okay.” He says. “It’s okay. I’m sorry.” He doesn’t know who he’s saying it for.
It’s not until they make it back down to the camp that Kaeya stops his litany of words. He doesn’t know when Klee had opened her eyes again, but she takes care of lighting the torches and preparing their supplies to go back down the mountain while Kaeya sits on the floor in front of the alchemy table and tries to remember how to breathe.
“Do you still love him?” Klee asks. Her voice is physically painful in the silence.
Kaeya’s voice is hoarse when he tries to speak. It takes him a few tries to get the words out. “Of course I do.” How could she think differently? How could anyone?
Klee holds out a pack of supplies to him, her eyes exhausted in the flickering light. Kaeya aches in all the worst ways. He wants to tell her that it was a joke, that Albedo is probably still somewhere out on the mountain in a new camp of his having simply forgotten about all his responsibilities. He wants to lie, to tell her that he didn’t mean to walk away, that breaking up with Albedo was the worst decision he’s made in his entire life. He wants to tell her the truth, that he and Albedo are both liars and freaks and spies and maybe it’s better if they both expire here, on this mountain, where they can never hurt anyone ever again.
“Come on.” Klee says. “Let’s go tell Grand Master Jean.”
---
“You were wrong.” Kaeya tells Jean, after the reports had been made and Klee had already been sent away. The digging team is preparing for Dragonspine, and Kaeya needs to warn them about what to expect when they get there. Snowstorm and disfigured body and all.
But first, he has a point to prove.
“Please tell me then.” Jean replies, as poised and calm as ever, despite the redness around her eyes. “What was I wrong about?”
Kaeya hadn’t seen her cry since Lisa’s funeral. He wonders if she’ll cry for him too, when that time comes. If anyone will.
“Something did happen to him.” Kaeya’s voice is rough and raw, and the words come out faster and louder than he means them to. “I was right there, and I couldn’t do anything. I did everything right, didn’t I? And now look at me. I couldn’t do anything. Something happened to him, and now he’s dead, and nothing has fucking changed.”
He’s not crying. He won’t cry, not for his own mistakes, but there are tears leaking out of Jean’s eyes once more, and for a moment, he finds himself sickly jealous of the way she allows herself to feel.
“I’m sorry.” Jean whispers, but Kaeya has heard enough of those words. Said enough of them, too.
“Me too.” He replies, and clamps his lips tightly before he can say anything more.
Kaeya thinks of Albedo’s body, still on Dragonspine, shattered in its death. It turns out Albedo could break, after all. Kaeya was just hoping he himself wouldn’t break alongside him.
---
Kaeya doesn’t remember the rest of the day. He must have briefed the digging team on what to expect, but it’s like his brain had blanked out and shut down. Kaeya doesn’t remember that night, either, but he wakes up in the morning to voices in his kitchen and can’t bring himself to care.
“Gently, Klee.” Diluc says. “You don’t need a fire that strong to light the kitchen stove.”
“I’m no good at this.” Klee replies, frustrated tears in her voice. “I can’t take care of people like this. I take it back, I don’t want to help him. You have to take care of him instead.”
There’s silence for a moment longer, long enough that Kaeya finds himself falling back asleep before Diluc’s voice has him jerking awake again.
“Please, Klee. You’re going to have to help me.” His voice is kind, kinder than Kaeya remembers hearing it in a long time. Soft, too, like a little boy brushing his hands along the bandage on his new brother’s face and asking him for his name. “Kaeya needs both of his little siblings right now.”
“But it’s not fair.” Klee bursts out angrily. “I’m still mad! Albedo was my brother, and Captain Kaeya hurt him. Albedo was hurt, and he died sad, and it’s not fair.”
Diluc shushes Klee, still gentle, and Kaeya marvels at his babysitting skills. He wonders momentarily if Diluc would ever start a family with Venti. He might even make a decent uncle, by the time all of this is over, assuming he manages to ever get his shit together. Assuming he's not dead by then.
“That’s okay.” Diluc says. “You can be mad at someone and still love them. Our Kaeya hurt me badly, too, and it took us a long while to reconcile. I’m still angry sometimes, when I think about what happened, but I still love him. That never changes.”
Klee sniffles. “Seven years, right?”
“That’s right. Did he tell you about it?”
“Yeah.”
Diluc hums, and Kaeya can hear the smile in his voice. “Inside hurts take the longest to heal. I know it’s hard, but even as we take care of him, he and I will take care of you too. Be sad, and be angry, and we’ll stay right here with you.”
“Promise you won’t leave me?” Klee asks, her voice barely audible.
“Promise.” The firm reply comes immediately.
The kitchen goes silent once more, and Kaeya falls back asleep to the sound of his family waiting for him to awake, and despite his best efforts, forever by his side.