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Diluc hadn’t told Jean he was leaving the Knights of Favonius. Nobody else had told her, either, assuming that the oldest Ragnvidr would have told the knight he’d grown up alongside. Everyone thought that Jean Gunnhildr already knew; Jean Gunnhildr, for her part, heard the news from a couple of gossiping recruits with more wine in their head than sense, and she immediately set off to the Dawn Winery to get to the truth of the matter.
Because--he wouldn’t do this without telling her, right? They were best friends. Allies. Knights. They had grown up together! There was no way he would have done this without telling her.
At least, that’s what Jean said to herself as she rode hell for leather through Springvale, past the Valley of Remembrance domain, and towards the Dawn Winery. That’s what she said, in the privacy of her thoughts, as her horse’s hooves smacked against the mud from last night’s rainstorm and the acrid scent of burnt hair mixed with the smell of cooked meat, and she drew back her reins atop the cliff that near the Dawn Winery--a height not tall enough that it would kill you, but high enough to break a bone or two, render you, perhaps, incapable of movement and unable to go for help.
Jean tugged on her horse’s reins to get it to stop, dismounted and walked cautiously to the edge of the cliff. The winds seemed to tug at her with a strange chill, pulling her hair nearly out of its ponytail as she stumbled towards the edge of the cliff.
The scent was stronger here, and Jean felt her blood chill as she saw burnt skin scraped onto a rock, the remains of bloodstained ice still lingering on the burnt grass. What had happened here? Had an Abyss Mage…?
A coughing sound came from below her. Jean looked down over the edge, and her heart froze in her throat. A figured, burnt and bloodied and far too still, lay on the ground below the cliff in a small pool of blood. His blue hair was matted and loose around him, and though he was no longer smoking, Jean was willing to bet that, somewhere, Kaeya Ragnvidr was still on fire.
She swore roundly and lept from the cliff, snapping out her wind glider and slowly circling Kaeya’s still body until she landed next to him.
This close, she could see that he was still breathing, though one of his legs was bent in the wrong place and his torso and left arm were coated in burns and slashes. In some places, the wounds were almost cauterized, and in others, they were weeping into the dirt, and in others, the flesh had turned black and crispy.
“Oh, Barbatos,” Jean breathed, gently turning Kaeya over. A low, keening sound came from his lips, but he didn’t wake. His nose was broken, though, as though he had been punched, and one of his eyes were blackened. But the burns hadn’t reached his neck, and his breathing seemed to be mostly even. Something dropped into the grass when she turned him over, and adrenaline spiked through Jean as she recognized a Cryo Vision falling out of her old friend’s lap.
“Kaeya...I’m going to go to the Winery for help,” Jean told her unconscious friend. “You’ll be alright. I swear.”
She pushed herself to her feet and started sprinting towards the Winery. It seemed less busy than usual, which wasn’t surprising. Master Crepus had, after all, died last night, and Kaeya was missing, lying burnt and unconscious at the bottom of a cliff. Jean wouldn’t be surprised if the reason nobody had heard from Diluc for hours was that he was out searching for his younger brother.
What in the hell had happened last night?
Luckily for Jean, Adelinde was out on the porch when she arrived, panting and sweating.
“Captain Jean!” Adelinde exclaimed. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s Kaeya,” she panted.
Adelinde’s face crumbled. “Oh,” she said, “oh, I’m so sorry--there’s nothing I can do, it’s too late--”
“It isn’t, he’s still breathing!” Jean said quickly. “I found him, under the cliff not far from here. He’s injured, but he’s alive, and I need help getting him to the Cathedral! My sister received her Vision not long ago, she’ll be able to treat him.”
“Master Kaeya’s been injured?!” Adelinde said, shocked.
“Yes! He’s half dead at the bottom of a cliff, all burnt and cut up,” Jean said. “Wasn’t that what you were talking about?”
“No,” Adelinde said. “I was talking about...well.”
“Well what?” Jean demanded.
“Why don’t we summon the Knights first, and then I’ll tell you,” Adelinde said firmly, and Jean nodded. “Wait here,” Adelinde added, and hurried over to Tunner and his son Guy. After a quick, hurried conversation, the boy hurried off towards Mondstadt and Adelinde came back over.
“Guy will be back soon with the Knights,” she told her.
“Excellent,” Jean said. She paused. “Speaking of the Knights, I heard a...disconcerting rumor about Diluc,” she said. “People are saying that he’s quit the Knights. That isn’t true, is it?”
Adelinde looked away. “I’m afraid it is,” she said. “And...that’s not all.”
“What do you mean?” Jean asked.
Adelinde sighed. “Master Diluc...disowned Master Kaeya last night, and banned him from the premises.”
Jean froze. “What?! Why?!”
“I don’t know. He came in from the rain, told Elzer and I, filled out the paperwork, and left to meet with Inspector Eroch. He came back, told us that he was leaving Mondstadt, and then he left.”
“Just like that?!” Jean said, shocked.
“Just like that.”
“What in Barbatos’s name happened last night?!” Jean exclaimed.
“Captain Jean, I wish that I knew,” said Adelinde.
Jean swore softly. “May I collect some of Sir Kaeya’s things from here and from the manor, then?” she asked. “He’s been banned from the premises, but I’m fairly certain that I am not.”
Adelinde smiled at her. “Of course,” she said. “You’re always welcome here, Sir Jean. And...thank you, for doing that for Kaeya.”
“Of course,” Jean said, and started to hurry into the Winery.
“Wait, Captain Jean!” Adelinde said.
Jean stopped, and turned around. “Yes?”
Adelinde held out a small wooden box. “When Kaeya awakens, please give him this,” she said. “I think it would be...safest, with him.”
“Of course,” Jean said, taking it before she made her way inside, upstairs and to Kaeya’s room. Most of his things were in the manor in the city, but there was still plenty here.
Jean took the clothes from his wardrobe and the jar of small lamp grasses from his bedside table and, after a moment’s hesitation, the small painting Master Crepus had done of himself and his sons that sat on the bedside table. She then paused, considered for a moment, and rooted throughout Kaeya’s room and, with a dark satisfaction, Diluc’s for any spare Mora.
Kaeya would need it, after all, and it wasn’t like Diluc would suspect her of petty theft.
Why had he left? Why had he quit the Knights? Why had he disowned Kaeya? That was nothing like the Diluc Ragnvidr Jean knew. He loved his brother, he was devoted to the Knights. What had changed?
...Why was Kaeya unconscious at the bottom of a cliff covered in cuts and burns?
Jean was no idiot. If she had just heard the facts, and didn’t know the brothers personally, she would say immediately that Diluc had done it. That was, after all, what it added up to.
But Diluc would never attack Kaeya. Ever! There had to be some other explanation. Something else had to have happened.
Jean’s heart sank in her chest and she felt ill as she headed out of the Winery. She paused, for a moment, outside of Crepus’s room. Then she silently pushed the door open and went into his dresser, pulling out a jeweled earring. Kaeya deserved a family heirloom, disowned or not. He deserved something of his father’s.
She wrapped it in a sock, closed the door behind her, and left the Winery.
A company of knights had arrived when Jean made it out, Kaeya’s things bundled in her arms. They exchanged pleasantries and made their apology to Adelinde for Crepus’s death, and then Jean led them to where Kaeya lay, crumpled, under the cliff. He was lifted carefully onto a stretcher, and then Jean collected her horse and rode with them back into Mondstadt, watching Kaeya’s breathing all the while. It didn’t stop, thankfully, and he was brought to the Cathedral without incident. Jean, for her part, dropped his things off at her house and headed back into work, though her head wasn’t fully into it; once the day was over, she headed to the Cathedral to check on her friend.
Kaeya was awake, now, and staring dully at the ceiling. His eyepatch had been replaced with a softer, cotton one, but he didn’t appear to have noticed.
“Kaeya,” she called softly when she came in, “how are you feeling?”
“Like a barbequed chicken,” he sighed, turning to look over at her, though he still didn’t quite seem to focus on her face. “Hello, Sir Jean. Why...are you here?”
“Well, one of my best friends nearly died last night, so I’m checking in on him,” she replied, pulling up a chair and sitting by his bedside. “What happened to you, Kaeya? Who did this to you?” It wasn’t Diluc, was it? she thought but did not say. She didn’t know if she could get the words out. She didn’t know if she wanted the answer.
Kaeya hesitated for a long time. “...Abyss Mages,” he said. “One after another. There had to have been at least two dozen. And then I ran into some Treasure Hoarders, but I think they left after knocking me off the cliff.”
“Two dozen Abyss Mages?!” Jean said. “Kaeya, that should not be possible!”
He shrugged. “Got my Vision from it. I think it heals me as I fight. And, uh, not all of them had their shields up. It’s amazing what you can do when your enemy is asleep.”
“Kaeya,” Jean said, horrified, “you went hunting Abyss Mages last night?!”
Kaeya shrugged. “I needed to do something,” he said. “I was disowned. I wanted a distraction.”
“...Right,” Jean said softly. “Kaeya...do you know why you were disowned? I asked Adelinde, but she said she had no idea.”
“Why don’t you ask Diluc?” Kaeya suggested. “I...don’t really want to talk about it right now.”
“Alright,” Jean said, and then: “But, Kaeya...Diluc’s gone.”
“Gone?!” Kaeya said. “Like, dead gone? How?!”
“No, he isn’t dead,” Jean said, “I don’t think. He...left.”
“He left?”
“The Knights of Favonius, and Mondstadt as a whole, without a word to anyone.” Jean sighed. “I was able to get some of your things from the Winery, and I’ll be making my way to the manor in the city later to get the rest. Is there anything in particular you want me to get?”
Kaeya paused, then shook his head. “...I doubt Diluc wants me keeping any of it,” he said quietly.
“Fuck what Diluc wants,” Jean said. “Diluc left. He doesn’t get a say.”
Kaeya shrugged, and Jean deflated. “...I won’t take too much,” she said. “I won’t strip it bare.”
Kaeya nodded. “Thanks,” he said quietly.
“Don’t mention it,” she told him. “Oh, by the way--Adelinde gave me something for you. A box.”
“Oh?” Kaeya said. “I wonder what’s in it?”
“I don’t know, I haven’t looked,” Jean said, handing it to him.
Kaeya carefully opened it, before his face went slack with shock.
“What is it?” Jean asked.
Kaeya carefully reached into the box and lifted out its single content: Diluc’s Vision, shining bright with a red glow.
Jean swore softly. “Why didn’t he bring that with him?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” Kaeya said quietly. He looked into it like if he looked hard enough he would see his brother in it, see why he’d done all those irrational things. “It’s my fault. It has to be.”
“What are you talking about?” Jean said. “You didn’t make him disown you. You didn’t make him quit the Knights. You didn’t make him leave.”
“But what if I did?” Kaeya asked.
“You didn’t.”
“You don’t understand, this is all my fault! All of it!”
“It isn’t, Kaeya,” Jean said. “You’re just injured. You’re injured, and your father is dead and your brother has left. This isn’t your fault, you’re hurting and you think it is. I promise, you’ll see someday that it isn’t your fault. I will show you that myself.”
Kaeya’s shoulders slumped, and he lay the Vision in his lap. “...Thank you, Captain Jean,” he said. “That...that means a lot.”
“Of course,” Jean said. “You’re one of my best friends, you know.”
Kaeya’s lips twisted bitterly. “Yeah,” he said. “I know.”