Work Text:
The dawn comes with the dusk
Much like light comes with shadows.
Though they never meet
They will always be inseparable.
Where there is one, here comes the other.
Like you and me, my brother.
When I look at the dawn, I see you.
When I see the dusk, I wonder what went wrong with us.
The dreams we made burned to ashes
The sights of our future turned to dust.
Everything was fine. We had it together.
Except when it happened, you were no longer my brother.
Crepus died of a Delusion, unrealized dreams,
Ambition was what became my enemy, it seems.
Death to the things which brought us life.
Darkness to things which brought us light.
All of it drained of the hopes we had.
What once was good is now bad.
The hopes we made turned into Visions of our future,
Fire and ice mixing into a watery concoction
From which we both drown
With no escape.
One man a phoenix from the grave,
The other a peacock Celestia’s destruction gave,
The first one prideful, furious, grieved,
The second one cocky, confident, bereaved,
One beloved by Mondstadt, the other an outcast,
Their close brotherhood buried in the past.
But which one am I?
Which one are you?
Tell me, do you still remember the dawn
The light shining from an untainted soul?
Do you remember the happier child
Who was brave, bold,
Kind, compassionate,
Unbroken by the world?
Tell me, do you remember the dusk
The darkness that came with the boy?
He was shyer, anxious,
But he grew wiser, brighter,
Until his light shone in the stars that followed.
Tell me, do you see
The rays of our sunrise
The fires of my sunset?
Do you still remember when we had our brilliant beginnings when all was right?
What about the endings when everything went wrong?
Tell me where I belong
In this great, vast world I must live in without you.
When I see the dawn, I think of our past,
Better days and kind memories.
Brother strong and family true
When I see the dusk, I think of our future,
Where we are now
And what we have yet to see.
All the lies that exist between you and me.
I thought I’d see it all with you,
But as I stand here now, I know
I’m alone, I’m afraid,
There’s no place to call home.
Alone as I rise, alone as I sleep.
So the dream we bear is no longer ours to keep
And shoulder as we please.
We bear it separately, onward we trudge
Into a different tomorrow
Formed from an unseen grudge.
Kaeya, I trusted you.
Diluc, I thought you better.
Why didn’t you tell me?
Why did you hurt me?
Why would you dim the dawn?
Why would you sully the dusk?
We could have started over.
We could have cut off the past.
Why did that memory have to be the last?