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"I’m-I’m sorry! I-I didn’t mean it! Ple-Please!” The young boy cried out, hiccupping and gasping for air between pleas.
“How many times do I have to remind you?! Sorry means nothing from someone like you.” The mother shouted, pulling roughly on the boy’s hair, practically throwing him off to the side. Letting the child’s body hit the wall with a loud, ‘Thump!’ The young boy let out another cry in pain, trembling as they looked up towards his mother once more, fear in his eyes.
Tears were flowing down his face, hair in disarray from his ponytail. Despite all of this, he still felt the need to mumble apologies towards the woman. “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry… I didn’t mean it… I didn’t mean too… I’m so so so sorry, mom. I’m so sorry I swear. I wouldn’t do it agai-” He was cut off suddenly by a slap to his face, yelping in pain once more.
“You damned child. I destroyed my life to give birth to you, only for you to waste your life around my home like some low life! At your age, I was helping my mother and village with old worn out shoes on. Compared to you, you look pathetic. ”
He was thirteen.
He was thirteen dammit.
What was he supposed to do?
What had he done to deserve this?
Kaeya’s let the thoughts consume his mind throughout the entire beating, trying his best to drown out all the comments made towards him. Distracting himself with either thoughts or whatever object near him to try to just… ignore the pain. But Ya Allah, it was hard. It was so… so hard.
“What sin did I commit for you to be born? I was such a good child to my mother. Or do you just hate me, Kaeya? Do you hate your mother that much?” She asked, yanking his hair once more before forcing the child to look up towards her. He winced as he looked up towards his mother, trembling as he felt more tears fall down his face. “I must just be a terrible mother, right Kaeya? This is God’s way of punishing me, isn’t it? I’m such a bad mother that I had to give birth to you to prove it. You think so too? You think I’m a terrible mother, right?”
Her words caused the young boy to cry harder, shaking his head quickly in response. “I nev-never said that! You-You’re a amazing mo-mom! I promise! Ple-please…” He wasn’t too sure if he meant the words, but at that moment he certainly felt like he did. He deserved this anyways, it was the only way to make up for being a terrible son.
He was a terrible sin who needs to beg for forgiveness till the day he lay in his dammed grave.
It was the least the boy could do.
-
Kaeya gasped as he woke up, eyes widening in fear as he felt himself shaking. He sat up quickly and looked around himself. Same as always. Diluc was fast asleep in his own bed, obvious to everything around him, a small candle was lit to fill up the darkness, the door shut closed tight, everything was the same. Just as always.
He glanced over towards the door, his body still trembling as he tried to think of what he should do next…. He felt so vulnerable. As though he were back to being the young thirteen-year-old he was before. It’s been over a year now, meaning he was just about fourteen. Yet he still felt as though nothing changed. Crepus had treated him well, as well as Diluc, but the feeling they may snap at him at any moment taunted him.
He hesitantly got out of his bed and walked over to the door doing everything in his power to not wake up his brother. Thank god he was a heavy sleeper.
He’d already mesmerized the route to his father’s bedroom, despite how big the whole home was. It was a bit overwhelming at times, but he thankfully managed. Once he arrived, he whispered a small, ‘bismillah,’ before knocking on the door standing outside with his head staring at the floor.
‘This was stupid… he should just go back to bed… bothering father at a time like this would jus-’
Before he was able to finish his sentence, however, the door opened, startling the poor boy. “Hm? Kaeya? Is something the matter?”He asked, crouching down to examine the boy, worry filling his eyes. “Oh my… have you been crying? Here, come here.” He spoke softly, trying to be as gentle as he could as he brought the boy to a hug. It startled Kaeya, but he warmed up to it almost instantly.
He could feel more tears run down his face, allowing himself to stand there, crying into his father’s shoulder. “Ba-Bad Dream…About Ma-Mama...” He muttered softly, hiccuping softly between cries. Crepus nodded, rubbing his back gently.
“A dream, Kaeya. It’s not real, nothing can hurt you, not when I’m here. I promise you.” His voice was so soothing, it brought comfort to him. “Pr-Promise?” He asked, feeling ashamed at how childish he sounded. Crepus merely nodded, “Of course, I’ll never let anything harm you, as long as your my son. You and Diluc are my everything, after all.”
The words brought a sense of warmth to his heart. He was his everything?
“Wallah?”
“Hm? Pardon?”
“It-It’s like a promise, bu-but more important… Lying wh-when you say it is a sin…” Although Crepus clearly wasn’t religious, however ever since bringing him into his home he had done everything in his power to let Kaeya know he accepted his beliefs, even if it differed from Diluc and his own.
Crepus nodded, understanding what the boy meant. “Well then, Yes, wallah. Wallah nothing is here to hurt you. I’ll do anything to make sure you aren’t ever in danger.” Kaeya had gone almost silent when he heard him, meekly nodding as he continued to cry into Crepus’s arms.
It had taken a lot longer to calm down Kaeya than Crepus had expected, but soon he was merely sniffling or hiccuping. Tears went dry on his face. He had been dried out of all his tears by now. The silence between the two had been broken, however, by the young boy’s question.
“You’ll never hurt me… right?”
The question startled Crepus, causing him to raise an eyebrow in confusion. “Kaeya… I would never.” He said softly. He wasn’t too well known about Kaeya’s situation before he’d taken him in, but he could assume it wasn’t the best living situation. Considering he was still fourteen and having to be comforted like this, he was able to guess that whatever it was like, it had affected Kaeya heavily.
Kaeya only nodded at his answer, it’d seemed to have satisfied him. “Okay… I believe you then, Baba.” He said softly, burying his face into Crepus’s chest.
Baba was similar to one calling their father, ‘Dad.’ Though, Crepus was certain that this was the first time Kaeya had ever called him anything on the lines of that. He had told him that the need to call him, ‘Master Crepus,’ or ‘Sir,’ wasn’t needed and that he could call him father, or even dad if he so wished. However, Kaeya never seemed to feel close enough or even comfortable to call him anything on the lines of it. So hearing him call him, ‘Baba,’ warmed his heart.
“Baba’s here to protect you, Kaeya. I promise.”