Chapter Text
Kaeya can’t sleep. It’s nearly two in the morning, and he isn’t even close to being tired. However, it certainly isn’t for lack of trying. He hadn’t gone to Angel’s Share to drink that night, having been unfortunately buried under a mountain of paperwork. So instead of his preferred Death After Noon, he had consumed far too much coffee to fuel his productivity. Said coffee is now the culprit of his current inability to rest.
He tosses and turns for a while before finally giving up, flopping over onto his back with a loud groan of frustration. “Useless,” he mutters to himself before dragging himself out of bed. If he isn’t going to sleep, there’s no point in just lying there. Kaeya pulls a blanket around his shoulders and shuffles to the living room. He hadn’t closed the curtains earlier, and an extraordinary amount of moonlight is pouring in through the windows. There isn’t a cloud in the sky, so the moon seems particularly bright this evening.
Still frustrated, Kaeya flops down onto the couch and buries his face in his hands. His sleepless nights aren’t overly common, but when they happen, they’re unpleasant. With no one around to distract him and no task to accomplish, he tends to let his mind wander a bit too much. He usually thinks back to his childhood, reminiscing about Diluc, about Crepus, about their beautiful home and the many happy memories they shared there.
Kaeya’s heaviest moments of overthinking are full of regret. Why had he not waited to tell Diluc about his connection to Khaenri’ah? He knows Diluc, he never would have had such a volatile reaction if he hadn’t been so devastated by their father’s death. But Kaeya couldn’t help it. In that moment, he had been unable to withhold the truth any longer. The fallout was what he deserved for his lies. Even still, he misses his brother.
Diluc had changed so much since that day. As a child, he had been outgoing and happy, looking at the world as a wonderous place full of adventure. Kaeya had been the more reserved one back then, and Diluc had been more than happy to drag him along on all kinds of adventures. Now, Diluc views the world so differently. He doesn’t trust so easily anymore. Probably because he’s afraid he’ll eventually lose anyone he gets close to.
A shift in the light from outside brings Kaeya back to the present as a single cloud passes over the moon, ever so briefly dimming it. With an abrupt inhale and long exhale, Kaeya pulls himself off the couch and back into his room. He gets dressed in his normal clothes, figuring he’ll head out to do a patrol around the outskirts of the city before just heading straight to work in the morning. Then he’ll head to the tavern for an extra drink to make up for the ones his paperwork caused him to miss. After changing, he combs his hair out in front of the mirror, pausing to stare at his reflection for a moment. He’s changed a lot too since he was young. His fingers trail over the eyepatch covering his right eye, wishing for the ten-billionth time that he’d been born in Mondstadt instead of such a forsaken nation as Khaenri’ah. Maybe then, he’d still have a home. He forces himself away from the mirror, and heads for the door. Stepping out into the moonlit night, Kaeya locks his door behind him, fully expecting to be back the following evening.
-
A couple of hours pass, and Kaeya’s patrol is going well. It’s been relatively uneventful, and he’s finally managed to stop his relentless overthinking from earlier. He’s ended up venturing out further than he had originally planned to, and he realizes he’s fairly close to Dawn Winery. An amusing thought strikes him briefly, and he huffs out a laugh at the thought of spying on Diluc as he returns home from his vigilante work.
Checking the time, Kaeya decides to do a bit more patrolling before heading back to Mondstadt. He’ll grab a bite to eat before heading to the Knights’ headquarters, and he’ll still be there early enough to impress Jean with his initiative. Maybe she’ll even let him leave a little early today. A few moments later, he actually does get a glimpse of Diluc heading home, but quickly ducks down a different path before he’s spotted. Something in his heart twinges just a bit at the idea of exchanging insults with his brother tonight after reminiscing so much earlier. Kaeya continues on once he’s sure Diluc is far enough away not to notice him. Now, he heads down the path toward Springvale. He’ll do his final patrol there before going back to the city for the day.
As Kaeya gets about halfway to Springvale, he hears a strange noise coming from the area above him to his left. The path he’s on is between two rock faces, so he has to climb a bit to investigate. ‘Probably just a hilichurl camp,’ he thinks to himself. A perfect way to end his patrol. When he reaches the top of the cliff, he’s met with quite the unpleasant surprise. Only about a hundred yards in front of him is not one, but two ruin guards. He’s never seen them in this area before, and he hopes the Abyss isn’t planning on attacking the city again soon.
Kaeya materializes his sword, and prepares to deal with this threat before it can become a real problem. Fighting two at once isn’t ideal, but he’s sure he’ll still be victorious. At least the bright moonlight is giving him decent visibility. Kaeya briefly considers going to get help to deal with them, just to be safe, but Celestia forbid someone less experienced stumbles upon them while he’s gone.
The ruin guards are mostly just minding their own business, walking back and forth through the grass, and Kaeya is able to sneak up behind the first one with relative ease. He keeps the other to his left to keep an eye on it, since his covered right eye causes his field of vision to be obstructed. Not holding back at all, he releases a burst of ice from his sword, startling the ruin guard into whirling around on him. Kaeya hits it a few more times, before artfully dodging the heavy swings of its mechanical arms. It leaps into the air, attempting to crush him as it lands, but Kaeya is quicker. Another blast of ice slows its movements a bit, and it crouches down, igniting several missiles and sending them in Kaeya’s direction. Ducking behind a boulder takes most of the impact, save for a decent graze to his arm and a large singed area on his fluffy white cape. Once the missiles’ onslaught is over, Kaeya races out from his hiding spot to score a few more hits.
By this point, the ongoing battle has attracted the attention of the other ruin guard that had been lazily meandering the area. Now, it too sets its sights on the Cavalry Captain, nearly scoring a hit on him before he rolls out of the way at the last second. It is at this moment that Kaeya realizes he might be in a bit of trouble. He’s having to watch the flailing movements of both towering machines, and his partially obscured view is making things more difficult than he would prefer.
Kaeya’s just blasted ice at one ruin guard when the other starts preparing to swing at him again. As it raises its arm, he hears someone shout off to his right. He turns, opening his mouth to warn whoever shouted at him, and his eye widens in shock. He barely has time to dive for the ground before a flaming phoenix is soaring over his head, knocking both ruin guards back several feet.
Quickly scrambling back to his feet, Kaeya shoots Diluc a startled look before attempting to cover his surprise with his typical cool demeanor. “Master Diluc, I believe the ruin guards should be your targets, not me.” An annoyed expression passes over Diluc’s face as he addresses Kaeya, “There was no need to duck. It was going over your head, as so many things do with the Knights.”
“Thank you for your attempt to help, but I think you’ll find I have everything covered here.”
“It certainly didn’t seem that way a moment ago when I found you.”
“Oh, stop pretending you care what happens to me.”
The whirring of machinery says that the ruin guards are getting back to their feet, and Kaeya’s last statement has seemingly left Diluc speechless. He opens his mouth to retaliate before closing it again, the slightest bit of a hurt expression crossing his features before being replaced by his typical indifference. Kaeya wonders if he’s gone a bit too far, but he’s quickly distracted by trading blows with the ruin guards again before he can think too much about it.
As the fight with the ruin guards continues, Kaeya is amazed by how quickly he and Diluc are able to read each other’s movements. They always fought well together in the past, and despite several years of distance, they’ve fallen right back into their old pattern. Kaeya knows Diluc is staying to his right intentionally, and he’s thankful for the bit of relief it gives him to not worry that he’s about to be blindsided. The fight is almost a fun challenge now.
Only a few short minutes later, and both ruin guards are almost at their end. It will only take one or two more good hits to send them to the ground for good. The machine Diluc is fighting prepares its missiles, and Diluc scrambles for the same rock Kaeya had hidden behind earlier. Once he’s sure Diluc is safe, Kaeya lets out a bit of a chuckle at how similar they still are. He returns his attention to his own ruin guard, and dodges a couple of desperate swings, crouching away from its heavy metal arms just in time. As it makes one last effort to jump up and crush him, Kaeya rolls out of the way, one final blast of ice from his sword ending it for good. Now a bit tired, Kaeya gets to his knees with a satisfied smirk. He knew this fight would end in his favor, even if Diluc did feel the need to step in and help. Speaking of Diluc, Kaeya is about to turn to see how his brother’s fight is going, when too many things happen at once. “Kaeya, move!” A heavy footstep resonates through the ground to his right as Diluc yells. Whirling around, Kaeya finds the other ruin guard right in his blind spot, preparing to strike. The ruin guard swings its massive arm to deliver an almost certainly fatal blow. There’s a flash of red, a sickening crack, and Kaeya is sent sprawling into the grass.