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Previously: Rare Snow
“Well, well, well.” Under his hand, Diluc goes tense at the voice. “How fitting, I think, that we should reunite in the same weather we met the first time.” Kaeya summons his blade in an instant, looking up to find Childe—the eleventh Harbinger of the Fatui—standing before them with his hands on his hips and a grin on his face.
“What the hell are–” But Kaeya doesn’t finish that sentence because Childe, gaze locked on Diluc as though he’s the only one there, interrupts.
“Hello again, Delusion Thief.”
Now:
Words fail Kaeya but thankfully, Klee’s got his back because she promptly leaps onto the Harbinger, scaling him like a tree to yank at his hair and the mask on his head as she shouts,
“Don’t call Master Diluc a thief!”
That seems to spur Diluc out of whatever trance he falls into, after a flashback, because he scrambles out of the puddle of water he’s created, rushing towards her while the Harbinger just laughs and clearly feels little pain despite her two fistfuls of his hair that she’s clearly trying to pull out of his scalp.
Kaeya rushes over as well, grabbing her around the middle and tugging her down. At the same time is when she grabs ahold of the Harbinger’s mask on his head and that’s when he stops playing—his laughter and smile dropping so fast that Kaeya swears he gets whiplash.
He takes a nervous step back after putting Klee on the ground while the Snezhnayan regards her with a cold gaze and speaks in an even colder tone.
“You’re going to want to give that back to me.”
Her eyes go wide and she makes a small noise of fear as she frantically shoves it back in his direction. The moment he has it again, he smiles brightly and pats her roughly on the head before turning to Diluc who is positioned in some combination of a fight stance whilst simultaneously looking prepared to run in the opposite direction.
He looks terrified . At least to Kaeya, who can read him well enough to note the slight tremor of his fingers.
“That was very rude of you to cancel our meeting a few weeks ago, Master Ragnvindr,” he remarked. “Now granted, I did technically lie to you about the nature of it, but–”
“What are you talking about?” Kaeya’s honestly in shock that Diluc’s voice is so steady, all things considered.
“Are you trying to tell me you didn’t have a business meeting scheduled with someone called Tartaglia?”
Diluc just blinked at him. “Your name is Tartaglia?”
The Harbinger’s smile fell. “You didn’t know my name?” He sounds genuinely upset about that.
“Of course not.”
“Do you know any of the Harbingers’ names?”
“I know Dottore.”
“Okay but that doesn’t count because everyone knows Dottore,” Tartaglia said. “You seriously had no idea what my name was? But you kicked me in the nuts. Twice !”
Klee snorts then promptly covers her mouth, eyes wide, when the Harbinger glanced down at her. Making a small noise, she promptly hid behind Kaeya.
“What were you even calling me then?” He asked, turning back to Diluc.
“The eleventh.”
“You’re serious?”
“You say this as though you ever bothered to introduce yourself.”
“But…I did introduce myself?” Tartaglia blinked. “You don’t remember a lot from your time in Snezhnaya, do you?”
“I remember enough.”
“I disagree? I mean, I know Dottore fucked around with you in his lab but I didn’t realize he went so far as to–”
“What do you want ?” Diluc demanded, changing the subject. “How long have you been in Mondstadt?”
“A few weeks, give or take,” Tartaglia replied, dropping the previous topic even though Kaeya desperately wanted to hear more about what Dottore had done to his brother. “Do you have any idea how hard it is to get a meeting with you, by the way? Every time I asked, they always said your schedule for the week was packed . Why are you so busy–”
“And you’re not?” Kaeya asked. “You’re a Harbinger–”
“And there are eleven of us between which we divide the work equally,” Tartaglia told him calmly. “That and I’m the youngest and La Signora hates me.”
“Because you’re the youngest?”
“No.” Tartaglia’s eyes gleamed as he smiled. “Because I’m insane.”
Kaeya pushed Klee a little further behind him while trying to shift as subtly as possible towards Diluc.
“What are you doing here?” He asked when Tartaglia’s gaze drifted back towards Diluc. The last thing Kaeya wanted was this Harbinger’s focus on his brother who was still lightly shaking from his flashback.
“Why don’t we discuss that back in the warmth of Dawn Winery?” Tartaglia asked. “It’s nowhere near as cold as Snezhnaya here, but even I can see the child shivering.”
“Klee’s not scared,” Klee muttered into Kaeya’s leg, scowling at the Harbinger who just laughed.
“I meant shivering as in cold,” he told her. “I wasn’t trying to imply that you were scared.”
She sticks her tongue out at him and then, to Kaeya’s utter confusion, the Harbinger sticks his own out right back at her in a far more playful manner. Planting his hands on his hips, the ginger turned to Diluc and asked,
“Shall we?”
Kaeya hoped Diluc would say no. He hoped Diluc would say he had no interest in dealing with a Fatui Harbinger and that Tartaglia needed to either return to Snezhnaya or find his own accommodations at the Grand Goth Hotel in Mondstadt City.
Instead, his stupidly proper and idiotic gentleman of a brother merely crossed his arms over his chest and, with a scowl, replied,
“Touch my staff and I’ll kill you.”
Tartaglia just beamed as he hurried over to Diluc and Kaeya saw red as the Harbinger wrapped an arm around his brother’s shoulders, though the pyro user was quick to elbow him off.
“I wouldn’t dream of it, Master Ragnvindr!”
………………………
Kaeya wants to kill him. If Klee weren’t upstairs with Adelinde and it didn’t get Mondstadt in trouble, he’d crawl across the table—manners be damned—and wring his stupid ginger neck.
Then he’d probably wring Diluc’s, for letting a Fatui into the Winery to begin with.
The Harbinger is far too comfortable, having shed his winter clothes so that he’s only wearing a dumb pair of glvoes and gray clothes that reveal a hydro Vision on his hip.
Kaeya hates him so, so much.
“So how long has it been since we’ve seen each other?” Tartaglia asked, lounging in one of the dining table seats, legs spread and one arm thrown over the back of the chair. “Nineteen months? Twenty?”
“Twenty two.”
Kaeya blinked. Diluc’s response had come way too quickly and he raised an eyebrow that matched that of Tartaglia’s.
“Twenty two months, almost two years,” Tartaglia remarked. “How’ve things been here? You run the alcohol business, right?”
“That’s correct.”
He leaned forward then, crossing his arms together atop the table as he grinned. “Ever tried Firewater?”
Diluc blinked at him. Once glance at his grip on the grape juice glass in his hand and Kaeya wondered how he hadn’t shattered it yet. Kaeya watched his brother take a deep breath before slowly unfurling his fingers from his glass, settling his hand on the tabletop next to it.
“I don’t drink.”
Tartaglia’s eyes were wider than Kaeya had ever seen. “You don’t drink ?” he repeated, evidently stunned.
“Yes, well, we all see the irony of it,” Diluc drawled. “What are you here for, Tartaglia?”
“Would you believe me if I said Fatui business?”
“No, we wouldn’t,” Kaeya cut in. “Because if that were true, you would have registered and checked in with the Knights of Favonius the moment you arrived, and we would have been made aware of your arrival before you came here.”
“I was going to do that,” Tartaglia assured. “I was just hoping to speak with Master Ragnvindr–”
“I’ll kindly remind you then that Master Diluc is a civilian and therefore, has no business with the Fatui.”
“May I remind you then that Master Diluc slaughtered thousands of Fatui, stole from our Tsaritsa, invaded our homeland, and–”
“ Enough!” Kaeya and Tartaglia shut their mouths, turning to face Diluc who was standing, gaze sharp as he stared them both down. “Sir Kaeya. Regardless of whether or not Harbinger Tartaglia–”
“Actually, when I’m not in Snezhnaya, it’s Childe–” Tartaglia shut his mouth so quickly that his teeth snapped together at the look Diluc shot him.
“Regardless of whether or not Harbinger Childe is here for Fatui business or not, he is still considered a Diplomat of Snezhnaya. And therefore, there is nothing we can do without jeopardizing the already tentative relationship we have with his home nation.”
“He should not involve a civilian, regardless of what said civilian has done in the past.”
“Fair enough,” Childe agreed, shrugging. “I really do have Fatui business so I’ll head to the city to discuss it but I also had business with Master Ragnvindr.”
“What sort of business?”
“Business that isn’t any of yours, Captain Kaeya.”
Kaeya really really wanted to punch him in the face but didn’t get a chance before Klee cleared her throat as she entered the room, casting Childe a worried glance as she scampered over to Kaeya and tugged on his cape.
“Kaeya, Kaeya, Albedo should be back by now, can we go back to the city!?” It was very clear she was just asking because she didn’t want to be anywhere near Childe any longer.
Unfortunately, Kaeya had no intention of leaving his brother alone with the Harbinger, so he gave Klee a small smile and said,
“Sure Klee.” Then looked back up at Childe and asked, “Why don’t you join us, Harbinger Childe, so we can ensure Acting Grandmaster Jean is aware of your presence.”
Childe heaved a evidently theatrical sigh before nodding his head and standing. “I suppose it only makes sense,” he agreed before turning his smile to Diluc. Keaya felt his blood burn, hands curling into fists at his side. “I hope we’ll have a chance to talk later this evening?”
“I’m afraid not,” Diluc replied and Kaeya let out the breath he didn’t know he was holding. At least until Diluc explained. “I’ll be leaving Mondstadt late tonight for a business trip.”
“You’re leaving?” Kaeya asked, frowning. “Since when?”
“Since when does Master Ragnvindr need to inform the Knights of his comings and goings?”
“Enough,” Diluc growled, a warning low in his voice as he shot Kaeya an unimpressed look before regaining his neutral expression which he then turned to Childe. “I won’t be returning for several weeks. However, if whatever you wish to discuss with me is urgent, please see Elzer or Adelinde at some point and they’ll find somewhere to work you into my schedule when I return.”
“I’ll see that I do.”
Never had Kaeya been more thankful for his brother’s crazy and hectic schedule than he was now.
Childe took his time pulling on his coat and winter gloves, idly talking with Diluc about wine the entire time and Kaeya could not wait to get him out of there because with every word out of the Harbinger’s mouth, Diluc looked more and more uncomfortable and grew more and more tense.
Eventually though, Kaeya finally manages to usher the Harbinger outside and the moment the door closed and they began walking back to Mondstadt, Klee clinging to Kaeya’s hand as tightly as she could, Childe grinned and asked,
“I take it you’re protective of Master Ragnvindr.”
“I’d be protective of anyone a Harbinger set their eyes on.” When Childe did little more than regard him with calculating eyes, Kaeya snapped, “What’s that look supposed to mean!?”
“Nothing.” In an instant, Kaeya had grabbed him by the front of his coat but the Harbinger merely laughed and remarked, “Careful now, Sir Kaeya . We don’t want to start a war between nations, do we?”
Kaeya shoved him away, roughly enough that the Harbinger stumbled in the snow. Childe merely laughed , looking Kaeya up and down.
“Ah.” He nodded. “Okay. I get it now.” He smiled. “I know exactly who you are, Sir Kaeya.”
It was only Childe turning away and continuing to the city that prevented him from seeing the blood drain out of Kaeya’s face.
He knows. He thought, breathless and terrified as he and Klee numbly followed after the Harbinger. He knows.
……………….
Six weeks later
It’s late and Diluc is exhausted. Traveling and being away from Mondstadt always takes a lot out of him, now. It’s nearly three in the morning now and he hasn’t slept a wink since returning to the winery around seven the night earlier.
Eventually he gives up on sleeping—something he does often these days—and draws himself out of bed, dressing and heading down the stairs. He’s not sure where he’s going or what he’s planning to do, but he finds a goal moments later when he hears something odd coming from the private wine cellar.
Eyes narrowed, he summons his claymore and creeps towards the door which he finds ajar. Gritting his teeth, he sneaks down the stairs and rounds the corner quickly. He hefts his blade, ready for battle, only to pause.
Heaving a sigh, he plants the tip of his weapon on the ground; shifting his weight to his right leg as he plants his left on his hip and demands,
“What do you think you’re doing?”
The intruder goes stiff before slowly turning around. “Uh…” Childe blinks up at him, eyes wide. “Stealing?”
Diluc finds himself surprised by the honesty and hears himself ask, “What?”
“What!?” Childe asks, shrugging as he stands and reveals the two bottles in his hands. Bottles which Diluc knows very well are twenty-two and twelve years old respectively.
His father had bottled them for him and Kaeya; one after Diluc was born and the other after Kaeya had been officially welcomed into the family.
“I suggest you put those down,” he said, voice calmer than he actually felt. He felt his Vision burning at his hip but knew better than to try and use it here. “Now.”
Childe gave in easily then held up his hands again to show he didn’t have anymore.
“I’m just saying, you stole from us, how come I can’t steal from you?”
“I never stole that Delusion?”
“Really? Cause I highly doubt The Tsaritsa gave it to you and–” He shut his mouth when Diluc sighed and the two dropped into silence, neither saying anything until Childe shifted and asked, “You have questions for me, don’t you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Something happened in Snezhnaya that you didn’t understand and you want to ask me about it.”
Diluc was too tired to ask how he knew or deny it, just vanishing his claymore and crossing his arms over his chest.
“Yes.”
“Alright.” Childe leaned casually against the shelves. “Lay it on me.”
Diluc shifted, debating, before finally giving in. “Why did you save me?”
And he knew it had to be Childe. Even if he didn’t clearly remember that, he knew it had to be Childe who saved him. There was little doubt in his mind, after all.
“In Snezhnaya,” he clarified, even though there was nowhere else Childe could have saved him from. “Your Tsaritsa had ordered for me to either be killed or brought to her alive.”
“If you’ll recall, I did bring you to her alive,” Childe cut in.
Diluc did not recall that but chose not to let Childe know about the gap in his memory. Instead, he kept going.
“Why did you save me? I’d been killing your Fatui for years–”
“Some of which were my friends, by the way.”
Diluc barely resisted the urge to reply with ‘you don’t have friends’ and instead just kept talking.
“–and had attacked both you and the other Harbingers. I was considered extremely dangerous, so why did you save me? You took me in, brought me to your family –” Diluc hadn’t even remembered that part until he’d verbalized it. “–and are the only reason I’m still alive right now. Why?”
Childe’s expression softened. “Are you going to believe me?”
“Are you going to tell the truth?”
“I have no reason to lie to you.”
Taking only a second to debate, Diluc nodded. “Yes. Then I’ll believe you.”
“Alright.” Childe smiled. “You’re a very powerful fighter.”
“Your point?”
“It was not a fitting death, for a warrior of your caliber. You deserve to go out in battle, not in ice.”
That was true—Diluc couldn’t identify how he knew, but…he did. That was the truth, just…not the whole truth.
“Why are you here, Childe?” The Harbinger raised an eyebrow. “Why are you really here? And I mean here ,” he clarified. “In my home, in my winery. Why did you come this far from the city just to speak to me?”
“I…can’t tell you yet,” Childe admitted. “What I can…what I will tell you is that it’s just…I’m just here as a precaution, that’s all.”
“A precaution?”
“Hopefully you never have to find out,” Childe replied. “Like I just, it’s just a precaution.” Then he gave that unnerving smile as he straightened up. “Any how, it’s late. I hope you have a good rest of your night, Master Ragnvindr.”
“Yes,” Diluc murmured, watching Childe leave the cellar. “You as well, Harbinger Childe.”
“Oh, please.” Diluc turned to face him on the steps, Childe leaning against the railing and smiling. “Call me Ajax.”