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The sand burned, he noticed. He had made the mistake of taking his shoes off and stepping on the sand. Needless to say, he regretted it. A lot of things burned in Teyvet: the sun, the sand, the light, the metal, the stone. Even Crepus burned . He should have known.
“Are you just going to stand there? C’mon, I want to go collect seashells, and Father said I had to do it with you.” A young redhead around his age proclaimed. His hands were on his hips and he was staring at the other boy clearly annoyed and impatient.
‘Seashells,’ the blue-haired boy thought distractedly, already used to his friend’s behaviour. Seashells, something that could only be found on the beach. He had seen Diluc’s seashell collection. Seashells were tiny yet mesmerising, with so many swirls and crevices. They came in few colours yet they were all so different.
“I want to collect seashells too,” the eight-year-old said as he walked out of the canopy made by Adelinde.
Kaeya laughed as he watched Albedo poorly attempt to stop Klee from throwing bombs at the fish.
He walked over to the pair and put his hands on his hips. “Why don’t we collect seashells?” He wasn’t sure the activity would actually convince the girl to stop her violent antics. “And then after we collect them, we can make them into jewellery and give them away as gifts.” However, Klee had a weakness, one that many children had, most of the things she did were out of kindness, and she loved making others happy. A naivety he wished he still had.
“To Master Jean?”
The man shrugged and grinned, “If you want.”
Klee squealed. The girl immediately grabbed Albedo’s hand and dragged him around to find seashells. The other man tossed a glance over to Kaeya and sighed but went along with his sister’s antics. Kaeya winked at the blonde and crossed his arms. A blue eye trailed down to stare at the shoreline. Kaeya kicked the water and let out a chuckle when it splashed.
The water smelled weird, it tasted weird too. Diluc made a face when he saw Kaeya drink the water, he also yelled. Water was water, it was made to be consumed, at least that was what Kaeya was taught. The water he drank didn’t taste any good. There were apparently different types of water aboveground. This seawater was incredibly salty and could not be consumed by itself, but it wasn’t poisoned either. It was weird.
Kaeya shook his head and focused on his task at hand, looking for seashells. He was close to the shore and the water tickled his feet. He had taken off his shoes at some point, upon seeing that Diluc had taken off his. The wet sand felt uncomfortable on his bare feet. And there were plenty of things on the beach floor. Many of which he had accidentally stepped on. It wasn’t a pleasant experience.
Diluc didn’t mind the feel of the shore. Perhaps he was used to it, after all it seemed that the beach was one of his happy places. Kaeya hoped that the beach would be his happy place too. He wished Teyvet would become his home as it was Diluc’s. His nation had fallen, his happy place was no longer. He had no home.
There were so many tiny, broken seashells. He hadn’t considered the possibility of seashells not being sturdy. The ones Diluc had were sturdy. Kaeya frowned at the single whole seashell he had. It couldn’t compare to Diluc’s collection. He scoffed, he wanted a large and cool collection as well.
A nostalgic, nearly bitter, grin appeared on Kaeya’s face as he picked up a shard of a seashell. He pocketed the shell and ignored Albedo’s questioning gaze. The alchemist must’ve noticed his almost sober mood.
Kaeya’s blue eye focused on Klee. The child had gotten a small bucket from who knows where, probably from Albedo, and was slowly filling it. She was happily humming and talking to Dodoco as she searched for more seashells.
Kaeya let out an amused sigh before he caught up with Klee and Albedo. The man crouched down beside Klee and helped the girl collect seashells.
“Who are you going to give the jewellery to?”
“Master Jean! And Mum! And Brother Albedo!” Kaeya nodded in understanding. “Who are you going to give it to?”
Kaeya could think of three people. He grinned, “Perhaps Master Diluc or Amber?” Or his little ginger friend? It would be most amusing to give the gift to Diluc. After all, for that almost stoic man to be wearing a clumsily made seashell bracelet. Well, Kaeya would be sure to tease the other.
“You don’t deserve to call him, father,” Diluc, his brother , roared. Tears streamed down his face as he attacked the person he once considered family. Kaeya didn’t dare fight back, he deserved this, he didn’t deserve to be regarded as a young master from the Ragnivdar family.
He tightened his hand into a fist. The seashells in his hand pierced at his palm, however, they did not pierce his skin. The sudden pain brought the man back to his senses. He dropped the shells into the bucket, and then casually examined his hand. He was glad he wore gloves.
The rest of the evening was spent playing with Klee. Kaeya couldn’t help but be glad once they had left the beach to go make jewellery. He was truly a fool for suggesting seashell collecting. Memories kept resurfacing, and he could feel his delicately created mask starting to crack the more time was spent at the beach. The more time he had to think about family, which he failed to keep for the second time.
As Kaeya lay in bed that night, he let the dam break and broke down sobbing, sobbing for the loss of family for the second time. Tears streamed down his face as he longed to be a part of the family he broke. The fire of longing flickered at the beach, and by the end of the day, felt like a horrid forest fire.
He missed Diluc, he missed Crepus, he missed his homes, but he wasn’t able to go back. Sure, Diluc wouldn’t mind him coming back. However, they were no longer the best friends–brothers–they used to be and that hurt more than anything else did.