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Don’t get him wrong, Kaeya definitely enjoys being the Cavalry Captain.
What he doesn’t enjoy is getting stuck in an office doing paperwork. So, when the opportunity to deal with a ley line that’s been disturbing the people in Springvale, he obviously wouldn't let it pass.
“Did they give any information that could be useful?” Amber asked.
“Draff said it was southeast from the Statue of The Seven,” Kaeya replied, looking around. “It should be around… here.” He pointed to the ley line about fifty feet away from them.
He was sure he and Amber could deal with anything that got in their way. This kind of expedition usually had more knights in the troops, but with two allogenes who controlled two different elements, a ley line wasn’t anything they couldn’t handle. The surroundings were quiet enough, with an empty hilichurl camp that had been dealt with a few days ago by the Knights of Favonius. The ley line was surrounded by Boom Blossoms and thorns, but other than that, no other threats were seen.
“Huh, this will be interesting,” he looked at Amber, a silent question lingering.
“At the ready.” she summoned her bow, immediately aiming it in the direction of the blue-clouded ley line.
They approached it in careful steps, making sure not to step in any of the obstacles that seemed weirdly intentional, and right then, the monsters appeared.
“There we go.” Amber said, shooting an arrow charged with pyro to a group of electro smiles.
Kaeya immediately started to deal with the pyro ones, since she wouldn’t be able to use elemental energy against them. He used Frostgnaw, unleashing a frigid blast of cryo to the slimes.
Archons, he’d missed this. The feeling of battle, actually using his sword for something that wasn't training dummies. And, specially, the sight of seeing his enemies turning to dust when he was done with them.
As soon as they vanished in the air, two Whopperflowers rose from the ground. He quickly checked for Amber, but if she was struggling, she wasn’t showing. Her arrows hit perfectly to her enemies, managing to attack in the weak spots he wasn’t able to hit when the monsters were coming from him.
One of the Whopperflowers charged at him, and he smirked when he saw it canalising pyro energy to shoot at him. “Don’t get frostbite, will you?” Kaeya summoned his icicles, trying to get to a safe distance from Amber so she wouldn’t get hit by it, while staying close to the Whopperflower he was currently attacking.
“Get them!” Amber shouted, sending her Baron Bunny right in the middle of the slimes, catching their attention. Only a few seconds later, it exploded, sending the slimes right back wherever they came from.
“Oh, no. Captain, watch out!” he heard Amber scream, but he didn’t even manage to turn around and look at her before another explosion was heard, much bigger than the one caused by her explosive puppet.
He felt it more than heard it, to be honest. The immediate burn was enough to knock him off his feet, landing just a few lucky inches away from the burning grass. Kaeya saw Amber finish the last Whopperflower standing by landing a perfect shot to it, one he would normally congratulate her for, but he feared the only thing to escape his mouth if he opened it would be a sob, so he tried his best to keep it shut.
“Crap, are you okay?” she asked, kneeling next to him. “I didn’t realise the Baron Bunny had exploded so close to a Boom Blossom. Does it hurt too bad? Can you walk?”
Kaeya tried to move, only to feel the burn on his side almost fight back to keep him on the ground. “Fuck, this hurts,” he grimaced, but kept pushing until he could stand, leaning on Amber to keep him on his feet. “That was… unexpected.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s alright,” he said and looked around, searching for any source of water. He tried to get his weight off of Amber, and realised he could stand by himself, though he wasn’t so sure about walking.
He had experience dealing with burns. He knew he needed running water, preferably cold, but he wasn’t in any condition to be picky. Using cryo would be useless or even more damaging to the wound, and he knew there was a lake close to Springvale and a Statue of the Seven near them, but…
“Amber.” he did his best to mask his worry. She looked at him and Kaeya could see in her eyes that she was trying her best not to divert her eyes out of his and escape. He’d have to make sure she knew this wasn’t her fault afterwards, but he had more pressing matters now. “I need you to look under my clothes for cryo particles. If any got to the bruise, we’re gonna head to the Statue of the Seven in the northwest, then we’re going straight to a healer after. If cryo interacts with a pyro burn… this might get ugly real quick.”
She helped him lay back down on the floor, and even if he appreciated how carefully she was handling him, he needed her to be fast. He gave her the instructions, unbelt this, now unzip here, pull this up, until his torso was exposed, and so were the burns.
“Use elemental sight,” he urged.
Kaeya saw her focus increase and she raised her eyebrows. He stared at her in anticipation. “It does have cryo particles, but it’s very few and spread all over you. It wasn’t enough to activate a melt reaction that could be potentially dangerous. But you shouldn’t be using your vision anymore, at least not until we get you to a healer to take care of this.”
Kaeya grunted, getting back on his feet and trying his best not to rely on Amber’s support. He’d have to be able to at least walk, he wouldn’t be a burden.
“You can walk?” Kaeya nodded at her question, doing his best to hide his struggle. “Then go to the Statue. We still need to report back to Draff about the ley line, so I’ll do it. Don’t try anything harsh, just wait for me to get back and we’ll see from there.”
“You forget I’m the captain here, dear Outrider” he said, but his voice carried no malice, nor any kind of attempt to assert dominance.
Amber simply waved her hand dismissively. “You have a history of slacking when it comes to self-care. And I do intend to have a captain at the end of the day, you know?” She crossed her arms. “Just stay here. I’ll inform the people of Springvale that the ley line has been dealt with. If I come back and catch you overworking yourself, I will be telling the Grandmaster.”
“Jean doesn’t scare me.”
“Then I’ll get a book in the library in your name and wait for the deadline to pass over. I’m sure Miss Lisa is able to scare you.”
Kaeya’s eyes narrowed. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“I won’t. If you stay still, of course.” She turned around and started making her way to Springvale. “I’ll be right back!”
Kaeya stared in disbelief as he saw her getting further and further away. He decided to move, as well. With each step, the pain in his torso stung, but the scars all over his body were proof he’s been through worse. He’s had burns much worse before, and much painful as well, if that didn’t take him down, a simple Boom Blossom wouldn’t, either.
He reached the Statue with a few too many short steps, and he could feel its power doing its best to heal his wounds. There was only so much a Statue could do, though, he wouldn’t be able to skip on the healer, especially not with Amber by his side.
He sat down on the grass, looking around. Springvale is not far, Amber shouldn’t take long to return after informing the citizens, but he was kind of regretting letting her go when they could’ve gone back to Mondstadt and inform them with a letter after his wounds got healed.
Well, too late for that now.
Looking at the Anemo Archon sculpted in stone, he could remember the way he used to think about climbing it. Most times, he thought about putting a dandelion there, just to see the wind blow it away, or just climbing to reach the crystalflies flying over it.
Though, he remembered all the tales told by all the people in Mondstadt, and the ones his late father used to tell him before tucking him in bed. The Anemo Archon watches over the people of the city of freedom. He used to worry if he would see him, maybe find it disrespectful? But, at the same time, would he even be watching over him? He wasn’t from Mondstadt, after all.
The last thought was temptive, but he was never alone in his childhood, and even if Barbatos wasn’t watching over him, he would definitely be watching over him.
Kaeya didn’t push the thought away, like he used to, this time. The memory of two kids, a boy with flaming red hair and a blue haired kid with an eyepatch running around the hills, the laugh getting carried by the wind, the carefreeness and the happiness for no reason at all.
Fuck. He missed it so bad. He missed getting awoken in the middle of the night to snuck out to the kitchen to get candies. He missed making the special grape jam with him and Adelinde. He missed catching crystalflies by the vines. He missed training with wood swords and promising to be the best knights they could, together, as it had always been. He missed the proud look of their father as he called them his boys. He missed everyone saying they were joined to the hip. He missed calling him his brother.
As he got up, he bit back a sob, not even knowing if its cause was the stings of the wound every time he moved or the memories that felt like a knife being pressed against his throat. He put a hand in his lower stomach, trying not to stumble on his way to the edge of the hill.
He could see the Dawn Winery so perfectly from there. It’s been a long while since he’s been there, but Kaeya still remembers everything. How Connor would walk around, making sure everything was alright, the way Old Tunner was always alert of any visitor passing by, hoping for a letter from his son, and even how Hillie and Moco would gossip about everything in their sight.
A fond smile took place in his lips. The place was still vivid, and he recalls how Bennett once mentioned that he used to pass by when he was on his way to Wolvendom, and how even Klee told him about the weird grown up and how he gave her grape juice and didn’t get mad when she exploded a few of his vines in an accident.
He sighed. He missed Adelinde, so much, and he had promised he’d visit soon. She always felt like a mother to him, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to postpone it for much longer. She had proven in the past that if he didn’t come for her, she would come for him.
His thoughts were muffled with fantasies, possibilities of a life where he would be welcome in the house he grew up in, of bickerings with his big brother that would end up with them in a get-along shirt, of family dinners and feeling wanted and like he belonged somewhere.
Things were so much easier back then, before…
It was hard not to cloud his mind with hopes. He wondered if Diluc knew how much he missed him, if he knew he wasn’t angry, that he didn’t blame him for the burns or the scar in his eye.
He wondered if Diluc still hated him. He wondered if he missed him, too.
“Kaeya?” A familiar voice, that sounded nothing like the ones in his memories, took his attention. “Didn’t I tell you not to overwork yourself? Why did you even walk all the way—”
She stopped in her tracks when he looked at her, and swallowed dryly. Her eyes intercalated from him to the direction he was looking at before she caught his attention.
“Uh, I’d be glad to give you some time if you wanted, but we really should get you to the Cathedral to see a healer.” Amber said, avoiding his eyes.
It took him a few seconds to realise that he was crying all this time, and, well, the sight was obviously off putting.
Kaeya cleared his throat. “Yes, of course. Let’s go to the Statue.”
She shifted her weight nervously from one foot to the other. “Do you want to lean on me to walk? I can help you—”
“No need, thank you. Don’t worry about me.” he did his best to smile, not sure if he wanted to pretend his was okay to her or to himself.
Amber followed him as he started making his way to the Statue of The Seven in slow steps. “You know, you can talk to me. I know you and him are brothers and— uh, were brothers? But you don’t need to hide it from me. I know you miss each other—”
“Amber.” Kaeya said, coldly.
“Yes?”
“Please, stop talking.”
She stopped in her tracks and, shit, maybe he’s been too harsh. “Okay. I’m sorry.”
He smacked his hand against his forehead. “Don’t be. I do miss him, I’m just… not really ready to deal with it, or even talk about it, actually.” he explained himself.
The look she gave him could only mean pity. “I meant it, though. If you’re not ready to talk about it, it’s fine. But I’m your friend. I’m here for you, you know.” she smiled and it was oddly comforting.
Kaeya did his best to return it. “Thank you. I’ll think about it. If, of course, you keep Lisa out of this.”
At that, she laughed, all the tension seeming to leave her body. “As you wish, captain! Now, come on. We have a healer to see.”