Work Text:
It’s funny, Kaeya thinks, how he and Diluc have apparently switched roles. Diluc is now the one on Khaenri’ah’s side while Kaeya finds himself worried about the threat his brother may bring to Mondstadt.
Kaeya has been busy since he and Diluc spoke last. With Varka finally having returned and taken the role of Grandmaster once more, both Kaeya and Jean now share an office as well as the title of ‘Cavalry Captain’, and he’s had a lot to get done and get used to.
Namely, explaining the new person to all the knights who have never met Varka and have no idea who he is or why he’s just suddenly shown up and taken Acting Grandmaster Jean’s place with no fuss from anyone else.
He’s also had even more paperwork than ever before, because the time that Varka has been gone means Kaeya has actually forgotten how lazy the man is. Jean isn’t Acting Grandmaster anymore, but it almost seems like she has even more work to do than before since she still has to do all of Varka’s paperwork and business as well as any Cavalry Captain work he decides to give her instead of Kaeya.
But despite all this work and how busy the Knights have grown, Kaeya always has time to think about Diluc.
And several weeks later, in the middle of the day while he and Jean are all but drowning in paperwork—both figuratively and literally—he decides he needs to talk to Diluc.
He needs to find out how much of a threat to Mondstadt his brother really is.
Taking his lunch break a little earlier than usual, Kaeya makes his way through the city and off to the Winery, hesitating only a moment on the doorstep before rapping the back of his knuckles against the wood door and waiting patiently.
When Adelinde answered the door, Kaeya greeted her with a smile. “Hello Adelinde,” he said cheerfully. “I hope this isn’t a bad time?”
“Of course not, Master Kaeya,” she assured, and Kaeya wondered if she knew about the falling out between himself and Diluc, since she was still treating him so kindly.
Then again, she had always been kind to him no matter how Diluc might have treated him.
“Is Master Diluc available?” Kaeya asked. “I had a matter I really was hoping to discuss with him.”
He knew the answer before he’d even finished asking if Diluc was available, solely by the way Adelinde’s smile seemed to struggle to remain on her face.
“I’m sorry, Master Kaeya, I’m afraid he’s really very busy,” she replied and if the words had come from anyone else, Kaeya might have assumed she was lying solely by the way she delivered the information.
“Do you know when he will be available?” Kaeya asked. “This evening, maybe? Tonight?”
Adelinde hesitated and that was the moment Kaeya knew she was hiding something. Maybe she didn’t know about the star—if he knew Diluc well enough, then Adelinde had no idea—but she definitely knew Diluc was doing something dangerous and probably something Kaeya wasn’t going to like.
So she was going to cover it up by saying, “I’m afraid his schedule is completely packed for the next several weeks.”
“Ah.” Kaeya decided to play along, even as he planned to break into the winery later that night. “Business has been pretty busy, huh?”
Her smile was strained. “Oh yes.”
Kaeya decided not to call her out on the lie. It was rare she lied at all and he knew that whenever she did, she always had a good reason. So her lying now meant she was either protecting him or protecting Diluc and honestly, he appreciated it either way.
Adelinde was loyal to a fault and she did not get enough credit for it.
“Alright then,” Kaeya agreed. “Well, good luck.”
“Thank you, Master Kaeya. I’ll be sure to give Master Diluc your regards.”
“Oh no, that won’t be necessary,” Kaeya hurried to say. “Master Diluc and I have…had a falling out, of sorts. I highly doubt he wants to hear from me.”
The sympathetic look on Adelinde’s face leads Kaeya to believe that while she may not know exactly why the brothers have fallen out of touch, she at least knew that they had.
“Of course, Master Kaeya,” she murmured. “Have a good rest of your day.”
“You too, Addie.”
………………..
Late that night
Kaeya grunted as he flopped into Diluc’s study from the window. He had several opinions about this room, first being that it was very hard to break into with it being on the second floor and the second being that Diluc sure was trusting—either that or stupid —to leave his windows unlocked regardless of the fact that his study was on the second floor.
Carefully righting himself, Kaeya got to his feet and looked around the room. Already he could feel a sort of darkness lingering, the sensation of home that he used to miss before he got used to Mondstadt.
It was the sickening touch of the Abyss that clung to whatever got too close and refused to let go. That fact that it was so strong here now, the fact that it had so strongly gripped onto Diluc…
Drawing in a shuddering breath, Kaeya headed over to the door and slipped out into the hall, hesitating as he strained his ears in an attempt to try and hear if Diluc was somewhere up and awake or if any of the staff was still present in the winery.
When nothing stood out to him beyond the typical creaking of the building that he had long since grown used to, Kaeya slipped down the hall to the door of Diluc’s bedroom, listening closely before very carefully pushing the door open.
With the curtains left wide open, the moonlight allowed Kaeya enough of a view of the room to make out Diluc’s head of red hair where his brother lay in bed, sleeping deeply.
Very deeply, it seemed, because he didn’t stir in the slightest as Kaeya approached the bed. While Kaeya was trying to be quiet, Diluc had been a light sleeper for years and, realistically, he should have woken up the moment Kaeya opened the door.
Frowning and trying to ignore the worry in his stomach—trying to convince himself it was merely worry for Mondstadt, not for Diluc—Kaeya peered down at his brother.
Even without touching him or even having any sort of Abyssal powers like Diluc had, Kaeya could practically see the exposure on his brother. It wasn’t exposure that indicated power or a threat, it was an exposure that was more accurately described as corruption .
The power in his brother wasn’t granting him strength or power in the way that Kaeya had thought but was, instead, corrupting him on an incredibly deep level.
But that only made Diluc more of a threat than he’d anticipated.
Taking a deep breath, Kaeya turned and left the room, being sure to quietly close the door behind himself.
He didn’t want to, he knew it would be hard, but if it came down to it and Diluc really did become a true threat to Mondstadt like Kaeya was afraid he would…
Then he would do whatever it took to stop him. Even if it meant raising his sword the same way Diluc had raised his, five years earlier.