Chapter Text
Mondstadt was bathed in the evening glow.
Afar, it was a majestic view. Towering cathedral jutting to the sky, the Ordo headquarters standing proud, the Barbatos statue solemn and regal, shining gold in the light of the setting sun. Inside the city, it was far less romantic, as Kaeya ducked into the shadows to avoid getting blinded by a ray of sunlight reflected by an offending window. He had one visible eye, he needed it to see properly.
Shaded, he could see his destination clearly. He plastered a smile onto his face and greeted Patton as he slipped inside Angel’s Share.
It was still too early for tavern-goers to truly pack Angel’s Share full, but there were still a few already sitting down with a beer or two. Just as Kaeya predicted, Diluc stood proudly behind the counter, absently wiping down a clean glass just so his idle hands could have something to do. He looked up to meet Kaeya’s gaze and frowned.
“Isn’t this a bit too early for you to come in and start drinking?” he asked bluntly.
“Is this your way of telling me you’re worried, Master Diluc?” Kaeya fired back. “Really, you don’t need to be! Besides, I’m a paying customer.” He slid onto the barstool with practiced ease, lifting a grin at the bartender.
Said bartender glared. “Sir Kaeya, you know as well as I do that you don’t pay.”
“Well, I intend to pay. It’s hardly my fault you kick me out of the tavern before I can get Mora out.”
“No one told you to drink yourself to a stupor either.”
Kaeya laughed. “That’s a fair judgement. But honestly, I’m not here to drink. Well, maybe later. But now I just want to talk to you.”
Diluc put the glass down. “You, talk to me?”
“Is it really that surprising that I would want to talk to my brother?”
Diluc’s gaze darkened. Kaeya sobered before they could devolve into pointless bickering.
“Diluc,” he said, soft and heavy. “Please just hear me out for now, okay? I just want to know if I can join you in visiting Father’s grave tomorrow.”
“No.” Diluc’s answer came near instantly.
Kaeya tried to mask the hurt in his eyes, but he knew he didn’t quite succeed from the way Diluc levelled a guilty look at him. He let out a short laugh to cover the hurt and smiled. “Do you really hate me that much, to not want a commiserating companion while you grieve?”
Diluc looked away, screwing his eyes shut as if praying for the gods for patience. Kaeya could almost hear him count to ten in his head. “It’s not you. I just have a lot I need to sort in my head.”
“It sure sounds like it’s me,” Kaeya couldn’t help but murmur.
Diluc shook his head. “Make of it what you will, but it’s not you. In any case, if you have no plans on buying anything, at least try not to bother other customers.” Diluc picked up the glass again.
“Perhaps next year, then,” Kaeya said, a lame attempt to mask the hurt and maintain a semblance of peace. Diluc simply hummed noncommittally.
Silence fell between them, only disturbed by the soft chatters of tavern visitors and clinking glass. It was odd to not have them bicker ceaselessly until Diluc threw him out before he could set the tavern on fire. Perhaps it was an improvement. Kaeya couldn’t decide.
“I’ll have a glass of Death After Noon,” Kaeya announced, ending the silence.
Diluc’s scowl was instantly back in place. Ah, familiarity. How nice. “You said you’re not here to drink.”
“Not at first. Now that I’m here, I might just as well.” Kaeya rolled his shoulder. “Don’t worry, I don’t intend to drink a lot. I have patrol tonight.”
“Is the Ordo really so understaffed that a captain would patrol the city himself?” Diluc asked as he took the wines to mix.
Kaeya snorted. “No, this is just punishment. Remember the explosion Klee caused by the Barbatos statue the other day? I might have egged her on.”
Diluc shook his head. “I should have known you had a hand in that.”
“Okay, what’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means that I unfortunately know you well enough to know that you have a penchant for chaos and revel in it even if you’re not in the middle of it,” Diluc answered with the solemnity of a monarch as he stirred Kaeya’s drink.
“Rude! I’m an angel. There’s a reason why Adelinde likes me.”
“Unfortunately, I am also unlucky enough to know that you can plaster the most innocent face after committing war crimes.” Diluc placed the drink in front of him. “One glass, Sir Kaeya. If you ask for more I will bill all of Venti’s incoming orders to you.”
Kaeya laughed uncomfortably. “Alright, alright. No need to get testy.”
The rest of the evening went quietly, only slightly disturbed when Venti came into the tavern and egged Kaeya to drink more, ignoring Diluc’s death glare. Kaeya could have sworn he knew about Diluc’s threat. Still, the egging passed and Kaeya went out to start his patrol, absently strolling because he knew there was little that happened in Mondstadt. The people understood that freedom wasn’t so easily won, and peace was something they should maintain. Aside from rowdy drunks, the streets were normally peaceful and quiet even when the night is young.
Kaeya finished his patrol around midnight and exchanged places with the next knight on duty. With a sigh, he went into his office in the headquarters. He should probably check on Jean soon. Hopefully Lisa had managed to drag her away for a midnight snack and maybe force bedtime on her, but he wouldn’t count on it.
Hm. Maybe he should just nap on that sofa he kept for visitors. And then he could steal some of Jean’s paperwork. Something to lighten her load, a little.
He knew that plan would never come to fruition the moment he heard loud footsteps padding against the Ordo floor. Urgent knocks rapped against his door, and it swung open before he could even finish saying “come in”.
“Sir,” Otto panted, giving a hurried salute. “Please come to the cemetery. We have a situation.”
“Breathe, Otto,” Kaeya said, making his way to the knight. It was odd that he would leave his post at the cathedral, so this must be something important. “I won’t be able to understand you clearly if you huff and puff each word. What’s wrong?”
Otto took a few seconds to breathe. Then he straightened, looked straight into Kaeya’s eye, and grimly informed, “The late Master Crepus Ragnvindr’s grave has been dug up.”
When Kaeya got to the cemetery, Jean was already there, studying the gravesite, probably running straight here on her way back to the Ordo. Lisa stood by her side, looking particularly displeased, and Aramis stood a way away. Kaeya’s gaze fell on him and he cringed.
“Can you tell me what happened here?” he asked anyway.
“Sir.” Aramis stood straighter. “I found the grave desecrated when I did my patrol earlier. But it seems whoever did it was fast enough to dig through six feet of packed dirt in the time I left the cemetery grounds and came back around…”
“I thought you only guard the cathedral steps,” Kaeya said.
“Ah… technically, yes.” Aramis winced. “I’ve been patrolling around the cathedral for about a week, now. I’m worried about the cemetery since I’ve heard rumors from the villages surrounding Mond about grave robbers. I didn’t think the culprit would have been bold enough to come here, and the bodies here are old. That’s why I didn’t say anything about the route changes.”
“Don’t neglect to inform it next time. But I’ll let this one slide.” Kaeya hummed. He turned to Jean. “Anything interesting, Jean?”
“The remains is gone.”
Kaeya closed his eye and heaved a sigh. It was just as he feared.
“Managing to dig up a grave and steal a corpse in one patrol cycle is… incredible, to say the least,” Lisa mused. “Whoever did this must either have either Geo powers, unbelievable physical strength, or both. It’s not impossible that they’re not alone in this endeavor, either.”
“I just have a difficult time understanding where they came from. It’s not impossible they swam through Lake Cider, but knights at the walls would have seen them long before they had the chance to climb up,” Jean said.
Kaeya thought it over and came to a grim conclusion. “They won’t need to climb if they can float and teleport.”
Jean’s gaze snapped to him. “You think the Abyss Order did this?”
“Either them or a particularly bold alchemist who wants to try their hand at necromancy, but if that’s the case there’s plenty other cemeteries far easier to rob than this one.”
Jean’s tired eyes closed with a sigh. “I’ll send word for Albedo soon. And someone needs to tell Diluc.”
“I think he might already be on his way here, actually,” Kaeya said. It was guesswork, but he knew Diluc’s extracurricular activities would let him know of the situation sooner than the average citizen. Sure enough, barely ten minutes later, the man showed up.
Jean and Lisa took over explaining things to Diluc and fending off the questions and the snarled, frustrated remarks about the knights’ inefficiency. Kaeya let it all wash over him, blankly gazing at the empty coffin the man he used to call Father resided in only hours before. The gaping hole felt like it was trying to swallow him whole. He stood firmly on the disturbed earth and refused to sway.
Why would the Abyss take a corpse from its grave? And why Crepus, specifically? Something curdled in his stomach as he tried to puzzle the answer out. The uncertainty made him feel like a paper boat in the middle of a storm.
Someone clasped his shoulder, and he jolted. He turned to meet Jean’s bright gaze. Diluc and Lisa stared at him from behind her.
“Are you okay, Kaeya?” Jean asked softly.
“Of course. Why would’t I be?” Kaeya asked back automatically.
She searched his gaze. “You’re using your Vision.”
Belatedly, Kaeya realized there was a chill in the air and frost forming at his fingertips. He glanced to his hip where his Vision hung. It glowed innocently, a gleaming star of hoarfrost and biting chill. With a frown, he dismissed the power away. A part of him wanted to curl up in shame. Even after years, it was still difficult to keep his powers in check when his feelings got the better of him.
At last, Jean shook her head and took her hand back. “Go home, Kaeya,” she said. “I doubt there’s anything more we can do.”
Kaeya wanted to protest. Surely there was more they – he – could do. There had to be. For a crime to be so bold, there had to be clues littered about.
But then he realized that his fingers were trembling, and while he wasn’t swaying he had been slowly pitching forward. He stood straighter and nodded, and silently vowed to pull his weight once he was rested.
Diluc followed him when he made his way back to the city, probably to make sure Kaeya wouldn’t pass out on his way. Kaeya wondered why he bothered. Absently, he descended down the stairs and missed a step.
Diluc caught him before he could fall, too-hot hands grabbing his arms and keeping him in place as he found his footing once more. Kaeya shifted in his spot, trying to gauge if he sustained any injury. Neither of them spoke. The silence was deafening.
Kaeya decided to break it. “It seems we do end up visiting Father together, after all.”
“No, we didn’t,” Diluc said. “It’s not official until Father is back.”
Kaeya thought it over. “No,” he said at length. “I suppose it’s not.”
Albedo came down from Dragonspine without fanfare and immediately threw himself into investigation work to find out more about the grave robbing incident. Kaeya tried to lend a hand, but Albedo declined, simply directing him to Klee to make sure she wouldn’t blow up the town while Albedo was busy with other things.
“I can help with your investigations, Albedo,” Kaeya had said at some point, frustrated and close to snapping. “You don’t need to keep me at the sidelines doing nothing.”
“It’s not that I want you to do nothing. It’s just…” Albedo hesitated. “I’m aware that it’s hard, Kaeya. I don’t want you to suffer unwarranted emotional distress.”
“The corpse of a man who raised me as his son got stolen. Just how much more distressing can it get?” Kaeya asked sarcastically.
“Much, much more distressing,” Albedo revealed, entirely humorless. “The things people do with people’s remains… I would rather you not think about any of them.”
Kaeya relented to Albedo’s wishes to not join the investigations, but it didn’t stop him from asking his own sources. Not that it helped much, considering just how little people knew of the incident. The Ordo had managed to keep word about the grave robbing quiet, and there was simply not enough information outside the realm of fiction about what one can do with a long rotted corpse. After all, Crepus had been gone for well past half a decade. There wasn’t much his grave could have held other than a skeleton.
Diluc’s own sources couldn’t give them anything substantial, either. There were words of grave robberies all over Mondstadt and heightened Abyss activities, which seemed to point that the Abyss Order could be behind the robberies, but it still couldn’t answer why Crepus, and why now of all times, when his body would have been little more than a skeleton.
A week passed with no word on how the investigation was going. Rumors floated about dead people coming back to life.
Kaeya settled in his office with little he could do, feeling stones in his gut and knowing there was nothing he could do about this.
A man walked in the thick of the morning fog.
Up close, his striking red hair would have demanded attention. Here, in the muted dark that blanketed the skyline, it was hard to discern. The wash of blue as the sun started to wake was overwhelming any other color that might try to peek out, even as the tiniest hint of light slowly colored the night into a blush.
The man made his way through the rows of thick, healthy grape vines. He marveled at how little had changed in however many years had passed. He could almost imagine walking here under the shining sun as children ran afoot, stealing grapes as they slipped in and out of grapevine rows.
His eyes flickered to a familiar hut. It was devoid of any human presence. He supposed it wasn’t surprising. It was too early for anyone to have risen, and while Tunner had always been a diligent worker, age must have crept up on him sooner or later.
In the hush of early dawn, he could clearly hear the soft clatters of maids already up and about in the manor. A smile tugged at his lips. Was Adelinde still the head maid? She was always a strict one, with impossibly high standard. She would find it difficult to find a replacement for her once she had gotten old enough to retire. Then again, if she was still as dedicated as he remembered, he wasn’t sure she would ever want to retire.
She had been the only one who loved the manor and his boys as much as him. Elzer came close, but when it came to keeping the household running… well, it had always been Adelinde’s hands that found ways to mend and upkeep. Though, if fate had chosen another course, perhaps it would have been Elzer that he would ask to keep the winery and Angel’s Share running instead of Kaeya. Diluc never liked the taste of wine, after all. He would never blame his late wife, but he remembered feeling devastated when he realized Diluc had inherited her sensitive tongue for tastes he never thought was even a taste in the first place. When Diluc drank wine, it was never the sweet, fermented drink that he could taste. It was only the ethanol.
He made his way up the steps, a part of him uncomfortably aware of how his bones and joints connected, how each muscles and sinews pulled and moved, how his heart pumped blood through his veins, rushing and red and alive.
What a marvel that he was here, living and breathing and alive.
He reached the door, hand raised to knock. A part of him faltered, wondering if he should, but… why shouldn’t he? Perhaps his return would jar his boys, but why wouldn’t they rejoice in a miracle? He missed them so much. Why wouldn’t they miss him as well?
He knocked.
There was a shuffle and quiet noises of confusion, words muffled by the thick door. It swung open timidly, and he put on a kind smile. It felt natural in his face, despite it being newly reconstructed.
The woman that opened the door looked up to meet his gaze, then her own eyes widened in shock. Without words, her knees buckled and she fell, sitting and staring up to him open mouthed, eyes wide as dinner plates. Behind her, younger maids called her in alarm.
He ignored them for now to offer a hand to her. “Hello, Adelinde,” he said. “I’m sorry, this must be shocking to you. But may I trouble you to prepare me a room to rest?”
Adelinde made no move to take his hand, the two young maids holding her up. The marvel in her eyes was stark. “Master Crepus,” she managed to breathe.
Crepus smiled. “In the flesh.”