Chapter Text
“Kaeya, I know that you are kind of my superior but I need to be honest with you,” said the Outrider Amber, a young woman part of the Knights of Favonius while walking outside of the Acting grand master’s office “Jean assigned to both this mission and we will take care of it! No excuses, No slacking ok? I don’t want to get in trouble because of you sneaking away like a ferret.”
“Haha don’t you worry Outrider, I won’t cause you any inconvenience.”
Responded the Cavalry Captain giving her a roguish smile.
Surely these kinds of missions weren’t his favorite but after failing to babysit the chaotic Klee by letting her blow up Good Hunter’s roof, the least he could do was obeying to Master Jean's orders without objecting. She threatened to lock him up in solitary confinement if he messed up so he didn’t have much of a choice anyway.
They quickly reached the coordinates Jean told them and prepared an ambush. The purpose of their expedition was to get rid of a recently built hillichurl’s base before the situation got out of hand.
Amber tricked them into looking at the Barron Bunny she threw to sneak from
behind, Kaeya as usual fought with his shining Favonius sword leaving Amber speechless with his impressive combat skills. There were just a few hillichurls and a Cryo Abyss Mage so the work was supposed to be pretty easy given his experience but when finally he was one hit away from killing the last of them, the mage, he stopped.
The masked creature looked like it was begging to be spared, covering its face with a hand.
“Kaeya? What’s wrong?” asked the brunette concerned about his friend, but all Kaeya could hear was the muffled voice of the girl. He was staring at the tearing Mage’s eyes seeing the image of himself as a child crying for help. His hands were trembling and couldn’t hold the sword steady to finish the job. He snapped back to reality when an arrow hit the creature at the side of its head.
Kaeya turned to the woman who had a worried look on her face.
“What happened? You looked like you’ve seen a ghost!”
“I’m deeply sorry Amber, I didn’t mean to startle you, I had low blood sugar for a moment ahah.”
The girl looked silent at him.
“Well, now we’re done here, right? I’m going to head off to Angel’s Share, fancy joining me?” He asked, trying to change the subject, to which Amber replied: “Yeah we are but I’m afraid I’ll refuse your kind offer Kaeya. I have some work to be done within the day”
“Then see you, tomorrow Outrider”
“See ya!”
On his way to Mondstat he couldn’t stop thinking about the Mage.
He had already known for quite a while that hillichurls were Khaenri’ah’s people turned into brainless monsters but this time it hit him harder than usual. Harming that mage felt like hurting a copy of himself, something he could have become. All he had to do was gather information and find Mondstat’s weak spots, as his father told him when he left Kaeya to Crepus and Diluc’s house but he was failing to understand what was right and what wasn’t.
He reached the gates of Mondstat and after greeting the knights on guard he went straight to the tavern. He was welcomed by the grumpy-looking face of the bartender he used to call “brother”.
“Good afternoon Master Diluc,” Kaeya said putting on a smirk.
“Already here getting drunk? Aren’t you supposed to be grounded?” commented Diluc giving him a disappointed look.
Kaeya answered as he sat down at the tavern’s counter: “There are a lot of things that I’m supposed to be, like a Cavalry Captain. But the absence of Cavalry makes my job pretty difficult, doesn’t it?”
Diluc shrugged and then said: “The usual?”
“You know me very well Master Diluc.”
Half an hour passed and Kaeya was having a conversation with some drunkard when he suddenly felt a strong ache in his heart which made him almost lose his balance.
Diluc noticed, “Wow so drunk already? I served you not even half of what you usually drink.” he said with a tone between surprise and bother.
Kaeya shook his head, the pain went away almost immediately but soon he began to feel his head heavier and his vision blurred.
The person he was talking to asked if he was alright to which he replayed with an unsure “yes”. Kaeya had to lean against the counter to keep himself from falling.
His head was spinning he was hearing the screaming of people with a ringing noise that was getting so loud that he tried to cover his ears. With horror he understood that the sound was not coming from outside, but from inside his head.
At this point Diluc had already reached for him. “Kaeya? Kaeya what’s wrong? Answer me!” he sounded worried sick.
“Diluc, Make it stop.” Kaeya fell onto his knees still covering his ears, Diluc was shocked to see him like that.
“Someone get a doctor, NOW!” the redhead shouted while sitting next to Kaeya trying to make him stop.
“Kaeya, it’s me Diluc. Please tell me what is happening. KAEYA.”
Meanwhile some people gathered around them to see what was happening, nobody had ever seen the Cavalry Captain that fragile.
At the exact moment a healer burst through the door, Kaeya passed out. Finally, his agonizing expression calmed down.
He got carried to his house by Diluc, that was still in shock for the whole situation, followed by Barbara, the deaconess of the Church of Favonius, known for her healing abilities.
He got put in bed while the girl performed her healing magic to check his situation.
“Barbara, he’s he going to be okay?” Diluc asked looking at his adopted brother.
“Yes, he will recover soon, I suggest maybe a day off his duties to prevent fatigue.” answered the blonde making Diluc sigh in relief.
She then continued: “Still I can’t explain what happened… by your description it looks like an epileptic seizure but also doesn’t… it could be a stress response maybe.”
“Stress? How is he stressed? All he does is slack off all day.”
“Just a theory Master Diluc! Anyway, I’m headed to the church. I’ll come to check on him tomorrow morning, if my help is needed you know where to find me.”
After the nod of the young man, she exited the house, leaving them alone.
Kaeya woke up a few hours later. He rubbed his eye and he saw Diluc on a chair next to his bed sleeping. He looked outside, it must have been eleven o’clock. The moonlight coming from the window was illuminating the tired face of his adopted brother.
At that moment Diluc opened his eyes.
“Thank Barbatos… what the hell was that Kaeya?”
“What happened? Did I get so drunk to pass out?” Kaeya asked looking confused.
“I wish. You started to tremble out of nowhere and asked to make “it” stop then you passed out. I was worried sick.”
“Oh? I didn’t even imagine to matter that much to you.” he said with his usual smirk.
“Here he is again, Barbatos I almost liked you better when you were unconscious.”
Kaeya let go of a laugh.
“Thank you, Master Diluc”
“It’s nothing. We’re not strangers, please call me Diluc.”
Kaeya gave him an honest smile but Diluc didn’t return it.
The brother looked like he conflicted with himself, he didn’t know if Kaeya really deserved pity and forgiveness.
Then the redhead got up and said “I’m going back to the Dawn Vinery. Please don’t pass out again.” he was almost out of the bedroom when he added, “Oh, and Barbara will come tomorrow to check in on you, don’t try to sneak away.”
“Okay, have a good night.”
“You too.”
He left the house. Kaeya got up erasing his smile. He didn’t forget what happened at the tavern. He sure made quite an impression to all the people present.
He slapped himself in the face.
“Barbatos how could I make myself look vulnerable like that? I should have borne the pain in silence instead of making a scene. What was that anyway??
I don’t understand.“