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It was nothing more than some intel gathering. At least, that was what he had told Jean.
Over the last few weeks hilichurl attacks had increased on the Mondstadt side of the Stone Gate trade route. However, Kaeya’s more… underground network had also informed him there had been a sighting or two of a hydro abyss mage with the attacks.
Kaeya intended to take on the problem alone before things got any worse. No need to make Jean worry. A single hydro abyss mage would be no match for his Vision.
Scouting the area himself beforehand had confirmed the single hydro abyss mage’s existence.
It had not, however, revealed the presence of the two cryo abyss mages accompanying it, hiding on the cliffs above.
The fight was fast, concise, and not in Kaeya’s favor. As the mages gloated above him and he lay on the ground, coated in ice and his own frozen blood, he couldn’t help but quietly laugh at the irony of his switched loyalty and gods-given gift being his downfall at the hands of his own people.
Accepting my death here would be poetic, he pondered as flames swept above his head, perhaps letting it end here wouldn’t be such a bad… when did a pyro mage join?
Blinking ice crystals free of his eyelashes, his vision blurry, he could make out a blur of red and black and fiery orange pummeling the shields of the mages. In a matter of heartbeats, there was a claymore removing the heads of the unshielded mages. The figure turned around towards him, and Kaeya’s breath caught in his throat.
“Father…?”
“Kaeya!” Tassels and coattails swayed as the redhead knelt over him, emanating heat warming and Kaeya from the cryo that still lay deep in his bones. He shivered. “Broken forearm, lacerations to chest, possible hypothermia, shortness of breath point to broken ribs…”
That… that wasn’t Father, Kaeya realized. That voice, it belonged to… “Diluc?”
Diluc remained silent, stripping off his gloves and pulling out a roll of gauze and some salve.
“Diluc, what are you doing here?”
Kaeya swore in pain as Diluc opened the top part of Kaeya’s coat, ice shards grating as blood-soaked cloth was pulled away from his wounds. It didn’t make him black out though, and Kaeya’s vision was beginning to clear, hopefully he would be able to stand in a few minutes.
“Idiot. Moron. What were you thinking going after them alone?” Diluc spat, “You could have been killed.”
“Careful Master Diluc,” Kaeya gasped as salve was applied and bandages wound around his chest.“Someone might get the wrong idea and think you might still care for me. We wouldn’t want that, now would we?” Neither of them worried about the smaller bits of ice. It would melt faster than it could be removed. “I know how much your dear reputation means to you, given how much associating with the likes of me pains you.” He could make it to Springvale for some light healing if he were to take a few breaks, and then he could—
Diluc’s head suddenly snapped up, red eyes glaring at Kaeya and shiny with unshed tears. “There’s no one around, so you can drop that facade you insist on having. Now shut up.”
Kaeya blinked, looking around. It was true, there was no one around. Why would Diluc be helping him then? Why was he even out there in the first place? Wasn’t he meant to be in the city today helping out with stocking the bar?
Hands pulled Kaeya upwards, bringing him to a sitting position. Kaeya’s vision swam. “You’ve lost a lot of blood,” Diluc muttered to him, “but I need you to try to walk. If we don’t get you to a healer soon then you will die of blood loss.”
Kaeya smirked at him, but his sight was once again unfocused. “Use your fancy bird and call a healer from the cathedral then, I’ll be making my way towards Springvale. Have them meet me there.”
“You will be doing no such thing,” Diluc growled. “Now stand or I’ll be carrying you.”
Kaeya’s vision was annoyingly black around the edges. It was making it rather hard to see with everything so fuzzy already. Oh well. He could still see the path, he could use that as guidance. He let out a small grunt of agreement, getting one leg under him, then the other. He stood for a moment, ready to laugh things off again, but then the black from before moved in quickly, snapping in to fill his entire world.
And that was the last thing he remembered.
— \\ —
The moment he awoke, Kaeya jerked, eye scanning his surroundings anxiously. Not out of the unfamiliarity of the room, but because it was familiar.
He lay on a bed with pristine white sheets, blue comforter pulled up to his chin and additional blankets piled on top. Dappled afternoon sunlight fell through the large window, falling on the wooden desk in front of it. Though the main portion of the desk was empty, there were still cups holding pencils and Fontainian pens, a map of Mondstadt, and an oil lamp. A set of bookshelves lined the wall opposite him, stuffed with military texts, history books, and a few fiction novels. Part of a hilichurl mask, a few shells, and some carved pieces of wood sat on the top shelf. A wardrobe sat in the corner and a mount with two ceremonial Favonius crossed swords hung beside it.
His room. Just as he had left it four years ago. After that fateful night when Kaeya’s world had come crumbling down, he had packed up only what was his (not much) and left anything that had been given to him by Crepus or Diluc. Anything attached to good memories was left behind too. He had felt he wasn’t deserving of it, and so he left it for Diluc to deal with. Burn it, trash it, give it away, it hadn’t mattered to Kaeya. Only, it seemed that nothing had changed. Not a speck of dust even sat in the crevices of the wooden statues. As if eternally waiting for their owner to come back.
Kaeya looked down to assess his wounds, wincing as the realization he may have been underestimating them earlier. He lacked a shirt, likely for ease of changing the neck to waist bandages that covered his entire torso. His chest ached like a horse had kicked him in the chest, the biggest hit he knew he had taken being the probable culprit of the pain. His forearm was in a brace, and numerous bandages of varying sizes peppered his arms and legs. He could feel the medical bandage covering his eye where his eyepatch would be, which unnerved him slightly, knowing that someone had seen the scar underneath.
And then there was the biggest shocker: Diluc, fast asleep sitting in a chair next to the bed. And in what unfortunately looked like a position that would cause some nasty neck cramps. But when Kaeya finished his assessment of the room, he turned around to find Diluc staring at him.
Dark bags lay beneath wide eyes. Diluc’s clothes were rumpled and he was missing his coat. A bandage was wrapped around his bicep and he could see a patch peeking out from underneath his collar. Was he up all night while injured? Diluc immediately rose from the chair and poured the water from the bedside table.
Giving a whispered thanks, Kaeya chilled the water with cryo and took a sip. Voice stronger, he looked at Diluc once more, “You’re injured.”
Diluc gave a noncommittal grunt. “Just a stray icicle.”
“How long has it been?” Kaeya asked.
“Two days. You lost a lot of blood,” Diluc looked away. “Jean is pissed by the way. You’re on forced medical leave until she clears your health herself.”
“I’ll be back in the office by the end of the week. There’s too much to do and not enough Knights to deal out the work to.”
Diluc let out a small huff and sat back down in the chair. Odd, there was no returning grumble about the Knights’ inefficiency. Something else was on Diluc’s mind, Kaeya just didn’t know what.
After a few minutes of slightly awkward silence Kayea said, “You… didn’t burn my wooden sculptures.”
Diluc gave him a look he couldn’t read, full of some emotion that he had often seen when he walked into Angel’s Share. Since Diluc had come back, Kaeya had always been frustrated at the fact he could read him the least out of nearly everyone he knew.
A flash of memory from two days prior had Kaeya remembering how Diluc was… crying? No, tearing up? No, that couldn’t have been right either. It must have been a hallucination from the head injury. Or maybe he was crying, and that was the reason he was so distracted now? Kaeya was curious.
“What were you doing way out near Stone Gate? Worried about your trade routes? Or perhaps a certain hero was on patrol for things related to the Abyss Order?” Kaeya gave him what he hoped was a sly look. It was difficult to act the way he usually did coming right out of a coma. Maybe he should put this probing on hold until he was a bit better, all he got was a glare from the redhead.
Diluc once again rose from his chair and stood over Kaeya’s bed. Kaeya smirked, the time a bit more genuinely. He found it amusing when his bro- when his former brother felt he needed to use something to regain the height advantage Kaeya had obtained during the time they were apart.
“You,” Diluc looked down on him and Kaeya’s smirk grew, “are the most reckless person in the entirety of Mondstadt. And that’s saying something considering Noelle’s tendencies.” Diluc began pacing the length of the room. “You told Jean you were going somewhere different from where you went, and you also lied about the amount of danger you were exposing yourself to. And then you had to go and do it solo too. You walked right into an ambush, do you realize that?”
Diluc’s pacing intensified. “They set that up for you. Even I wasn’t aware of the mage conducting the attacks until after you had left to deal with the problem. They fed you the information, set you up with what would have been the easiest opponent for you, and then they attacked with two of the most difficult ones. They knew you act like an idiot and like to deal with things alone, and that’s exactly what you did.”
Kaeya’s smirk vanished, “I did this solo because anything to do with the Order is technically my responsibility, or have you forgotten my heritage? Just because you rejected me, does not mean my loyalty to Mondstadt becomes null.”
Diluc turned around, fixing Kaeya with a heated glare once more and walking to the side of the bed. “You would have died had I not felt something was off with how perfect of a setup this was.”
Kaeya felt anger begin to stir. “You don’t care, so why does it matter to you?”
A beat of silence as the two stared at one another. “What are you saying?” Diluc’s voice cracked.
“Nothing that I haven’t said directly already.” Kaeya snapped. He was getting tired of the game they played every time they were even within the vicinity of each other. “Why do you care what happens to me? You haven’t since your father died—“ Diluc flinched, “and if you decide to now you’ve picked a hell of a time to do so, after all that’s happened. And I am not saying that you do care so don’t worry about that, you’ve made your stance perfectly clear.”
“I never—“ Diluc started, but Kaeya cut him off.
“And who are you to talk about safety, after disappearing off the face of Teyvat for three years? I was scared, you know. I asked Jean for your Vision so that I could know if you died. I can’t tell you how many times that I— me, from a godless land— began praying to Celestia that every time it flickered you would make it out alive from whatever the hell you had gotten yourself into! You can’t imagine the relief I felt when you came back in one piece, how I’m still grateful to the gods that you haven’t managed to get yourself killed yet with your own damn habits!”
Diluc looked like he had been slapped. Kaeya was shouting now. The entire staff could probably hear him. Poor Adelinde didn’t deserve this disruption. “So don’t throw this in my face, Master Diluc. What might have happened is none of your concern. And you don’t have to pretend that it is.”
The last sentence was hissed. Diluc still stood, quiet, looking stunned.
Kaeya threw the covers back to stand on the other side of the bed from Diluc. He felt a little lightheaded, he last ate right before setting out on the mission. Maybe he could sneak a slice of bread and some water from the kitchen, he knew Adelinde and the staff wouldn’t mind. He could grab an apple from the side of the road, too. He picked up his shoes and grabbed a shirt from the wardrobe. He wasn’t staying any longer than he had to. He threw the shirt on and began walking towards the door. “ I won’t overstay my welcome. Give Adelinde my thanks for tending to my wounds.”
“She didn’t.”
Kaeya’s hand rested on the doorknob, but something in Diluc’s voice held him still.
“Those burn scars… and the scar on your eye… it’s all so terrible… When I told you to stop wearing the eyepatch for dramatics, I didn’t realize just how badly that I had…” Kaeya turned to see Diluc now stood with his back turned near the bookshelf, gently holding a carving. One of Kaeya’s first. He had been so proud of the way he had been able to make it clear the statue was a bird on the first try, and Crepus had never allowed him to trash it when Kaeya grew older and had become a little embarrassed about how lopsided it was.
Diluc’s voice was barely above a whisper, “I never burned these because I had long since moved past my anger towards you when I came back, and I had hoped you would return… but when I saw you the first time, I almost didn’t recognize you.
“You were different in every way. Not just your appearance. If Jean hadn’t directly called you by your name I don’t think I would have believed it was you. You were so different, I didn’t know what to think. So I assumed you wanted nothing to do with me after what happened. I had Adelinde keep your room the way it was even after that because I still… because I didn’t want to accept that…” Diluc trailed off.
The room was quiet for a moment. Kaeya’s breath was caught in his throat. He had to be hearing things wrong, this wasn’t possible.
Diluc continued, slowly and haltingly, “Running to Snezhnaya was not my brightest idea. I didn’t want to… I didn’t know… that… you would have worried. I’ve never doubted your loyalty. Even that night, that faith never wavered. You’ve put your life on the line for Mondstadt more times than I can count, I knew it could never be fake.
“But you’re wrong, Kaeya. I never stopped caring. I was angry that night only because I assumed that you were telling me everything we had was fake. After some time when I was traveling, I realized I had made a mistake, but I was too much of a coward to come back to try to mend things then. I figured you never wanted to see me again. Then I got angry again when I returned and I treated you so horribly because every time we talked I thought you were getting back at me and having fun rubbing in what I had destroyed.” There was a small hiccup.
“You… what…?” Dumbfounded, Kaeya walked toward him. “No, I just didn’t know how to act around you, but the only thing I could do was watch over you, whether you wanted it or not… I messed up, I sprung something on you that should have waited.” Even though the Angel’s Share was the best bar in the city, that had never been the only reason he had frequented it as he did. “When you came back, I never thought to try to talk things out. I thought there was never going to be any chance you would want to even try.”
Diluc’s head sagged, “I don’t know how I would have reacted had it been any other time. But I know that I wouldn’t have attacked you. I know I wouldn’t have been that angry. But I did. And I was. All I could see was red—” He sucked in a breath, “I’m not like you,” Diluc said softly, “I don’t have your way with words. But for what it's worth, if it’s worth anything, I’m sorry, Kaeya.”
Light sniffling could be heard, but Kaeya wasn’t sure who it was coming from.
All those times they bickered, fought, threatened each other, all because they had both been too dense to see past the masks they had created.
His silver tongue was failing him. His self-assured facade was in pieces.
So Kaeya let it all drop, and touched Diluc on the shoulder.
Diluc whipped around, startled by the display. His eyes were a bit red and his pale complexion was mottled from the suppressed tears. Kaeya knew he probably didn’t look much better.
All those years of worry, all those years of fear, they could not just be washed away. The past year in particular, Kaeya knew, would hurt for a long time to come. That rainy night would forever haunt his memories. And even if he were to forget, the burn scars would stay as a reminder of all that had gone wrong.
But despite all of that, Kaeya wanted Diluc back. They could talk it out. Old habits could be unlearned. Diluc had offered the olive branch, and so Kaeya was the one who accepted it.
And wrapped his brother in a hug.
The redhead stiffened, but Kaeya didn’t let go. He could feel Diluc shaking as he clutched the back of Kaeya’s shirt and returned the hug.
Diluc was warm. Oh, how Kaeya had missed that warmth.
“I’m sorry,” Diluc mumbled through the embrace. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I’m…” he repeated the phrase, over and over with broken sobs breaking through and rendering his words unintelligible.
“Shhhhh,” Kaeya hushed him through his own tears, “I forgave you long ago.”
— \\ —
Adelinde was scolding Millie for having her head in the clouds again when Master Diluc and Master Kaeya appeared.
Something was different. There was a change in the way the two interacted as they walked down the stairs. Their argument had been unfortunately broadcast for the entire winery to hear, but that had been some time ago. Now… now they were side by side with one trying to support the other and saying things that were not out of character, but without the edge that accompanied their interactions.
“I’m not a cripple, ‘Luc, I can walk by myself. I’m not letting those Pile Em’ Ups get away from me.”
“You won’t be saying that when you go headfirst down the stairs. Two days isn’t enough to recover from losing that much blood. There’s a reason Jean doesn’t want you left alone, and its not just because you’ll try to start working again the moment you’re unsupervised.”
“You’re injured too.”
“My injury is much less severe.” A glare accompanied that statement, but without anger. No, that was with nothing but the pure fondness Adelinde hadn’t seen between the boys since before Master Crepus had passed.
She met them at the bottom. “Master Kaeya, seeing as it is supper time, if you are feeling well enough, I can set a place for you at the dinner table with Master Diluc, unless you would prefer to eat in your room?” She carefully watched their expressions. Not a hint of hesitance was shown by Master Kaeya nor a single grunt of disapproval came from Master Diluc.
“A setting at the dining table would be lovely, Adelinde,” Master Kaeya quipped, “I’m quite hungry after that little coma.”
“I have no doubts about that,” she replied, “Master Diluc, I hear you promised to make some Pile Em’ Ups.” He flushed as Adelinde gave him a proud smile. “There is space open in the kitchen if you would like, Master Kaeya can wait at one of the preparation tables as you work while the other maids and I set the table.”
“Thank you, Adelinde,” Master Diluc said. The trio began walking towards the door to the kitchens.
“Master Crepus would be proud, " she said. Two sets of feet stopped short behind her and she turned around.
The pair stood just beyond the threshold, looking not at her, but at one another. There was a silent question and a hesitance in Master Kaeya’s expression, but it was Master Diluc who answered as he said, “Yes. He would have been. Our father always was.”
The pure delight that spread across Master Kaeya’s face made Adelinde’s heart squeeze. They were brothers once again. Or rather, they never ceased to be, the fact was only being recognized again after a period of fear and denial.
Adelinde watched the gentle banter that ensued, smiling quietly to herself. She observed the wounds that littered them both, the fresh ones and the old ones torn open anew.
Diluc and Kaeya were healing, and in more ways than one.