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Kaeya and Adelinde sat together on one of the pews at the cathedral as the healers worked on Diluc in the room reserved for medical emergencies. After they had gotten the young wine master out of the cellar of the abandoned lodge and situated in a wagon, the rest of the trip had been something of a blur to Kaeya.
Diluc sat on the wagon’s floor against one of the seats with his hands held out delicately so as to not touch anything, but it displayed the damage done to him. His fingernails were completely gone, and Kaeya had to look away or else he would have been sick. He’s seen horrific things before. The burns he suffered from their fight had been a miserable sight, but this felt so much more… invasive.
Diluc would hiss and groan as Jean tried to heal him, but all she could do was try to relieve the pain. It must have been pretty awful for Diluc to not even try to keep up a strong front. Kaeya could count only a number of times he’d seen his once older brother in such a vulnerable state since they were teens.
“Master Kaeya,” Adelinde said, pulling Kaeya out of his thoughts. “Why did they do that to him? What exactly happened?” The young cavalry captain closed his eye and sighed.
“I don’t know. He didn’t really…talk.” Kaeya rested his clasped hands on his legs. “They used some sort of device which Albedo will examine tonight.”
“The captain of the investigation team?”
“Yeah, though it seems kind of pointless. The damage is done.” Adelinde wordlessly intertwined one of her hands into Kaeya’s, rubbing the back of his hand with her free one. Kaeya’s pain-filled smile was the only acknowledgement he gave in response to the act of kindness.
They stayed that wait for a while until Barbara and Jean both exited the medical room. Kaeya and Adelinde hopped up from the pew and met the sisters half way.
“How is he?” Adelinde asked. Barbara looked at her sister hesitantly, so Jean spoke up.
“We stopped the bleeding and gave him a light sedative to help calm him down. He’s resting on one of the beds right now. It’s the first any of the healers have dealt with something like this…” she trailed off. A moment of silence surrounded the four.
“He’ll need the gauze on his fingers to be changed at least twice a day for the first week,” said Barbara. She looked down at the ground and lowered her voice. “He won’t be able to use his hands for a while. Even lifting light things, such as utensils…or even opening a door…” Adelinde let the breath she didn’t even know she was holding.
“Will you prescribe something for the pain?” the housemaid asked.
“Of course. I’ll—”
“How long?” Kaeya interrupted Barbara. The young girl looked almost frightened by the young man. After nervously tucking some hair behind her ear, she answered,
“…it will take about four to five months for his nails to completely regrow.” Kaeya’s fists clenched at his side. “B-but we’ll have him come in for scheduled appointments with one of the healers. That will help considerably—uh, Sir Kaeya, where are you going?” Kaeya was halfway to the door before Jean came running after him.
“Kaeya, no! You’re not allowed anywhere near the fatui members we arrested.”
“Why?” he snarled.
“W-why?” Jean repeated his words flabbergasted. “You’re too close to this!”
“Master Diluc is no closer to me than whoever is interrogating them now,” he scoffed.
“ Archons, Kaeya! You’re still brothers. I don’t care what happened between you two. You both have a lot of history, and I’m afraid that if you—”
“I’m not going to kill anyone, Jean,” Kaeya said softly. “but I’m going to talk to that witch. You can come with me or stay here, but I’m going.” Jean whispered a short prayer before sprinting after her stubborn cavalry captain to keep up.
*****
The mirror maiden sat on the bed in the cell, holding her broken arm tenderly. The healers gave priority to the nobleman they found with all his fingernails plucked out.
Understandable.
So she was surprised when the acting grandmaster and cavalry captain of Mondstadt’s Knights of Favonius waltzed into the jail and stopped in front of her cell.
“To what do I owe the pleasure?” she asked coyly. She tried not to flinch as she noticed the temperature began to drop.
“What were you after?” Kaeya asked coldly.
“Tsk, information, obviously.”
“What information?”
“I’d be more likely to answer if you’d at least tend to my wounds.” Kaeya grabbed one of the cell bars and froze it.
“We’ve yet to determine whether there’ll be more wounds to take care of or not.”
“Kaeya…” Jean whispered, but the threat seemed to have worked. The maiden seemed to see something in Kaeya’s expression that Jean couldn’t quite make out. The fatuus unconsciously backed away. Letting out an angry exhale, the mirror maiden relented.
“The file you got your hands on a few weeks ago…we wanted it.” Kaeya felt a different type of anguish begin to fester inside him. “We thought your brother would be quick to help out, but it seems we got our information wrong,” she huffed then let out a chuckle. “I knew by about the fourth finger that he still loved you and wouldn’t give up any information. The rest was mostly me having fun. Did you hear him scream?”
“You fu—” Jean yanked Kaeya’s arm and practically threw him out the door they entered through. She slammed the door behind her and guarded it. Kaeya regained his composure and scowled.
“I said I wasn’t going to kill her!”
“Kaeya, what file is she talking about?” Kaeya’s anger faded quickly, replaced by the anxiety he was hoping wouldn’t set in. The file that he’d stolen from some fatui in Liyue…the file that talked about Khaenri’ah.
“Jean…I…” Kaeya found himself unable to continue. In a rare moment of speechlessness, Kaeya shifted his gaze to the ground in silent defeat. The blonde sighed and put a hand on Kaeya’s shoulder when it was clear he was struggling with what to say.
“Why don’t you go be with Diluc?” Jean asked.
“I’m probably the last person he wants to see.” Jean used anemo to soothe Kaeya and gently nudged him the way they came in.
“Sure he does. Go be with him.” The cavalry captain sighed and slowly started to walk away. “And Kaeya…don’t blame yourself.”
Easier said than done.
*****
When Kaeya entered the infirmary in the cathedral, he immediately spotted Diluc’s striking red hair amongst the pristine white sterility of the room. Adelinde was talking to a healer nearby. Kaeya walked over to his estranged brother who was sitting on the side of the bed looking absolutely exhausted. Diluc didn’t really acknowledge Kaeya’s presence when he sat down next to him.
“You look like you’re about to fall asleep,” the cavalry captain said.
“Mhm.” Kaeya looked down at Diluc’s hands. Some blood had visibly seeped into the gauzes covering the area where his fingernails should be. Kaeya cursed internally. Diluc wouldn’t be swinging a claymore around for a while. It was as if they’d declawed him. Maybe that was the fatui’s plan all along—getting rid of the Darknight Hero…at least that’s what Kaeya tried to tell himself in order to ignore that it was really his fault.
“Why didn’t you just…answer their questions?” Kaeya whispered so no nosy patients or healers could hear him.
“Hmpf. Screw the fatui.”
Kaeya let out a humorless laugh. He was going to say something when Adelinde approached them.
“Alright, let’s get you back to the winery. Will you be joining us, Master Kaeya?” The cavalry captain shook his head.
“No, but I’ll help you take him out to the wagon. He looks like he might fall asleep on you.” Adelinde smiled and nodded her head.
“That would be much appreciated, Master Kaeya. Can you stand, Master Diluc?” The redhead replied by shakily standing up. Thankfully Kaeya was there to help steady him before he fell back down on the bed.
With Diluc’s arm gingerly placed over Kaeya’s shoulder, they started leading him towards the door when a loud bang echoed in the room. One of the patients had dropped their books on the floor, but that didn’t matter. Diluc let out a curt yell and pulled his hands towards his chest, curling in on himself.
“Master Diluc!”
“Diluc!”
Kaeya rubbed his estranged brother’s back and knelt to the floor with him as the redhead began shaking like a leaf. He noticed Diluc’s breaths came out short and quick and the poor man had visibly paled. He somehow looked so much sicker than before.
“Master Diluc, please take a deep breath, it’s alright,” Adelinde said. One of the healers ran over to the trio and knelt down as well. She placed a hand on Diluc’s head and tried to provide a soothing touch.
“Poor dear is having a panic attack.”
“Deep breaths, Di. C’mon. Listen to Addie,” Kaeya said without really thinking. He had time to be embarrassed about the nicknames later. Right now he was worried about Diluc. He hadn’t seen him in such a state since his father’s…passing.
Diluc’s breathing slowly regulated, but he was still trembling and sweating.
“Maybe he should stay overnight for observation…” the healer suggested. Kaeya shook his head.
“With all due respect, I don’t think it’s a good idea if there’s an increased chance of certain individuals making a noise like that again.”
“I understand what you’re saying, Sir Kaeya, but—”
“Let’s make a compromise then. We’ll bring him to my apartment. It’s quite nearby, so if anything goes wrong it will be much safer than him staying at the Winery tonight.” The healer relented and agreed to the blue-haired man’s request.
“Sorry…” Diluc mumbled. “Fine now, really. Just wanna go home,” he slurred. Adelinde and Kaeya once again got the poor young man situated and left the cathedral, though with a new destination in mind—Kaeya’s apartment.
Adelinde came with him and helped Diluc get into bed. He was unable to unbutton his shirt and pants. He was even unable to grab the blanket without experiencing such awful pain, but no sooner than his head hit the pillow did he fall asleep.
Kaeya reassured the housemaid that she didn’t need to stay, but she put up quite a fight. Once Kaeya agreed that she could arrive first thing in the morning and make them both breakfast, she finally returned to the winery, but not before doing something she hadn’t done since Kaeya was a little boy. Adelinde placed her hands on the side of Kaeya’s face and gently pulled his head down low enough so that she could kiss his forehead.
“I’ll be back in the morning for both of you, Master Kaeya. Please get some rest,” she said softly. Kaeya nodded and tried to hide how choked up he was as she left. Once she was gone, Kaeya went and got his makeshift bed on the floor ready in the guest room Diluc was using. Before he laid down, Kaeya brushed Diluc’s hair out of his face and did something that his big brother used to do for him when he was sick.
He placed a gentle kiss on Diluc’s forehead and whispered,
“Goodnight, Di.”