Chapter Text
His fingers feel so little against his fathers - he clutches onto him harder than a child should, a silent, desperate plea for the man to not let go. The torrential downfall of rain makes it hard to see and Kaeya is scared of the dark, scared of the booming thunder and scattered lightning. He's freezing in the fall rain, skin clammy and cold, his legs hurt, and he only clings harder to his father as the man tries to pry him off. It's only half hearted, he realizes - and his father is warm compared to him, his heartbeat strong. Once, it lulled him to sleep.
"Kaeya -" The quiet plea in his voice, barely heard over the heavy rain. Kaeya shakes his head. "I need you to do this. For me. For our beloved homeland."
"No."
His father manages to pry him off and grip his shoulders, shoving him to an arms length and kneeling down in the mud. A hand slips underneath his wet bangs, revealing an eye of gold. "If not for me or for home, do it for your mother." Kaeya can barely even remember her, she is a fuzzy memory now but his father had a picture of her at his bedside. A spitting image in looks and personality , his father used to tell him. "I promise I will come back."
"I don't want you to go," his lower lip quivers and he looks desperate up at his father, whose face is hidden beneath the hood. There is something monstrous lurking beneath that hood, Kaeya had seen it in glimpses over the past few months. "You don't gotta."
A soft, heavy sigh. "I love you, Kaeya." A small locket is shoved into his little hand. "Hold onto this for me, okay? I will come back, I promise." Kaeya squeezes it in his hand, he can no longer look at his father. "Please, please forgive me."
Resignation hits as his father slowly walks away, the once straight back now hunched over and he notices how much harder it seems for him to walk. Age, or something, is catching up to him and soon, he's gone - the rain takes him with it. Kaeya stumbles around the long path for a while, tripping over a stray root and injuring his knee and ankle. He whimpers and curls up underneath the offending tree, deciding he'd make it to Mondstadt himself in the morning. For now, he should stay put (even though a part of him clings to hope that his father will regret his choice and return, scoop him up in his arms and apologize profusely and make the pain in his leg go away) until the rain lightens up some.
Kaeya wraps his arms around himself, shivering violently as he tries to fall asleep - that makes time go faster, but the thunder only scares him more and he bites back tears. He has to be strong for his father, he has to be for the ghost of his mother, and his home that he doesn't quite understand why.
An orange light, after which felt like hours, catches his attention and he unfurls himself briefly to look at the offending light with hope. Did he change his mind and come back?
"Papa?" his little voice barely carries in this storm.
The light casts upon him and he squints, reeling back when the outline of a different man appears. Striking red hair and amber eyes, a confused look on his face - this man is not his father. Kaeya's heart pounds in his chest, his lungs constrict. He's so foolish to believe that his father would come back for him, not when his mission is so important.
"Why are you all the way out here, alone?" the man asks, accent barely understandable. Kaeya had been taught Common but somehow, it's different now that he has to put it to practice. It sounds so strange on a tongue that is not of home, not of his father nor the remaining maids. He wonders if he'll sound just as silly as this man.
"My - my dad went to...get grape juice." Kaeya lies, lamely. His leg hurts, his stomach hurts. He hates the way he sounds when he talks.
"And left you in this storm?" Confusion. He holds his hand out to Kaeya. "C'mon. We'll find your dad tomorrow, this storm is supposed to get worse." Kaeya eyes him with suspicion, before glancing down the unknown path his father had disappeared to. He's not coming back. "I should introduce myself first, I think. I'm Crepus Ragnivindr, of the Dawn Winery. I have a son about your age, you might get along with him. Diluc."
Son my age, Diluc , Kaeya commits to memory. With hesitancy, Kaeya grabs Crepus' hand and winces when he stands up.
"Ah, we'll get your injury fixed at home." It's a swift movement, but he finds himself being carried in Crepus' arms. His father had never carried him like this, Kaeya realizes. Not once. So he clings to this man named Crepus, buries his face in his shirt, and smells the scent of wine and grapes on him. Somehow, it's bitter and sweet all at the same time and it makes him nauseous.