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Even when it was new year's eve, when even the bad guys had a reason to be home and spend time with their families, there were those who had to be responsible and take care of their jobs. Things were easier to take care of, and many places looked cuter than they actually did when the blanket of snow covered them, but nothing was worth risking anything.
Deciding who will be working on patrolling duty, especially outside of the city gates, has always been a huge deal for the Knights of Favonius for new year's eve. Every single member of the knights wanted to spend time with their families during this special day. Those who sacrificed their Christmas holiday were already on leave, now tasting their freshly baked pies.
Jean once said that she would love to help as well, but she had to promise Barbara she will join her when Jean had to decline her invitation to the Christmas celebration made by the Church of Favonius. When the blonde knight was feeling guilty and also a little bit scared for leaving everything like that, the cavalry captain stepped in.
“Enjoy your night, you have been working so hard. I will take care of everything. You said you were supposed to watch over Dragonspine from the small cave you just mentioned, correct? Leave it to me.”
“You have no idea how much you would be helping me, thank you, Kaeya.”
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It was cold.
Despite his responsibility of watching over Dragonspine, all the cavalry captain could do was watch the city adorned with the lighting of all colors, mostly yellowish. The gentle snow excited everyone in the city was a terrible blizzard in the ruthless conditions of Dragonspine. No enemy could ever think of staying there, not even the Cryo Abyss Mages, when the wind howled so crazily and the snowstorm just didn’t know such a thing as mercy.
Leaning onto the cold stone wall of the cave, Kaeya had so many things to think about. But he constantly thanked Jean that she mentioned the cave or he would have been long gone, missing under the endless amount of snow. The wind that blew outside was strong enough to throw an adult with ease, barely one hour ago. Trying to survive the wind and get to safety, Kaeya lost many pieces of survival equipment he needed to fill his stomach and most importantly, not freeze to death.
Staring at his Vision, he wondered why he didn’t get to be as resistant as Eula when it came to extreme colds. He could feel his bones shivering under his skin, or the cold has numbed his brain so badly that he couldn't think properly. The second option seemed more believable so he didn’t question it any further.
All he had to do was stay there for a little longer, wait for the snow to stop, and run until his legs couldn’t carry him. He prayed to the Anemo Archon, saying that he will accept it as a new year's gift if he were to survive with his legs and arms still intact to his body.
But as time passed and the wonderful scenery of the city started to get lost behind the fog, Kaeya started to lose hope. His heart which was once beating fastly was now slowing down, knowing there was no reason to get excited and prepared for action.
Staring blankly at the scenery, Kaeya started to think about his life, as if he was aware that his end has arrived. Maybe it did, maybe Kaeya was just dramatic about it. But everything started to feel so unfair when he noticed that everyone, every single person he knew, had some people to celebrate the new year with.
Some of them had their families, while the others had their friends as close as a real family. Everyone had high hopes for the new year, things that they prepared to give each other, and plans they did. Many people claimed that the new year will be different and they will change some of their bad habits.
For Kaeya, ever since he lost everything on that one night when he was engulfed in flames, nothing ever changed since that date. It felt stupid as it always did, not a portion of excitement about the time passing and how much of a successful year it has been. He simply couldn’t get excited, when all he got to feel during new year’s eve was loneliness and helplessness.
How was he going to love a new year when he couldn’t even love himself? Maybe he did deserve to be there, about to freeze to death.
But he would most likely love the idea of celebrating the new year if he had something warm around. He felt like he would even hug the fire itself if it existed. Anything that could lighten the dark cave was more than enough, Kaeya was tired of the cold emptiness of the darkness.
Rather than the fire, anything eatable would be wonderful. The vivid visionary of a big piece of steak in the most beautiful tone of brown appeared in front of his eye. If Kaeya had any bodily liquid to waste, he would have been drooling at the fake sight.
He started to think about what else he would love to have. He had a fire, he got to feel very warm and it lightened the cave perfectly. He had a piece of steak, looking so big and nutrient that he could climb up to the summit of that damned mountain if here were to finish it.
Maybe having someone to accompany him while had to stay there and wait would be wonderful. He would even accept being friends with a treasure hoarder, as long as that person had something to talk about. Or would he prefer the serenity of silence and simply listen to the voice of the snowstorm?
Thinking about the snowstorm, Kaeya also wished the fog could go away so he could have something to look at. The scenery was perfect minutes ago, Mondstadt looked glamorous.
But who he was to imagine all of those? Coming from a godless nation that was destroyed and cursed till the end of time, he had to be thankful that all of his ten fingers were functional and his mind had the capacity to think all of this.
But maybe he wished he couldn't. Then, he would never have to endure any of the pains and responsibilities he had to face. Maybe, if he were to be a wanderlust Hilichurl who walked around without a purpose in life, it could have been easier to handle death and loss. He would have no responsibilities, no one’s life would get ruined because of him, and he would have been forgotten completely once someone like Diluc tore him asunder with the blow of a claymore.
Diluc. He really wished he could apologize to Diluc, or at least let him know that he was very aware of how hurtful his actions were. That Kaeya acknowledged he deserved everything happened to him, including being imprisoned in that uncomfortable cave and most likely freezing to his death.
Kaeya felt his eyelids getting heavier and heavier, like the burden on his shoulders. The walls of the cave were already uncomfortable enough, so Kaeya saw no reason why he shouldn’t lie on the floor instead. At least, the terrible ache invading his back would go away. Was it the side effect of leaning onto that wall for too long? Or was it the result of another frostbite he wasn’t aware of? He couldn’t care anymore.
He pulled off the fur attached to his cape and used it as a pillow to put his head on. He tried to cover himself with the cape but it didn’t help at all, making Kaeya giggle at the thought of how helpless and ridiculous he looked.
He closed his eyes. And prepared himself for the worst, while feeling nothing but an unbearable emptiness in his chest. The pain in his body was long gone, and he probably have passed the point of no return. He thought of Dawn Winery, and how sure he was when he thought he was going to die when that red-haired man with a beard and a huge coat approached him…
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“Kaeya? Kaeya? Wake up! Kaeya! Hey!”
The man in black held Kaeya by his arm and shook him crazily. “Hey! Answer me!”
“W—what?” Kaeya opened his eyes, annoyed by the sudden movement and how his peaceful sleep was interrupted. He, even though it was too hard when his body was about to freeze entirely just couldn’t move properly, managed to roll and look at whoever that person was. Who with their right mind would bear all the troubles of the terrible snowstorm and come all the way up there, only to wake him?
“Master Diluc?” Kaeya opened his eye widely. His blurry vision got fixated the moment he noticed the familiar shade of red in front of him. Diluc’s hair was ruined in the snowstorm, and his face was reddened because of the cold as well. He looked both funny and cute, looking at Kaeya with worry on his face rather than anger or annoyance.
Wait… worry? “What happened?”
“What do you mean what happened?” Diluc sounded louder, or Kaeya was too tired to understand the difference between their voices. “Look at yourself!”
Kaeya looked at himself, only to see the scary results of the extreme cold. Almost the entirety of his skin was pale, and his fingertips were purplish. The cuts of frostbite caused blood to drip all over his arms.
Diluc was busy getting something out of his backpack when Kaeya was staring at his hands in shock, not having any idea when all of those happened and how he couldn’t notice that he was injured. Did he sleep so long that all of these happened in time? Or was the cold so numbing that he couldn’t feel it when his body was literally shattering into pieces?
Kaeya’s brain couldn’t function. It was just so hard to think, and when he tried harder to reason with what is going on, his brain ached. He whined quietly, instantly attracting Diluc’s attention.
The older man looked at him, worry still written on his face. “It is okay, you are going to get warm in no time.”
Diluc put his Vision on Kaeya’s lap. The Vision shone brightly and the wave of warmth shocked Kaeya, a surprise quite welcome. He couldn’t help but smile at the Vision as if he earned it. He touched the powerful gem and getting to sense something again made him happy. He missed feeling his fingers and even the feeling of pain felt more comfortable than the emptiness of numbed senses.
Diluc placed the small pieces of wood in his backpack and formed a little campfire, just enough to lighten the cave a little and provide them extra heath. Diluc focused on his hands and sparkles of fire fell onto the wood waiting to burn. The cave did a wonderful job blocking the wind from entering inside directly, giving the fire the place to grow bigger and actually become useful.
The cavalry captain watched the dancing flames in awe. Those were his saviors, unlike the ones he had to survive many years ago. Kaeya looked at Diluc with thankfulness written on his face, mouth open but having no word to say to express his gratitude.
“Why did you even think it would be a good idea to come here dressed like that?” Diluc instantly questioned, then stopped himself from going further. “Never mind, you wouldn't survive even if you had five layers of clothing…”
Kaeya giggled, imagining himself in five layers of clothing and trying to walk around with them was quite funny.
How ironic it was. The moment the grumpy Diluc showed up, Kaeya suddenly got his sense of humor back and couldn't help but feel happy that he survived the cold for so long.
His big brother truly was a miracle.
But he couldn’t feel any more grateful when the pain in his arms started to worsen with his senses coming back. His legs started to ache too and the pain got worse as seconds passed. An expression of pain appeared on Kaeya’s face, eye opening wide and eyebrows raising as much as they could.
“You are lucky that I thought of the possibility of you getting injured to the point of death when I was getting prepared,” Diluc murmured under his breath, once again checking what he had inside that magical backpack of his. Despite its size, it seemed to have lots of things in it, denying the laws of physics.
“Wait, wait, hold on,” Kaeya tried to reason as Diluc pulled bandages from the backpack and started to cover up Kaeya’s injuries. “You got prepared and came here for me?”
“Yes?”
“No other… reasons?”
“No?”
“Not like you… just happened to pass by and see me?”
Once Diluc was done with Kaeya’s left arm, he looked the cavalry captain in the eye. “What do you think am I? A monster?”
Kaeya had nothing to say. Of course, he didn’t think Diluc was anything near a monster. He would even say Diluc is one of the most thoughtful and protective people he ever got to the pleasure of meeting. It was just that being an enemy of his was what was so horrifying.
Kaeya simply couldn’t think about the possibility of Diluc seeing him important enough to leave everything and come there in that unknown hour, just to find him on the verge of dying because of his own unluckiness.
“The moment I heard you were going to be here from Jean, I started preparing to come here and take you. I even brought some… less-harmless equipment to hit you in the neck and carry you all the way back to Mondstadt if you were to refuse to come with me.”
“What?” he whispered in shock. Diluc nodded as if he said something normal, that he even thought of blacking Kaeya out. “Uh, I mean, thanks but… You didn’t have to bother.”
“If I didn’t, you would die.”
“Oh, right.”
Diluc took off his coat and placed it on Kaeya’s shoulders, claiming the natural warmth of his body and the heat coming from the fire was enough to keep him warm; unlike a certain someone who had natural coldness because of his Vision.
For a while, they sat in silence. Kaeya’s condition got better as time passed and his body managed to reach a temperature away from health risks and painful conditions. It was his wounds only that ached, and Kaeya could endure them easily after facing death half an hour ago.
“I really thought I was too late when I saw on the floor,” Diluc said. “You scared me.”
“Sorry, I couldn’t predict you would somehow come here, my savior,” Kaeya humored, then got serious. “But, really. Thank you. You saved my life.”
“Maybe you couldn’t have predicted that, but why did you even accept the guarding duty?”
“Because I wanted Jean and Barbara to celebrate the new year together?” he explained. According to Kaeya, this was a good explanation. “What was I going to do? Sitting in Mondstadt all by myself and watching people have the fun I will never get to… have… Oh, wait, I talked too much. Don’t mind me, it’s just the cold making me a little…”
“Honest?” Diluc asked. Kaeya couldn’t answer. He looked at Diluc for a second, and then lowered his head. He wasn’t going to admit what he said was the true reason why he agreed to leave Mondstadt and take care of the job in Dragonspine.
“Once we get out of here, we are going to celebrate the new year together.”
“We will what?” Kaeya noticed how loud he sounded when he asked Diluc what he just said. He looked at him as if he just heard the biggest secret of his life.
“No excuses. Or else… you know what I will do.”
“I would never think of refusing your offer, you don’t have to hit me with something and carry me around. But… you sure you want to celebrate the new year with me?”
“Stop asking stupid questions.”
But nothing made sense. If that man hated Kaeya with his entire being and wished nothing but to get rid of him one way or another, why he wanted to spend such an important night like him? What was the bigger picture Kaeya couldn’t see?
“You must be hungry. You should get something to eat so you can stop asking stupid questions,” Diluc explained and grabbed the magical backpack once again. He looked inside, checked what is available, and he put a few packages onto the cold floor. Inside the packages, there were containers.
“We have… some medicine… And then, some mint salad I got while I was trying to be prepared for each scenario. Then we have… some hash browns. Oh, and a big piece of meat.”
“Meat?” Kaeya couldn’t believe it. “Are you serious?”
“Don’t tell me you decided to become a vegetarian. What’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing! I was just dreaming about having a big piece of meat to eat when I was here all by myself!” Kaeya yelled in excitement, looking at the container that had the piece of meat in it. He looked like a wild animal looking at his prey.
Diluc smiled lightly at the expression Kaeya had. “So I guessed correctly?”
“Thank you, oh my savior, the angel sent by the Anemo Archon!”
The redhead giggled. Hearing him finally get rid of all the stress he had and finally have some chance to relax made Kaeya happy, feeling less guilty for worrying Diluc so much.
“Then open your mouth, and I will help you eat everything you want. And you will get to eat a lot more once we return to the city. Or Dawn Winery, if you were to accept my offer.”
The way how surreal everything felt started to… make Kaeya feel uneasy. Things just felt too perfect and right on point, especially with the piece of meat and mention of Dawn Winery.
But who he was to judge when everything felt so nice to be true? All he had to do was just enjoy it and let his emotional wounds heal alongside his physical injuries.
Kaeya was about to tell him to not bother himself but then he remembered his hands, so he had to accept Diluc’s help.
He chopped everything into small pieces and helped Kaeya eat everything. By the time they were done, Kaeya was as happy as a child who got anything he wanted for Christmas.
Now, they were leaning onto that same wall of the cave that was once cold. The fire has managed to lessen the painful cold into a bearable chilliness. With Diluc’s coat securing his back, Kaeya was more than happy. The serenity he experienced with his entire being brought joy and took away all the problems he had. For a while, he felt like all of the burden on his shoulders was lifted.
He looked outside and noticed that the fog has lessened. Just when he was going to tell Diluc to look at how wonderful the city looked, fireworks started to adorn the view. Diluc turned his head when he noticed the lighting and that small, gentle smile appeared on his face again. “Happy new year.”
With the childish excitement getting stronger in Kaeya’s chest, he realized that there was no trace of that disturbing emptiness from an hour ago.
He didn’t know what Diluc would do or say in return, but he still decided to hug Diluc’s arm and watch the fireworks like that. Diluc didn’t say a thing and they just looked at the fireworks.
“Happy new year, Master Diluc.”
“Just Diluc is enough.”
“Thank you, Diluc.”
The fireworks started to glow stronger. The explosion of colors amazed Kaeya, he had no idea fireworks like those ever existed.
The fog disappeared. He got to eat a big piece of meat. He got to have that little fire warm him and lighten the dark cave. Diluc came there, and they both talked a lot and shared a moment of silence. And Dawn Winery got mentioned.
Now, the only thing left undone from his dream was apologizing to Diluc.
“You know, Diluc. I might have tried my best to hide it for so long, but I am actually… aware of how much I hurt you over the years. Like, I tried to look like I didn’t care on purpose. But I really did and I… uh… I don’t know how to say this exactly but… I know I have a lot to apologize for. I just want you to know that I’m really sorry for everything I did wrong.”
Now saying those out loud, Kaeya felt better than he thought. The firework show got brighter.
“It’s okay. I already forgave you for everything. It’s my bad that I was too prideful to admit it.”
Kaeya gasped and smiled so wide that his cheeks hurt.
“I am sorry too, brother.”
“…brother?” Kaeya repeated. The happiness he experienced could explode his heart and he wouldn’t care. To hear that word leave Diluc’s mouth only for him, to refer to him as his brother once again… Kaeya was almost glad that all of those happened to him and he decided to help Jean by doing her work.
“You don’t have to be sorry, brother,” his eyes were full of tears. He hugged Diluc’s arm tighter even though Kaeya’s own arms ached. The injuries couldn't stop him from hugging his older brother.
Diluc didn’t look at Kaeya. The firework show got even brighter.
And then, the scenery stopped, it got frozen, and nothing moved. Kaeya looked at the scenery, having no idea about what was going on.
“I wish I really could save you,” Diluc said. “Then I would never leave your side.”
Kaeya looked at his Vision. The gem on it was gray.
“I am sorry, Kaeya.”
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In the report written by the Chief Alchemist, the Cavalry Captain of the Knights of Favonius Kaeya Alberich was found dead.
He has lost his life due to hypothermia. Just when the firework show in Mondstadt City began, when it has been seconds since the new year has begun.