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They said they needed a sacrifice.
It didn’t make sense. None of it made sense. A small cult of twisted individuals that seeked immortality? Kaeya would have rolled his eyes and joked about the stupidity of it all if it hadn’t been for the method which the low-lifes were using.
On a stone slab laid Diluc Ragnvindr. The young man whom Kaeya had regarded as an older brother. The only family member Kaeya had left.
It didn’t make sense how in that moment everything that had happened between the two of them since father’s passing suddenly didn’t matter anymore. These people kidnapped Diluc—drugged him with something strong enough to keep him lying there unrestrained. They stripped him of everything he had, including his pyro vision and his dignity. They had also splayed his hair out as if he were an artwork.
Three cultists leaders stood at the slab, facing the rest of their followers and Kaeya and Jean who had disguised themselves as such and snuck in. They had been expecting to garner information and make an arrest or two before officially storming the rest of the cult with the knights.
That was before they walked into the room where Diluc lay naked on the sacrifice altar.
Kaeya mumbled a few curses before Jean grabbed his arm and motioned for him to be silent. The winemaster hadn’t been seen for three days, but it wasn’t that unusual for him. Sometimes Diluc disappeared to Archons knows where, and despite knowing most of his estranged brother’s secrets, Kaeya had no idea why or what Diluc did during those times. It was obvious now that Diluc hadn’t been on one of his secret journeys but held captive by these lunatics.
This had changed everything. This was no longer an “in and out” mission. They needed to save Diluc. Nothing else mattered. At least not right now. Jean grabbed Kaeya’s hand and squeezed it, bringing him back to the present. She tugged him along towards the front of the room.
“We are close to immortality, my children.” The booming voice of the cult leader echoed within the confines of this once abandoned wine cellar. “It was difficult, but we have finally acquired the perfect sacrifice. The Ragnvindr clan is one of the three noble houses of Mondstadt, as you all know, but the Ragnivindr clan also carries the blood of Vanessa, the ascended one.”
Kaeya and Jean slowly moved forward through the crowd, trying not to attract any attention and listening to the cult leader prattle on about how they had prepared Diluc, which, amongst other things, involved feeding him only unleavened bread for the past few days.
“He is the last of his line. He has no heirs. The last Ragnvindr shall be our lamb. We shall drink his blood and become one. We shall become immortal. We—” The cult leader was cut off as a blast of anemo knocked him down and away from where he loomed over the redhead.
Surprisingly, Jean had lost her composure before Kaeya. She pulled her hooded robe off and shouted with as much authority as she could muster.
“Your actions are reprehensible! I will not allow this to continue any further!” Following her lead, Kaeya pulled his hood down and drew his sword. The two cult sub leaders didn’t hesitate as they ordered their minions upon the two knights.
Despite being so close to the front, Kaeya and Jean were significantly outnumbered which was why they were unable to reach Diluc in time. At least, that’s what Jean had kept telling Kaeya. The cavalry captain honestly wasn’t sure what all transpired, a side effect of shock as one of the nuns had put it.
He remembered freezing as many of the cultists to the floor as he could, but there always seemed to be someone in his way. Someone who was always stopping him from immediately rushing to Diluc. Kaeya remembers feeling annoyed and apathetic towards those he mowed down with his blade. All he could think about was Diluc.
Then Jean screamed.
“NO!”
Kaeya had never heard such a primal rage and fear in the acting grandmaster’s voice, but he didn’t need to look at her to know what she could possibly be upset about. The cavalry captain stared in horror as the cultist leader, who had regained his place at the redhead’s side, had his hands around a knife that he pulled out of Diluc’s stomach.
There was a lot of red. Kaeya could distinctly remember that, but everything after that moment was a blur until he found himself standing over Diluc.
Blood was pouring out of the gaping wound. Now that Kaeya was closer, he could make out impressions in the stone so that the blood would run into a basin. Now that he thought about it, it made Kaeya feel sick, but at the time all he could think about was how hard he tried to put pressure on the wound.
Diluc had even whimpered in pain. At some point he had opened his eyes too, but judging by his dilated pupils and far off stare, Diluc was unable to properly register what was going on around him.
Kaeya had been pleading with Barbatos to heal his brother, but he didn’t remember doing so. Jean said he was so desperate that she struggled to get him to give her space to assess Diluc’s injury.
After that…
He doesn’t know.
Kaeya’s sitting in the cathedral by himself. Jean was talking to some of the knights about what happened…probably. He wasn’t able to focus on anything really. Well, his bloodied hands and clothes caught his attention. It was a lot of blood. You would think Kaeya was trying out a new color scheme.
If Diluc died this would be his last memory of his brother.
Red.
He supposed it was fitting.
“Kaeya.” The cavalry captain slowly turned his head towards Jean. She got on one knee so that she could look up at the traumatized man…though in this moment he reminded her of the little boy he once was.
“Kaeya, I’m going to take you back to your apartment.” A knot in his throat seemed to keep Kaeya from responding. Jean grabbed one of his hands in reassurance. She would have used her anemo to help calm him down if she had any energy left to do so. “I know you want to stay by his side, but you have to get cleaned up. After you take a shower and put on some clean clothes you can come back.” Kaeya looked down at his clothes and his hands once more.
“He lost a lot of blood,” he whispered. Jean nodded solemnly.
“But he’s made it this far. He’s in good hands now. C’mon, let’s get cleaned up before you see him.”
The cavalry captain did as he was told. He followed Jean to his apartment like he was a lost puppy. Maybe that’s all he’d be if he didn’t have Diluc. He took a shower and put on a new change of clothes. Jean waited patiently for Kaeya as if she didn’t have a million other things she should have been doing. When the young man came out of his room looking a little better, Jean took a breath of relief and led him back to the cathedral.
Diluc was very, very pale. If it weren’t for the slight rise and fall of his chest, Kaeya would think he was looking at a corpse. The red hair framed Diluc’s gaunt face, but it couldn’t hide how weak and frail the winemaster had become.
Apparently the cultists had been drawing blood from Diluc each day they had him. He was already low on blood when he was stabbed in his gut. It was only by a miracle that Diluc had been able to survive. That’s what Jean had said.
“He’s going to be alright, but he’ll need to rest for a while. You can stay by his side until he’s better,” Jean told him. Kaeya trusted her and wanted to believe her. That’s why he allowed himself to believe that Diluc was going to be okay.
Kaeya held Diluc’s hand as he rested his head on the bed.
It had been too close. He had been this close to losing Diluc—to losing everything. Kaeya let his eyes close as he tried to take something akin to a nap.
Never again.
Kaeya would make sure of that.