Work Text:
The rain poured down outside Dawn Winery, the sound of thunder occasionally drowning out everything else. Diluc was alone in the manor; he’d sent his staff home early in anticipation of the storm, quite confident that no one would want to be out in this.
So who was knocking on the door?
Diluc sighed, pushing aside his paperwork and getting up to answer the door. Whoever it was, he couldn’t very well leave them out in the storm.
He was definitely not expecting to see Kaeya at the door, soaked from head to toe, the rain mingling with his tears.
“Kae, what are you- I thought you were in Sumeru.” Definitely not the right thing to say, but Diluc really didn’t know how to talk to Kaeya anymore.
It had been easy, once. But… neither of them were the same people they had been.
Kaeya was holding out a sword. Hilt first, giving it to him. Kaeya’s own sword, he realized. “Kaeya, what are you doing?”
“I figured you wouldn’t be armed in your own home, so I came prepared.”
“Prepared for what?”
“I want you to finish the job you started all those years ago. Just make it quick, I won’t resist.”
Oh. Oh, gods.
“I’m not going to- Kaeya, just come inside, we can talk about this, okay?” He placed one hand on the sword hilt, carefully taking the weapon from his brother, and took Kaeya’s hand with the other, pulling him inside and closing the door.
“D-Diluc, please, you have to! I-I tried to do it myself but I couldn’t go through with it, please, you have to kill me!” Kaeya sobbed.
“I’m not going to help you kill yourself!”
It came out angrier than Diluc meant it to.
He took a deep breath, steadying himself. Set the sword aside, out of Kaeya’s reach. Guided him to sit down on the couch.
“What is this about, Kaeya? Talk to me, please… just tell me what’s wrong.”
It felt so strange, to be talking to him like this. Like they were still brothers… but they were, weren’t they? They never really stopped being brothers, whatever he may have said.
“I-I need to die, please, I’m evil, I’m tainted, the Abyss is in me, please, ‘Luc, you gotta kill me!”
The Abyss…?
“Kaeya… did you learn something in Sumeru?”
Kaeya nodded weakly. “My family- the Alberich clan, they founded the Abyss Order, they still run it, a-and I’m one of them, I’m tainted, touched by the Abyss… I can’t be trusted, please, you have to take me out!”
Oh.
“Kaeya…”
Diluc wasn’t sure what to say. Everything he could come up with felt… so inadequate, somehow. How was he supposed to respond to that?
“Fuck them.”
“Wh-what?”
“Fuck them. Fuck the Alberichs. What they’ve done is horrible, yes. They created something evil. But you had no part in that.”
“I was an agent of the Abyss, Diluc!”
“Unknowingly. Tell me, Kaeya, if you were truly evil, would you be telling me this? Would you be begging me to kill you before you hurt someone? If you were evil, you wouldn’t care.”
“B-but what if it’s only a matter of time?! What if I’m doomed to end up like them, what if every Alberich’s heart goes black?”
“Well, then it’s a good thing you’re a Ragnvindr.”
Kaeya looked up at him, eye wide. “Wh-what?”
“You’re one of us, Kaeya. You’re my brother. You are Crepus Ragnvindr’s son. I never should have said otherwise. I was cruel to you, and I’m sorry. You don’t have to forgive me… but I forgive you.”
“I… Diluc, I forgave you a long time ago…”
Wait, what?
“You never told me…”
“I thought you wanted nothing to do with me!”
Oh. He had kind of given that impression, hadn’t he?
“Maybe… maybe I thought that too. But… you’re my brother, and I love you, Kaeya.”
Diluc let out a rather undignified yelp as Kaeya practically threw himself into his arms, then pulled him close, running a hand through his hair.
“I-I missed you so much, ‘Luc… I missed my big brother…”
“I missed you too, Kae. Now, what do you say we get you warm and dry before you catch a cold, hm? And then maybe I could set you up in your old room… it’s exactly how you left it.”
“...I know.”
“Hm?”
“I… might… possibly… have a habit of sneaking in the window…”
Ah.
“So that’s why Moco and Hillie think that room is haunted.”
Kaeya pulled away, looking offended. “I’m not a ghost! Tell them I’m not a ghost!”
“Well, then you’d better stop acting like one.”
“And how do you propose I do that, hm?”
“For starters? Use the door.”
Kaeya blinked at him. “Are you… saying I can move back in?”
“If you’d like.”
“I… I think I’d like that very much.”