Chapter Text
Mornings at the Dawn Winery had always been Diluc’s favorite.
He often found himself drawn to the quiet countryside nestled within the cliffs, it brought a sort of peace that nothing else could seem to replicate, a sort of soothing hand that wiped away his worries and fears. Even if the feeling only ever lasted just for a short while, when he wandered through propped-up vineyards and sprawling trees, he felt whole.
It was a good place to get lost in thought, as Diluc would oftentimes find himself doing, dancing, and twirling over memories and past conversations, most of them upbeat and filling with their past stories, so much so he felt his spirits lift like a heavy rope slowly unwinding from his chest.
Oftentimes he’d get caught roaming the vineyards in the early hours of the morning by the Winery staff, just to breathe in the crisp fresh air before the warm heat of the day took over, inhaling the fragile scent of spring in the air when curious blooms pushed from the earth after a chilling onslaught of winter, ready to reach to the heavens once more with their delicate petals.
This morning was no different than those, it’d been better than most actually. He’d even given Charles the go-ahead to take off for the day, Diluc feeling in far higher spirits to not take the opportunity to enjoy his tentative freedom within the beautiful walls of Mondstat.
It seemed a far better alternative to staying cooped up in the winery all day, left to attend to mountains of paperwork he had yet to even touch.
Of course, he’d have to work twice as hard to make up for the missing day of work, but he’d manage somehow.
He always did.
Boots fell from hard cobble to soft dirt as he rounded the corner of the path, choosing today to wander up past the vineyard, toward the lone statue looking over the grapes below, the estate below him sprawling the higher he wandered.
It was especially cooler on this side of the estate.
The silence surrounding him was good too.
He really should consider taking this route more often.
Diluc looked ahead to the impending trial, leisurely pace a rhythmic march under his shoes-
Something like shock stopped him dead in his tracks.
Ahead of him stood the silhouette of someone that shouldn’t be there. They stood tall and lanky, the shadow behind the dawn long enough to brush the toes of his boots. They towered, highlighted in a halo of light standing further uphill in the trail ahead and Diluc was suddenly finding it harder and harder to breathe.
It- it couldn’t be-
The image before him lasted only for a second before the figure, vanished behind the rising sun, wiping away the visage of a memory scattered into dozens of pieces, leaving him wondering if it had been real or simply a memory coming back to haunt him.
Diluc would very much rather forget those memories.
But it seems the universe wouldn’t let him.
It was as if his own mind was content with giving him tiny flashes of his past, handed to him with as much care as a child with a glass plate that was destined to wind up shattered to bits on the ground-
The echo of a child’s laugh fell into his ears and without warning he was thrown to his younger years, running through neighboring woods that gave way to pristine sandy beaches fallen behind rolling hills of grass and trees. A younger Diluc found sneaking from his father’s side on distant trips to collect shells and trinkets alongside the best friend he had the greatest joy in the world to call brother-
He fell forward through the memory, heart hurling up his throat till he stopped dead to one night Diluc was certain he’d never be able to forget. Blood and burns coated his hands in some unsuspecting mural, the sword hilt unnaturally hot against his fingers through the thick leather of his new gloves but it was nothing against the anger of betrayal coursing through his veins.
The chilling rain fell brisk and unforgivably cold the April night everything fell apart. His own brother lay fallen on his back in the mud, half his face coated in his own blood with one eye nearly swelled shut, rain-soaked clothing clinging to his small frame as Kaeya looked up at him in fear as pure rage coursed through Diluc’s veins-
Then the flash of blue and the startling chill that stunned them both, making that horrific night solidify the moment Kaeya was granted a vision.
Fighting his own brother-
That memory too shattered to bits before him, leaving him standing rigid still among the hills once more.
It might have only been minutes or even seconds that Diluc stood staring out to that section of the trail, his hands were shaking now and he hurriedly clenched them to fists, shoving back into his coat pockets to hide the weakness, though from who he didn’t know.
The morning chill that had been so serene and welcoming merely minutes before turned sharp and brisk, digging icy claws into his skin causing Diluc to suppress a shiver.
He turned back down the trail to the winery.
He’d had enough visiting of old ghosts for the day.
Suddenly Diluc wasn’t feeling so up for tending to the tavern anymore-
After all it’s-
It’s only been-
It took him inhaling another breath through stuttering lungs to get the thought through, feet momentarily stumbling as he did so.
Four years.
It’s been four years since then.
Why couldn’t he just let that memory go?
Kaeya had left the night they fought, and understandably so, scraping his room bare of any belongings and left no sign to where he might’ve gone. Diluc had went straight to Jean for information the following day after the rain stopped, thinking the teen had simply moved into Mond as an attempt to distance himself from him (he didn’t blame him for that-), but one short chat and a lap around the city all but confirmed the growing sinking feeling in his gut the moment he’d caught sight of that empty room that morning-
Kaeya didn’t just leave the winery.
He’d left the city entirely.
Left the nation.
He wasn’t coming back.
And it took Jean placing Diluc on house arrest months later to halt his self-induced madness of a search to drive home the fact that Kaeya had moved on from his life in Mondstat long ago.
It was time Diluc did too.
And as much as his heart begged and pleaded to set things right between them, he couldn’t deny things had gone too far.
If Kaeya wanted to be found he would have, he just had to face the fact he no longer had a brother to lean on anymore, that one person left in his life literally burned away by his own hands-
His own damn anger getting in the way again, far too on edge from watching the light die in his father's eyes, too strung up to realize they could have just talked.
Instead, he’d thought it wise to push back the only family he had left.
And he regretted it.
He regretted it every day since then.
His boot found a particularly sharp rock in the path and he idly kick it away from wandering feet, dust kicking up from the force of it, and Diluc watched with dull eyes as it landed in the grass.
Recalling that sore spot from his past never failed to put a dampen over the rest of his day.
But why did he have to get so strung up over that memory? To be quite honest it’d been years since it last came to mind that sudden.
He thought back to the shadowed silhouette over the trail and involuntarily shivered.
Besides.
There was no reason to cling to the past any longer.
After all.
It’s been four years.
It wasn’t like Kaeya would have any intention of returning now.