Chapter Text
the war has been devastating to teyvat. no nation has been spared as a godless nation tried to reach the heavens to attain vengeance. when they were defeated and the traveller from across the stars was pronounced the hero, every nation celebrated.
but war always leaves pain and suffering to everyone, sparing nobody.
and it has been especially painful to the once-hailed darknight hero.
every moment diluc closes his eyes, he could see the pained smile on the cavalry captain’s face before he disappears into the light, never to be seen again. he could still hear his own voice, shouting, calling after the man he once called brother.
it had been ten months ever since kaeya disappeared, three months since the knights of favonius called off their search of their cavalry captain, and one month since diluc last stepped outside.
everyone in the dawn winery is worried for their master. the ones who have been there since the darknight hero was a boy worry that he may once again flee into the night and disappear for years; a worry that especially haunts adelinde.
but diluc does not care. he could not bring himself to care for mondstadt and its people in his current state of anguish. to him, it was the nation that gave up on his brother, the nation that let him down a second time. not even the whispers of comfort from the archon could ease the pain.
in his mind there is only kaeya: his tanned skin and the eye that imprisons a galaxy. there is only the man he thought he had forgotten how to love, only to leave him with such hurt that he would rather face the wrath of celestia than live like this.
there is so much more he wanted to talk about with his brother. so much more they needed to discuss.
he vanished with the mistaken thought that i hated him all these years.
diluc finally straightens up, moves his body in a way he hasn’t willed it to move since his brother disappeared right in front of his eyes. gathering essentials, he haphazardly throws them into a suitcase. if the knights of favonius will not look for their cavalry captain, then he will.
he storms into the night, adelinde’s fear realised.