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“What!? Why do I have to be the prisoner?” Diluc whined.
“Because it’s always me or Kaeya!” Jean huffed as she crossed her arms. “It’s not fair that you’re always a pirate.” Diluc looked between her Kaeya, the latter of which sheepishly scratching the back of his head while avoiding Diluc’s hurt gaze.
“But Kaeya doesn’t mind it!” Jean rolled her eyes and tried to keep herself from smacking the redhead in front of him.
“He’s too nice to tell you he doesn’t like playing prisoner.”
“Is that true?” Diluc asked Kaeya. Kaeya fiddled with his hands before nodding. Jean aggressively motioned a hand toward him.
“See?” Diluc looked between the pair once more.
“...can’t there be three pirates?” Jean stared at him in a way that started to scare him. “Fine.” Diluc begrudgingly handed his wooden sword to Kaeya before holding his hands out so that Jean could tie them together. Perhaps it was out of frustration, but she tied the rope so tight that the boy couldn’t have gotten out of the bind on his own even if he wanted to.
As soon as that was finished, Jean picked up her wooden sword and started to drag him away. Diluc could do nothing but sigh as the young blonde proudly proclaimed capture of her prisoner and led him to the base of the tree in Windrise.
*****
He rested his chin on his knees and watched as Kaeya and Jean fought with their swords. They definitely forgot about him a while ago since Kaeya hadn’t even tried to “rescue” his brother, and Jean stopped trying to protect her captive. For what was probably the 15th time since he sat down, Diluc sighed deeply before laying down, uncaring of how dirty his clothes would become or what bits of nature might get stuck in his hair.
The sound of the wooden swords clacking against each other seemed to fade away as he stared up at the light filtering through the leaves of the tree. It was beautiful. He probably could have fallen asleep there if his wrists weren’t aching. Diluc called to Jean earlier to untie the rope (or loosen it at the very least), but she didn’t even turn back at the call of her name.
“Silence, prisoner!” she shouted and carried on as she had been.
Diluc turned to his side and continued to watch Jean and Kaeya throw their swords around.
*****
“How’d you fall asleep like that?” Kaeya asked bewilderedly. Diluc faintly heard the voice at the same time he recognized just how much his body ached. Groaning, the redhead sat up and racked his brain, trying to make sense of whatever just happened. He didn’t even notice Jean fiddling with the rope on wrists until he felt a sharp sting.
“Ow!” he hissed and pulled his hands to his chest.
“I-I’m sorry, Diluc. I think I tied the knot wrong. I can’t get it undone.”
“Here, let me try,” Kaeya said, reaching for the knot. He only messed around with it for a few moments before Diluc asked him to stop.
“Let’s just go home so we can cut it off.” Jean and Kaeya timidly agreed, following the redhead as they left Windrise. Diluc ignored the soreness on his side and followed Jean and Kaeya. The young girl chatted about some of the conversations she overheard in the Knights’ HQ. Usually Diluc was interested, but he found himself unable to pay attention. He was beyond annoyed and wanted the ropes off immediately.
“We aren’t that far from the city,” Jean reassured him.
“Whatever. It’s not that bad.” Diluc tried to play it cool. He likely would have gotten away with it too if luck had been on his side.
Kaeya’s gasp alerted Diluc to the sign of danger. He immediately whirled around to see what caused his brother to panic before he gasped as well. In the distance a rifthound lingered menacingly on the main road.
“Why is there a rifthound here?” Jean whispered frightfully.
No one had an answer for her. The three trembled before slowly starting to back away from it.
“What do we do?” Kaeya asked.
“We’ll have to go the long way around, I guess,” Diluc replied. They continued to walk backwards as quietly as they could until Kaeya tripped over himself. The rifthound, despite being a fair distance away, apparently had excellent hearing. It immediately turned and spotted the three children.
“Run!”
*****
Diluc sat against one of the trees in the woods. He huddled against it and remained as quiet as he could. He didn’t think the rifthounds scoured around the Whispering Woods, but they weren’t supposed to be on the main road to town like that either.
A snapping of a twig made Diluc hold his breath. He didn’t even dare turn his head to look. He waited, hyper fixating on any sounds he heard. After about half a minute, he silently exhaled, daring to look around once more.
It had gotten dark quickly, and the woods weren't safe at night. He knew that, but he didn’t pay attention when he ran away earlier. All he heard were the snapping of jaws and gnashing of teeth behind him. The next thing he knew he was here.
Diluc sniffled before realizing just how loud it was. He froze once more and waited to see if any animals would pounce on him. When he was satisfied nothing wanted to eat him, he wiped away the tears in his eyes, wincing at the pain emanating from his wrists.
He wanted to go home.
“Diluc!” It was faint, and for a moment the boy thought he had imagined it.
“Master Diluc!?” The voice was definitely real, and this one sounded a lot like Elzer.
“Diluc! Are you here!?”
Father
Diluc instantly straightened up and looked around, noticing a very faint light in the distance.
“Father!” he shouted. Diluc stood and continued to shout. “I’m here! I’m here!” The boy tried walking towards the light but tripped on an overgrown root. He cried out in pain, failing to catch himself. Finally, Diluc let the tears escape his eyes.
“Diluc!” The child looked up as the light (which turned out to be multiple lanterns) pushed through a large bush before stopping right before him. “Oh, thank Archons .” Crepus whispered before immediately falling to his knees and helping his child get up.
“Father, I’m s-sorry,” he hiccupped. Crepus pulled out a utility knife and gently cut the rope so as to not agitate his raw skin.
“It’s alright, son. Are you okay?” Diluc’s vision once more blurred as tears welled up in his eyes before nodding. “Come, let’s get you home.” Crepus picked up Diluc who eagerly clung to him. “It’ll be okay, Diluc. I’ve got you.”