Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

   "Okay, so nothing new about the Abyss. What about the Fatui? Did you find out the reason behind their recent increase in activity?"

   It was a warm Wednesday evening, the soft wind gently blew past them and Diluc was having his routine meeting with his informant.

   The informant nodded. "Yeah, but you might not like it." she began, as if it was ever possible for Diluc to like anything even slightly related to the Fatui. "According to the info I managed to gather, they are looking for the Darknight Hero." Diluc tensed at the mention of the name. His eyes drifted down to the envelope the informant had in her hold. She noticed the small action and handed over the envelope. "Thought you might be interested in their number one suspect." she said as Diluc slowly tore open the envelope. He pulled out a few papers that seemed to be the copies of conversations between some Fatui members. He then saw the photograph.

   It was clearly taken in Angel's Share, the suspect sitting right in front of the counter with a drink in his hand. He seemed to be enjoying a conversation with his companion.

   Fatui's suspect for the Darknight Hero was no other than the beloved Cavalry Captain, Kaeya Alberich.

   For a brief moment Diluc imagined how he would take this news if he didn't know who the Darknight Hero actually was. Would he have believed it? He wasn't really sure. But he knew that a part of him would desperately try to convince himself that it was the truth so that he could see it as solid proof that his brother was on their side.

   "They are after him." the informant let him know. Diluc furrowed his brows at that. How and why were they so convinced that Kaeya was the Darknight Hero? Convinced enough to go after him? He quietly thanked the informant as she told him that was all she had and turned around to walk away.

   Now what was he supposed to do with this information? Kaeya had his own connections for intel so he doubted Kaeya would have no idea. Therefore Diluc probably didn't need to go tell Kaeya about this, which he was very grateful for. He didn't want to interact with the man any more than he had to. Knowing Kaeya, he'd probably say something like "Oh, Master Diluc, I'm flattered to hear you were worried about me!" purely to get on his nerves and Diluc would end up saying something harsh and hurtful (which would haunt him for a few hours that night when he goes to bed). That was an interaction Diluc would most certainly prefer not to have.

   So, choosing to trust that Kaeya could take care of himself, he went to begin his shift in Angel's Share.

《☆》

   Diluc hated the fact that worry was blooming inside him as hours went by and no one joined Rosaria on the table she had settled on all alone. From the way Rosaria's gaze found the door every time it opened, he knew Kaeya was supposed to be here this evening but the man was nowhere to be seen.

   'He's probably busy handling the situation.' Diluc tried convincing himself as hours kept passing with Kaeya's absence.

   Diluc closed the tavern that night with no sight of Kaeya. Rosaria had gave up on waiting after an hour and a half and enjoyed her drinks by herself. She had left 20 minutes ago with plenty of alcohol and not a single ounce of worry for Kaeya in her system. Diluc on the other hand, probably knew more than Rosaria did so he had good reasons to be worried.

   Once he was out of the tavern and on his way to the winery, Diluc had tried to fight the urge to go check Kaeya's house or the headquarters to make sure the man was okay but he failed miserably and began walking towards the headquarters. He would be very glad if he could just find the man burried in paperwork in his office, he really didn't want to go to Kaeya's house. Except, nothing seemed to be working in his favor today. Diluc walked around the building to get to the window to Kaeya's office only to be greeted by an empty and dark room. So with a sigh and rising levels of concern, Diluc made his way to Kaeya's house.

   It was Diluc's first time here, even though he had found out the location of the house shortly after his return to Mondstadt. One detail he had forgotten about was the fact that Kaeya occupied the second floor of a two story house. Now that he stood in front of it, he noticed that with no trees nearby, it didn't seem quite possible to spy through his windows. Diluc wondered if this was a trait Kaeya had actively looked for while looking for a place to stay or not. He wondered if Kaeya walked around without an eyepatch at home, now that there was no one to hide it from in the household and the possibility of someone seeing through the windows was almost zero. With many questions he most likely would never be able to ask, he walked towards the entrance.

   For some reason, Diluc wasn't surprised when his knocks on Kaeya's door were left unanswered. Call it intuition, sibling bond, whatever you want. About ten seconds after his second time knocking, he was sure that Kaeya was not here and that he had to find him. So, still fighting the loud voice in his head telling him that Kaeya could look after himself, he made his way to the city gates and left the city to expand his search area.

《☆》

   Diluc wasn't sure for how long he could keep aimlessly walking around in hopes of somehow running into Kaeya or anything that could lead him to him. He had walked around a few fatui camps he knew the locations of. No sign of Kaeya. He had walked around some more to hopefully run into other camps. He had found 2 more camps, which was a very lucky amount considering he was just walking around without a lead. However neither camps had been helpful as the young man was still nowhere to be found.

   He was trying to convince himself Kaeya was fine wherever he was and that he could go home when he was pulled out of his head by someone's voice cutting through the night.

   "Got lost on your way home, Master Diluc?"

   Diluc turned around with a startle, his hand tensing up, ready to summon his weapon. Once he saw the face of the man in front of him, the panic went away as quickly as it came and he relaxed his hand (not without feeling a little ashamed that he didn't recognize his voice immediately and almost made him face his claymore for the second time).

   "Kaeya!" he exclaimed with relief even though he had told himself he was going to keep his shit together and not portray his worry for the man once he found him. "Why are you here?" he asked Kaeya, his expression once again under his control — devoid of any emotion. After everything that had happened, after what he had done to him, Diluc felt like he didn't have the right to express concern for Kaeya's well-being like that.

   Kaeya shrugged. "Taking care of some personal matters." he replied nonchalantly, as if being targeted by the Fatui for something he wasn't even responsible for was no big deal. "Why are you wandering around Starfell Valley, Master Diluc?" He asked with his brow raised.

   "I was looking for you." Diluc admitted after a few seconds of hesitation. "I heard things. But I suppose you already know, considering that you ditched Sister Rosaria and came out here in this hour." Although a slight confusion seemed to appear in his face Kaeya kept his silence, encouraging Diluc to keep talking. "I heard the Fatui is after you. That they think you're the Darknight Hero."

   "Rosaria was waiting for me?" Diluc sighed. "That's like- that was the most unimportant thing to focus on from what I told you." Kaeya crossed his arms. "In my defense, I didn't tell her that I would be coming to the tavern tonight. Even though I'm flattered, she had no reason to be waiting for me." Kaeya said, seemingly ignoring Diluc's words. "Sure." Diluc replied, rolling his eyes.

   "Anyway, back to the bigger issue. Yes, I know about the Fatui targeting me. And yes, that's why I'm out here right now. But I still don't understand why you're here."

   Diluc had no reply for that. Afterall, he wasn't so sure either. Had he genuinely been worried for Kaeya? No, he didn't think it was possible to worry about someone you had tried to kill with your own hands. He had just found it hard to ignore the issue as there was a possibility that he was the only one to know about it. It had nothing to do with Kaeya, it was just Diluc being a responsible person. Right? Yeah, it had to be.

   "I felt the need to let you know, just in case you didn't." he said. "Well if I'm missing then it means I already found out one way or another, no? You're smarter than that Master Diluc." Kaeya replied, his eye squinted in a judging way.

   Diluc sighed, his brain working as fast as it could to come up with an excuse that would convince both Kaeya and him. "We both know you're not the Darknight Hero. It would be irresponsible of me to let you deal with this alone." he finally said. "That's what brings me here. I see why you'd struggle to understand that, as inefficient knights like you might be a little unfamiliar with the concept of responsibility." he added, his voice and gaze unnecessarily sharp like a blade.

   Although his annoying grin hadn't faltered, Kaeya rolled his eye at the remark. "I see you're as lovely as ever." he then turned around and began walking away without an explanation.

   "What the- where are you going?" Diluc called out. Kaeya turned back around. "Well, Master Diluc, although your efforts were in vain, I appreciate you coming here to let me know. Now that you've done that, it's time for us to part ways, no?"

   Diluc sighed. He was right afterall. Kaeya knew the Fatui was after him, and he was more than capable of dealing with this situation alone. He didn't need someone –especially Diluc of all people— to help him. That's what his logic told him. But his heart screamed otherwise. So he reached forward and grabbed Kaeya by the wrist before he could walk away once again.

   "Let me help you."

Chapter Text

   "How did you find out about this specific camp?"

   "I have my own line of intel, duh."

   "Okay but how are you sure that we need to go to this exact camp?"

   "Oh dear Archons," Kaeya sighed. "Since when are you this talkative?" Except, even though he wouldn't say it out loud, he remembered a time when Diluc used to be this talkative. Back when they were young, back when he hadn't told him the truth and crushed his soul, back when their father was still alive. Back then Diluc used to be a lively soul, fiery like his vision.

   After 10 minutes of walking with an awkward silence taking over after Diluc had run out of questions, they reached a Fatui camp Diluc hadn't seen before.

   They scanned the area from behind a bush, taking a good look at what they were about to get involved in before stepping any closer. "We can take them down, there aren't many people here." Kaeya whispered. "Kaeya there are 7 men here." Diluc said, turning his head to look at him with disbelief. "How on earth are we supposed to fight them all?" Kaeya shrugged. "Well Master Diluc, unlike them, we both have visions —they're both the fruit of your passion and hardwork, might I add."

   Diluc's breath hitched at the remark and he looked away, unable to meet Kaeya's blaming gaze. From the annnoying grin on his face, he could tell Kaeya was doing this on purpose to make him uncomfortable. He cleared his throat. "That doesn't mean anything, you can probably still use yours but my vision is out of the picture. Pyro is a bit too deadly and we aren't trying to kill them." he replied, trying to ignore the piercing comment.

   Kaeya furrowed his brow. "We aren't?" Diluc turned his head to face Kaeya, his mouth agape. "You were planning to kill them all?!" he whisper-yelled. Kaeya rolled his eye. "Not all of them silly, we need at least one of them alive." he replied with a smile, his tone condescending as if he was stating something as obvious as 'grass is green and the sky is blue'.

   "Kaeya, these are human beings, not monsters like the abyss creatures. We can't just kill them." Diluc said. He noticed how Kaeya's smile faltered almost immediately upon his words but he couldn't figure out why. Surely Kaeya wasn't upset that Diluc was unsupportive of his plan to slaughter a bunch of guys. Right? "What is it?" he questioned. It was Kaeya's turn to look away. "The abyss creatures were also human once." he mumbled. Diluc froze. "What?" Kaeya seemed like he was contemplating if he actually wanted to reveal this or not. It took him a few seconds to look back at Diluc. "The abyss creatures. They're the people of Khaenri'ah."

   The only coherent thought Diluc could put together was 'What the actual fuck?' so he remained silent as his shock and confusion seeped out of his wide open eyes.

   The abyss creatures used to be people. Human. Cursed, deformed, but human nonetheless.

   Although Diluc found that hard to believe, he knew Kaeya had no reason to lie to him about this. And suddenly, Kaeya's lack of hesitation to kill humans made a lot of sense. All this time, the abyss had been people too. Kaeya's people. They were his people and Kaeya had been killing them for a living this whole time, despite being put here to save them and revive their homeland.

   He was at a loss of words, not sure what he could say about such a situation. Hell, he wasn't even sure if Kaeya wanted to hear anything from him at all. "Let's try to refrain ourselves from killing any of them anyway." he said but he realised that might not be the best thing to say halfway into the sentence. 'Yeah well it sucks that you kill your people on a daily basis. How devastating. Lets not kill mine though.' So, "We don't know which one of them could be of more use to us." he added.

   With a small nod of understanding and (hopefully) agreement from Kaeya, they stepped out from behind the bush.

《☆》

   "I did refrain Diluc, it's not my fault if they suck at fighting!"

   "You killed 3 of them, Kaeya. You fought against a total of 4 men."

   "Well, if they died that easily they probably weren't told something these ones don't know anyway."

   "Easy?! Kaeya you shoved a whole icicle into that one's throat. How was he even supposed to survive that?"

   "By not letting me put it there? Duh?"

   An exasperated sigh —more like a groan, honestly— escaped Diluc. "Whatever." he mumbled and walked over to one of the guys he had managed to tie up.

   He had no time to lose, it was dark and he was tired. So, he got straight to the point. "What do you want from him?" he simply asked, pointing at Kaeya, who gave the man a little wave. The man seemed rather confused, but another one unexpectedly butted in. "Revenge." he practically growled. Kaeya and Diluc shared a look of confusion. Why was this random guy so riled up against the Darknight Hero? Diluc didn't remember ever meeting him before.

   "He killed plenty of our men." the man added. Kaeya gave a look of surprise to Diluc as the latter looked away. He had been talking about refraining from killing humans mere minutes ago, yet his hands were far from clean. "I'd say we have different definitions of 'plenty'." he mumbled, loud enough for Kaeya to hear but silent enough for the Fatui to not.

   A chuckle escaped Kaeya. "What happened to 'Oh Kaeya, these are humans! Not monsters! We shall not kill them.' huh?" he asked, mockery all over his tone. "Shut the fuck up." Diluc replied calmly —and, surprisingly, Kaeya actually did shut up as he remembered that the Fatui thought he was the Darknight Hero. Saying anything else could possibly make the guys figure out they had the wrong guy (if they hadn't already figured it out).

   "And what were you planning to do once you got your hands on him?" Diluc asked. The man grinned. From the light of the campfire reflecting from the guy's face, Diluc could see his teeth were stained red with his own blood. Diluc felt the slightest bit of pity, he must've had knocked out at least a couple of the guy's teeth. "Take a guess." the guy said.

   "Oh my!" Kaeya exclaimed dramatically, one hand on his chest. "Were you planning to kill me?" God, was this guy ever serious about anything?

   "You're gonna wish we did." the guy snarled and started thrashing around in the rope he was tied with, trying to set himself free. Diluc stepped forward to put an end to his attempt as Kaeya stood by and watched with an amused smile on his face. "You're riling him up, be serious for once!" Diluc scolded as he tightened the rope. The guy took advantage of the seconds Diluc wasted by turning his gaze towards Kaeya and kicked him away, almost managing to escape before Diluc jumped back on him.

   "Is this entertaining to you?" Diluc yelled. Kaeya chuckled. "Why yes, Master Diluc. Very." Diluc rolled his eyes. "Come here and help." he said. "No can do, I'm a knight after all. I gotta live up to the title of 'inefficient'."

   As Diluc got distracted for the second time and their banter went on, the guy managed to reach into his boot for his pocket knife. "Shit, Diluc!" Kaeya called out, noticing the danger before his brother did. But with the position they were in, Diluc had no way of getting away from the knife that was about to stab him in the back.

Chapter Text

   Diluc had suffered from many injuries before, but a knife straight into his lungs was not on the list.

   He was almost glad that it seemed like it would be a quick death when he felt freezing cold cover his back and make him shiver. He was pretty glad that he couldn't even feel any pain. He wasn't glad that his time had come.

   "Damn, that was a close one!"

   Close one?! He was dying! He was stabbed and he was dying and he was cold and he was shiveri– Oh. He was cold. Like— like a-huge-block-of-ice-covering-his-back kind of cold.

   He tried pushing away the Fatui guy yet he seemed to be stuck, Diluc could push the right side of the man's body away yet the left side remained still. Diluc turned around with minimal movement to see what exactly Kaeya had done.

   The warm light of the campfire gave a sharp sparkle to the huge icicle behind him. The uneven and wild shape indicated it was summoned in a moment of panic and hurry. The end of the icicle was wrapped around the man's arm all the way to his shoulder, the knife also burried in the ice.

   Diluc was not dying.

《☆》

   "You okay?" Kaeya said as he pulled Diluc up on his feet. Diluc nodded and turned around to take another look at the huge icicle now that he was away from it. Not even a tiny bit of the knife was left out, Kaeya had managed to freeze the entire thing along with the man's entire left arm in a single moment. It was clean work if Diluc had ever seen one. He would be lying if he said he wasn't impressed.

   "Thanks, Kaeya." he said, the lowness of his voice making it clear that he was embarrassed to be saying this. "Couldn't have done it without you." Kaeya said, the heaviness of the incident already gone from his voice. It took a moment for Diluc to understand what Kaeya meant. Kaeya had saved him with the vision he had gotten because of Diluc. It baffled him how much Kaeya seemed to enjoy making light of the incident and making jokes about it. He wondered if one day he would be audacious enough to join Kaeya in his humorous approach.

   "We're gonna have to perform an amputation if you don't help that guy out, by the way." Kaeya said, pointing at the poor Fatui with his arm still covered in ice. He was writhing and struggling in his place yet he wasn't strong enough to break free from Kaeya's thick ice. Kaeya was right, the guy would probably lose his arm to frostbite if they left him like this. For a moment Diluc had no issue with that, and that made him understand better why exactly the Fatui wanted the Darknight Hero dead. Despite his whole 'let's not kill humans' speech, he had no sympathy whatsoever for anyone involved with the Fatui.

   Deciding not to upset the Fatui even further when they were clearly after Kaeya, he stepped forward to free the man's arm.

《☆》

   "Are you sure it's alright to just leave them there like that?"

   "Yeah, their higher ups don't check on them frequently. And they're all tied so it will take them a while to inform anyone, really."

   "Wow, I forgot you had a degree in the Fatui. Say, Mr. Darknight Hero, did you collect all these information while slaughtering them?"

   Diluc stopped walking and turned around to face Kaeya who had been walking right behind him. "About that, once we're back in the city I want you out of this whole situation. I want you to go to the headquarters and report me as the Darknight Hero. And make sure the word goes public. They clearly mean serious harm, I don't want anyone getting punished for the things I did."

   "You don't have to do that, we're handling this just fine." Kaeya mumbled. He was walking with his hands in his pockets and his gaze on his feet, as if he wasn't even taking Diluc's words seriously. "Kaeya, no." Diluc argued. "I don't want to put you in danger like this."

   Kaeya stopped walking at that. "Why?" he asked, his tone harsh rather than questioning. "That's ridiculous." he added as he turned to face the man. "Is it ridiculous for me to want to help? Would you prefer it if I didn't care about this at all?" Diluc argued.

   "Suddenly you decided that you care about me? Or do you just feel like you haven't been able to satisfy your heroic needs tonight?"

   "Kaeya... That's not– Is it wrong for me to care about you?"

   "Care about me?" A dry laugh escaped Kaeya. "You care about me? Since when?"

   "Kaeya I know I have been acting otherwise for the past few years but you're my brother and— "

   "Your brother?! And now suddenly I'm your brother again? What the fuck, Diluc?"

   Diluc tried to protest however he couldn't find the right words. Kaeya gave him a few seconds, anticipating a convincing answer from him. With not a word from Diluc, he continued.

   "Diluc, your behavior towards me was unstable in all kinds of ways for the past few years and I was okay with that, really. Couldn't quite figure out if you genuinely wanted to hate my guts or was just too proud to make up with me but at least every now and then you would do something that would make me think 'Hey, you know what, he doesn't despise me.'. And that was enough, Diluc. That was enough for me. But now, you just suddenly appear in front of me in the middle of the woods like 'Hey, Kaeya, lemme help!' and I just– I don't even have the words to describe your behavior, Diluc! What the fuck are you trying to do?! Am I supposed to just believe you woke up this morning and decided to show some genuine care and affection to me?! Whatever it is you're doing right now, I'm not buying it. So, thanks for the help but I think I got it from here. I don't need you to play the knight in shining armor for me."

   Diluc sighed in desperation. "Kaeya, please." he begged. Except Kaeya turned his back to him after taking one final glance at the Fatui camp they had barely left behind. And without paying any attention to Diluc calling after him, he walked away and disappeared into the night.

Chapter Text

   "How the fuck did you come here earlier than I did?"

   Kaeya wanted to put an icicle through his own throat when he arrived to Diluc standing right infront of the door to his place.

   Diluc shrugged. "I took a shortcut." He looked at Kaeya to see if him coming here was the right thing to do or the worst thing he could've possibly done. It was amazing how much emotion an eye could portray, even in the blinding dark of the night. Now that Kaeya didn't bother hiding any of it, Diluc could see a lot: disappointment, longing, anger, affection...

   Kaeya sighed as he stepped forward and softly pushed Diluc out of the way to open the door. He walked in without saying a word. Diluc was expecting to hear the sound of the door closing from behind him, but instead he heard Kaeya clearing his throat. "Will you keep standing there like that? Cause I'm not particularly interested in staring at your ass."

   Diluc turned around. Kaeya was standing at the doorway, clearly waiting for Diluc to walk in. Diluc took a deep breath with relief, it seemed like Kaeya had calmed down a little on his walk back home. He gladly stepped in, feeling a little shy as it was his first time coming here.

   Kaeya closed the door as Diluc awkwardly made his way to the sofa placed in the middle of the room. His curious gaze scanned the place. There was a half closed door to the left, most likely to the bathroom. There was another door wide open next to it and Diluc could see an unmade bed inside the room. He couldn't hold back a small smile as he recalled how Kaeya would struggle to make his own bed when they were little kids. After some point he had given up and Adelinde had taken over the task. Then an agitating thought crossed his mind. 'Did he even have a bed before coming to Mondstadt?'

   "Why did you come here, Diluc?" Kaeya asked as he sat down across the room. "Kaeya," Diluc began. He had rehearsed his speech on his way here yet now that it was time to talk, it all had flied away. "I'm sorry." he said simply. Kaeya's lifted brow indicated it wasn't going as well as Diluc hoped it would but he kept going anyway. "I almost killed you, and I would have if it weren't for the vision. And I know I can never take that back and I'm terribly sorry." Kaeya's gaze softened. "I'm aware I didn't do anything to fix this when I came back either, I know I fucked up so bad. But I— Allow me to be by your side. I know it feels so random to you, but honestly a part of me had been waiting for an opportunity like this. I can't take back all the ways I fucked us over but I can try making up for it and rebuilding what we had, only if you let me. So please, just let me help you with this."

   Kaeya's gaze found the floor. "I've been trying to rebuild it this whole time, Diluc. You've been the one not allowing it." Diluc sighed. "I know, Kaeya. I know and I'm sorry, just let me make it up to you."

   There was silence for a few seconds before Kaeya spoke. "I mean... I gotta admit my timing wasn't exactly great." he said with an apologetic smile. Diluc smiled back at first, but he wiped it off in an instant. "You were grieving too, Kaeya." he replied, his serious tone erasing Kaeya's smile too. "I think that's what I failed to realise for so long. He was your father too, you were grieving too. Your grief made you want to get closer to me while mine pushed you away."

   Silence filled the house upon those words. Two brothers, longing for eachother yet too cowardly to tell, stared at eachother with tear-filled eyes. "Diluc I could never betray Mondstadt. My blood doesn't mean anything to me." Kaeya whispered a while later. It was as if he was afraid of crying if he dared to speak any louder. Diluc raised his gaze from the ground to look Kaeya in the eye. Sincerity and determination seeped out of his tear filled blue eye. "I know Kaeya." he whispered back. "I didn't know it back then but I know now."

   Silence fell again. Now they were in a battle of who could last the longest before they started crying. With a lifetime of experience in masking and acting, Kaeya won as a wet sniff was heard from Diluc. Kaeya chuckled at Diluc's attempt at holding back tears as he looked away and sniffed again. He laughed a little as he watched a tear escape Diluc's eye and barely make it to his cheek before getting wiped away. However his laughter didn't last long, as tears began to fall down his own eyes. He sniffed and slightly lifted his eyepatch to wipe the tears wetting the skin underneath.

   "You know you can just take it off." Diluc said quietly, afraid that his comment might be overstepping. Kaeya seemed to contemplate that for a moment. Then his fingers slowly and gently found the eyepatch to remove it. He tugged down on the strings and ever so slowly revealed his eye to Diluc for the second time. Diluc didn't get to have a clear look before Kaeya began harshly rubbing it to dry the tears that had spread to the area from being unable to fall down his face.

   When Kaeya finally removed his hand, Diluc almost failed to hold back a huge gasp. The face in front of him wasn't like how he had first seen it. It did, however, look how he had left it. Burned and scarred. The skin around Kaeya's eye was forever marked by Diluc's fury, forever changed —just like their entire dynamic— and half of his brow had disappeared —just like how their old selfs had died and disappeared that night.

   Diluc had managed to somewhat recollect his expression before Kaeya lifted his gaze and they locked eyes. "Couldn't Barbara fix that?" he couldn't help but ask. Kaeya didn't seem to have burn scars anywhere else on his body, so he must have gotten some sort of treatment. He regretted it before Kaeya could even open his mouth though, that was probably one of the most insensitive questions he could've asked in that moment.

   Kaeya let out a dry laugh. "Yeah, sure. I should've just shown her my eye and asked her to patch me up right after I almost got burned to death for showing it to someone." Diluc lowered his head in shame as he mumbled a quick apology. It would've been stupid to expect Kaeya to leave it all behind just like that, even if they had apologized and made up. He probably was never going to stop bringing it up like this.

   "Anyway," Kaeya said, clapping his hands. "Enough of that, we have a tiny issue that we need to solve. We need to make a plan."

Chapter Text

   "One Death After Noon, please."

   It was two days after the conversation the Ragnvindr brothers (they were both glad they could call themselves that once again) had had at Kaeya's apartment. After they were done with their plan, they had went back to their normal lives to wait for the right opportunity. They hadn't even announced their reconciliation to anyone, in fact, they had been trying their best to look as hostile with eachother as ever —maybe even more.

   Diluc quietly served Kaeya his drink. He had been tending the bar every evening since that night and Charles was more than glad about his Master's sudden increase in evening shifts.

   Kaeya had only taken 2 sips before a certain man walked in to the tavern. Kaeya and Diluc shared a quick glance as the man sat down on one of the bar stools, a few seats away from Kaeya.

  "I think I might have a bit of a plan, but we gotta paint you a Darknight Hero-opposing picture first. Meanwhile, I'm gonna keep feeding the 'Kaeya Alberich is the Darknight Hero' idea."

   "Say, Rosaria." Kaeya began about 5 minutes later, speaking slightly louder than usual. "What do you think about the Darknight Hero?"

   "How exactly?"

   "I don't know, I guess I'll just strike up a conversation about it with someone. You can butt in and express your dislike at some point."

   "Then I should probably make an appearance somewhere or do something. It would be stupid for you to randomly talk about him, no?"

   "Nah, no need. One, it's too risky for you to do that. To keep them from figuring out who the real Darknight Hero is, you should probably stop your late-night patrols for a while. Two, I'm the Darknight Hero, it's never too random for me to talk about it!"

   Rosaria furrowed her brows, figuring out Kaeya was up to something immediately. "I don't know, what do you think?" she replied, trying to understand what exactly Kaeya's intentions were so she could play her role properly.

   "I think he's one hell of a man." Kaeya stated. "Protecting the city and fighting evil like that. And he looks cool while doing it!"

   Rosaria raised her brows. "Sure, if you say so." she said. Kaeya leaned in towards her with a smirk. "Come on, you gotta admit he's a little cool." Rosaria couldn't help a little smile (very little, in fact she would deny smiling at all) as she rolled her eyes at the man. "Okay, he's a little cool. Very cool, actually. I aspire to be him one day. He's my idol." she said, sarcasm evident in her tone.

   "We're gonna have to put our acting skills to test."

   "Well I doubt that would be a struggle for you." Diluc replied. Kaeya almost choked on his spit. If Kaeya was gonna keep making jokes about their past, Diluc could bring this up for his own entertainment too.

   Diluc scoffed from behind the bar. Two heads —no, three, Kaeya noticed with amusement— turned around to look at the man. "What is it, Master Diluc?" Kaeya asked. "Of course you would think that man is cool." Diluc said sharply. Damn, Kaeya thought. Now isn't he one hell of an actor. "I'm afraid I don't understand what you're implying." he replied. Diluc rolled his eyes. "He's enabling you useless knights by doing your work. I'd love to see you guys in shambles if he were to disappear."

   Kaeya faked offense by placing a hand on his chest. "Awh, Master Diluc, don't say things like that!" he whined playfully. "What if he heard you saying such awful things like that! I'm pretty sure he would be very upset that you're wishing death on him."

   Diluc furrowed his brows. "I literally did not." he deadpanned. Kaeya pouted, continuing his exaggerated act. "You kinda did. You said you want him to disappear." Diluc sighed, running out of ideas to keep the conversation going. "I think you've drank enough for the night, Sir Kaeya." he replied and turned his back to them to clean some glasses.

   Kaeya went back to daily conversation with a very confused Rosaria and the sole viewer of their little play quietly left a while later. The first step of the plan seemed to be going smoothly.

   It probably wouldn't have if not for Diluc doing a tiny, definitely harmless thing.

《☆》

   "Wait though." Kaeya said suddenly, sitting back down to the couch with a sigh. "This plan won't work. Shit. We need a new one."

   "Why?" Diluc asked, unable to see why it wouldn't.

   "The Fatui camp." Kaeya said simply. "If they report anything, and they eventually will, the whole plan gets destroyed cause your behavior will contradict."

   "Yeah um... about that..." Diluc began. Kaeya looked up at him with furrowed brows. "What?" he asked. "I might've killed them." Diluc announced, his voice so low it could pass as a whisper. Kaeya's eyes widened. "What?!" Wasn't this the same guy telling him they shouldn't kill them mere hours ago? Except all Kaeya seemed to be hearing since then was that he was killing people left and right.

   "We were pretty close to them when we argued. I thought they might've heared things and so I went to the camp. I was right, they now knew I was the actual Darknight Hero. Honestly I would've just let it be but you had made it clear as day that you wouldn't like that. They were definitely gonna report it and I didn't want you to get even more mad at me so I made sure they were unable to report it. So uhm, good news –for you, at least– is that they still think you're the Darknight Hero. Bad news is, now they must be even more mad."

   Kaeya listened to Diluc mouth agape, speechless.He couldn't help a chuckle escaping him. "Well damn, Diluc Ragnvindr. That's crazy." was all he managed to say.

《☆》

   The night carried on with Kaeya chatting with Rosaria as Diluc kept serving drinks. Some time passed and as they dove deeper into the night, people who were just enjoying a night out slowly began leaving the tavern. Once only the alcoholic regulars who were way too drunk to even stand were left, Kaeya and Diluc shared another look of agreement.

   It was time to involve a third person in the plan.

   "Say, Rosaria." Kaeya began once again. "Would you like to get involved in some harmless cunning? A cute little ruse? A silly little play?"

   "Does it have anything to do with the Darknight Hero?" Rosaria asked. Kaeya clicked his tongue in satisfaction. "Dear Sister Rosaria—" "Please don't call me sister while we're in the tavern." "Dear Rosaria, see, this is why we need your help! You're so clever."

   "We?" Rosaria shot a glance at Diluc. "You're involved in this too." she told her, a clear statement rather than a question. Diluc gave her a small nod. "Since when do you guys work together on things?" she asked Kaeya, narrowing her eyes. "Since like... 2 or 3 days ago." Kaeya answered with a grin. He could see their collaboration had intrigued Rosaria.

   To say that Rosaria was intrigued would be an understatement. She wasn't a woman of a lot of feeling but right now she was confused, curious and intrigued. Kaeya Alberich and Diluc Ragnvindr, known for their extreme inability to get along, were working together for some secret thing about the Darknight Hero. And they had asked her for help. She couldn't possibly turn this down.

   "Sure." she replied. "What's my role?"

Chapter Text

   It was nearing the tavern's closing time when Kaeya finally left, but not without purchasing a whole bottle from Diluc with some begging and bickering the entire tavern (which was 7 people, including Rosaria, in total) had witnessed. Rosaria took her leave shortly after, she had to get prepared to play her part. Diluc started ushering people out about 10 minutes after they left. The next part of the plan was time-dependent. He had to leave the city on the right time.

《☆》

   Kaeya was humming a song as he walked towards the city gates with unstable steps, the bottle still in his hand albeit almost empty. "Dump it on grass or something. Don't even take a single sip. You already drank enough." Diluc had told him. Honestly, it was bold of the man to assume Kaeya would listen. He had drank like a quarter of the bottle before dumping half of it into a bush.

   The knights positioned at the gates saluted him, and he dismissed them with a sloppy wave. He heard one of them trying to stiffle a laughter as the other called out to him. "Captain Kaeya! Where to at this late hour?" He turned around to face the knight. "Gonna take a nightly stroll." he said with a grin as big and stupid as possible on his face. The knights shared a look, one enjoying this while the other slightly concerned. "Captain, you're drunk. Maybe you shouldn't?" he advised, his voice low from fear of overstepping. Kaeya laughed. "Don't worry, I'll come back in one piece." he said, then turned around and headed towards the bridge. "Hopefully." he added a few steps later.

《☆》

   Diluc left the tavern and began his walk back to the winery with quick steps. As he neared the city gates, he could hear the conversation the knights standing there were having. The quietness of the late hour carried their conversation to Diluc's ears with ease. "He's either gonna pass out under some tree or straight up disappear and never be seen again." one told the other. The other one chuckled so an annoyed "I'm serious. One of us should've followed him." was added.

   On any other day, Diluc would have felt annoyed about how they let a shit-faced man just walk out of the city all alone like that at this hour. However tonight it was exactly what they wanted, so he was glad they hadn't held Kaeya back.

   The fact that they were still talking about him indicated Kaeya hadn't passed the gates too long ago. 'Good.' Diluc thought to himself as he walked out, greeting the guards with a subtle nod while passing by them.

《☆》

   Kaeya was being followed. Despite the alcohol dulling his senses (okay, maybe he should've listened to Diluc) he could sense someone following him. He fought the urge to turn around and look, he was supposed to act oblivious and drunk. Trying to go against survival instincts turned out to be harder than he would've thought. Or maybe it was the alcohol in his system, he wasn't sure. He started humming a song to try and ignore the person behind him.

   A part of him was hoping it was Diluc that was behind him. He was well aware his objective tonight was to literally get kidnapped, and he wasn't scared or anything. He just didn't really want to get kidnapped and he was quite sure that was pretty rational. What made this whole thing so irrational and contradictory was that this whole thing was his own plan.

   "Okay, so, you're not gonna like this next part." Diluc furrowed his brows at that, but didn't say anything as he anxiously waited for Kaeya to reveal his idea. "I'm gonna get myself kidnapped." Diluc objected immediately. "Is this even necessary?" he argued. Kaeya shrugged. "Probably not. But it would be a bit more entertaining this way."

   Unfortunately for him, he didn't find it quite entertaining anymore. It was burdensome and a little too reckless, now that he thought about it. His drunk thoughts being more rational than his sober ones really said a lot about his drinking habits. I should start cutting down on drinking once this is all over, he thought to himself.

   He stopped humming when he heard approaching footsteps. Damn, he thought. Whoever this was really sucked at sneaking up on people. Well, they were on their lucky day cause Kaeya was not about to put up a real fight nor run away.

   He wasn't even startled when a hand appeared from behind to cover his mouth. In fact, he had slowed down to make it easier for his pathetic kidnapper to catch up. He dropped the bottle he had in his hold and attempted to uncover his mouth as the bottle smashed into pieces. His half-assed attempt resulted in failure as he began getting dragged away. He could only hope Diluc would find him on time.

《☆》

   Diluc was anxiously walking towards the winery, all his senses heightened to the maximum level. He couldn't help but worry. Kaeya should've walked this way too, according to the plan. However there was no way of knowing if he actually had. And if he hadn't, Diluc probably wouldn't be able to find him and Kaeya would end up falling into the Fatui's hand for real. This was stressful. Kaeya's plan seemed simple, yet it gave almost no way to improv or mistakes. Everything had to go exactly the way Kaeya had planned or hoped it would.

   What annoyed Diluc most was that if the plan was to go awry at any step, Kaeya would be the one paying for it. Not Diluc. If they hadn't made a plan or taken action against the situation, again, it would be Kaeya paying for it instead of Diluc. Kaeya was the one in danger, even though Diluc was the one the Fatui were looking for. He should've just revealed his identity even if it would've made Kaeya mad as hell, he thought. Well, it was a bit late for that now.

   "I'll follow the path to the winery, and I'll try to mark the exact spot they get to me with something pretty obvious. They'll probably take me elsewhere, I'll try to leave marks towards where they're taking me too. If I can't, I'll escape and go back to the city."

   Diluc had made it clear to Kaeya that this wasn't a good plan and that it was dangerous yet Kaeya had simply told him this was what they were going to do if Diluc couldn't come up with something better. Diluc wasn't used to working with a team for schemes, he had failed to come up with anything better. And so here he was now, trying to track down Kaeya and his kidnapper.

   He continued his walk. With each step he took, the more stressed he got. What was he supposed to do if he couldn't find Kaeya? Would Kaeya understand he wasn't coming? Would he be able to handle it on his own?

   He calmed down a little when he finally found the remnants of what used to be a glass bottle on the ground. Things seemed to be going according to plan. Now it was time for him to play his part.

Chapter Text

   "Stop trashing around!" his captor grunted as Kaeya kept kicking his feet and throwing hands all around the forest. Okay, well, on a second thought, Kaeya was enjoying this a little bit. He dug his heels into the ground, leaving a clear mark on the dirt. "I told them this wasn't a one man job." the Fatuus complained. He pulled Kaeya a little harder and faster, and Kaeya barely managed to get his sleeve stuck in a bush before they made a turn.

《☆》

   If Diluc didn't know any better, he would've assumed Kaeya had been faking being kidnapped 3 times a week for the past decade. The marks were so clear and easy to spot.

   He followed Kaeya's signs with ease, most of it being easily visible with the light of the tiniest bit of fire summoned by the pyro allogene. He even grinned a little when he saw Kaeya's whole ass cape hanging from a branch. How he had managed to get his whole cape stuck in a branch and how the Fatui guy had just let it happen was beyond him.

   He kept following the signs Kaeya had left him until he noticed a spark of light in the middle of the woods. Had Kaeya been taken to a Fatui camp? If they got outnumbered by the Fatui, Kaeya's plan wouldn't go as smoothly. Diluc hoped they would be alone.

   He approached the source of light with quiet steps. He hid behind a bush and started waiting. He had done things like this all alone countless times, but he couldn't help thinking about the single time he had Kaeya by his side as they hid and how he felt way more relaxed and safe when he had a capable companion. He still wouldn't admit it was Kaeya's presence that was comforting, no. It was just the fact that he was a trained knight and knew how to handle these stuff.

   He raised his head slightly above the bush to take a peak, yet he was immediately met with some object coming directly at him, and he ducked. Said object flew past him and landed on the ground abot a meter behind him.

   "Wow, nice throw! Are you into sports by any chance?"

   Kaeya's careless voice was heard, followed immediately by a loud slap. Were they hurting Kaeya? That meant Diluc had to act as soon as possible. He turned around to check what the object was, the dim blue light being emitted was enough for Diluc to figure it out without having to approach it. It was Kaeya's vision. Okay, well, then he actually did have to approach it. He shuffled towards it quietly and got a hold of the object before returning to his hiding spot.

   He raised his head once again, finally getting to have a look at the scene. Kaeya sat on a log with his hands and legs tied, his mouth untied. Diluc was half sure Kaeya had talked them into leaving his mouth be. Then he looked around a bit more and realised there wasn't a 'they' in question. There was only 1 single person in charge of the whole thing.

《☆》

   "My informant gave me pictures of you taken in the tavern."
   "Oh, how did I look? I like to believe I'm quite photogenic."

   Diluc ignored him and kept going. "Whoever told the Fatui that you're the Darknight Hero got that idea in the tavern. And he was even bold enough to take pictures."

   Kaeya rubbed his chin. He had a tendency to remember sketchy faces, yet no one really came to his mind as a valid suspect. Someone had gone as far as to whip out a Kamera and aim it towards him and Kaeya hadn't noticed? That was wild, and a little terrifying.

   Wait... a Kamera? It suddenly clicked, and Kaeya turned to Diluc with a gasp. "I think I found our guy."

《☆》

   So... Kaeya had been right about the person behind this. It was a guy who had introduced himself as a traveler who was going to be around for a week or two. He had came to the tavern a couple times and had even asked Diluc if he could take a few pictures of the tavern, saying he 'found the authentic aura of the place very captivating'. Diluc had reluctantly agreed, not finding it sketchy at all –he found it rather weird that someone could find a tavern to be fascinating enough for pictures while literally any other corner of Mondstadt was right there.

   Now as he thought about that moment, he did remember Kaeya sitting right in front of him as this conversation had happened. He had given Diluc a highly annoying smirk, and had attempted to make a comment that would most likely get his blood boiling yet Diluc simply hadn't listened. It was insane how much their relationship had changed in such a short amount of time. But then again, hadn't it went to shit even quicker than this?

   "So... are we going to sit like this and wait for your friend to come back and tell you you can kill me?" Kaeya asked the guy. This seemed to be Kaeya's way of informing Diluc what was going on. So he knew Diluc had made it to the scene. Good.

   The Fatui guy groaned and stood up, taking two slow steps towards Kaeya to stand directly in front of the man. "I don't necessarily have to wait." he spoke. Diluc sensed danger, so he quietly stood up in the shadows, ready to jump into action. On a second thought (or third, or fourth. He was pretty sure he had already told this to Kaeya.) this was a very stupid and dangerous plan. He shouldn't have agreed to go along with it. Yet he had and now Kaeya was at the mercy of a random Fatui member.

   He didn't seem to be carrying a sword or anything of that sort. That meant he was most likely going to use a knife, so he would need to get closer to actually kill Kaeya. Okay, Diluc could probably distract the man enough before Kaeya's throat got slit even after the guy had drawn his knife.

   So, Diluc was fully ready to come out of his spot and cause a distraction when the guy reached towards his weapon that was hidden inside his coat. Diluc took that as his cue and began walking, his footsteps against the grass making both Kaeya and his captor turn to look at him.

   Diluc was also fully ready to put on an act to appear shocked at the scene in front of him, but as the guy pulled out his weapon, the reaction he gave was pretty genuine.

   "What the fuck?" he couldn't help but say, because he was now face to face with a gun.

Chapter Text

   This wasn't what Diluc had meant when he had said it should've been him (as the true Darknight Hero) in danger instead of Kaeya. Well, you gotta be careful what you wish for I guess, he thought as he looked at the pistol pointed at him. He took a very, very quick glance at Kaeya to see his reaction. His wide eye and furrowed brow indicated he didn't know about the pistol either.

   "You're in this too?" Kaeya asked with disbelief. Okay, Kaeya seemed to have chosen sticking to the plan. Yeah, sure, whatever, not like Diluc had a pistol pointed at the center of his face or amything. But then again, Kaeya had willingly gotten himself kidnapped by someone who had the intention of killing him so perhaps it was fair.

   "Woah there, what's going on here?" Diluc asked the Fatui guy. His hands were raised at both sides of his head to show he was unarmed and not about to do anything, and that he didn't deserve a nasty hole in the middle of his forehead.

   "Wrong place at the wrong time buddy, now we gotta get rid of you too." the guy said, the gun still firmly aimed at Diluc.

   Shit. Shitshitshit.

   "Wait, you were about to kill him?!" Diluc said, trying to sound as confused and in disbelief as possible. The guy rolled his eyes. "No dear, I just like tying up my friends in the middle of the woods as we have friendly little chats at the dead of night." Diluc couldn't help but think him and Kaeya would be good friends in another life. Anyway, back to their act.

   He turned his head to look at Kaeya. "What the fuck did you get yourself involved in again, dipshit?" he asked, narrowing his eyes. Acting like he despised every single cell that came together to create Kaeya used to be so easy a few weeks ago, but now he realised it actually took quite the effort.

   "Nothing, Diluc I—"
   "What do you mean 'nothing'?! I'm about to fucking die because of you!"
   "Oh so the fact that I'm also about to die doesn't matter at all?"
   "No, not at all! In fact, I'm glad! Sucks that I won't be here to enjoy the world without having to deal with your ass!"

   Was this even convincing? Diluc wasn't sure.

   "I'm gonna ask you one last time. What did you do to get the both of us fucking killed?"
   "Nothi—"
   "He's the Darknight Hero."

   The brothers both turned to look at the man. The gun was still pointed at him as he stared right into Diluc's soul. Diluc felt like this was the part where he would decide if he actually had to kill Diluc or not. So, Diluc had to give him the best performance ever, for the sake of both their lives. God, for the nth time, this plan was stupid as fuck. Diluc was never letting Kaeya come up with a plan for anything ever again if they came out of this one alive. He turned to face Kaeya again.

   "You're the Darknight Hero?! What the fuck?"
   "Well yeah, um, surprise, I guess?"
   "Just do your job as the cavalry captain, are you insane? What use is there to do the same fucking thing in a cape?"

   Oh, oops. Diluc quickly decided this was the wrong way to have this coversation. His argument was way too valid, the guy could end up figuring out he has the wrong guy earlier than they intended him to.

   "Nevermind, of course you would." he continued before Kaeya could say a thing. "Cause you're a self-absorbed narcissistic piece of shit who just has to attract everyone's love and attention, right?!"

   Diluc found it a little amusing that Kaeya was literally none of the things mentioned above. He was the least self-absorbed person ever, and he was anything but a narcissist. Piece of shit? Okay, maybe. Begging for everyone's attention? Quite the opposite. But more importantly, he certainly was not the Darknight Hero.

   Kaeya gasped. "No I'm not? You don't understand! Being a knight comes with rules you have to obey and stupid, unnecessary procedures you have to follow for every little thing! The work I get done by 'wearing a cape' is way more than what I'm able to accomplish in a day as a knight!"

   Was this a compliment? Did this imply that Diluc did more than a knight could on a daily basis? Should he be proud of himself? Anyway. Nevermind. He was kind of enjoying this fake argument thing.

   "I don't understand?! You literally took my spot after I left the knights! I know way better than you do what it means to be a knight, cause unlike you I had earned my spot. You took that spot from people's pity towards you!"

   He paused when Kaeya's face fell, the slight furrow of his brow and the disbelief in his eye looking way too genuine. Too far? Yeah. Too far.

   "You don't mean that." Kaeya said. He wasn't yelling anymore. His eye was searching Diluc's face, probably trying to figure out how genuine Diluc was with his words. Diluc would give him a sign, a silent apology to reassure him that he didn't truly mean that but from the corner of his eye he could see that the gun was still pointed at him, and the guy's body was still facing him.

   He took a moment to take a more clear look at the guy, there was a hesitation to his gun wielding hand now as his eyes went back and forth between him and Kaeya. He knew it would be hard to convince Kaeya that he hadn't really meant what he had said later on but hey, Diluc would rather have him alive and upset than dead (and also upset). So he kept going.

   "Why wouldn't I mean it?" he said, trying to sound as cold as possible. He sighed. Now or never. He turned his head to look at the Fatuus again.

   "If you're gonna kill us at least get him first." he said. "Or," he added almost immediately, not giving the guy enough time to actually turn around and shoot Kaeya. "Can I be the one to do it?"

   This certainly wasn't the outcome the guy had expected, it was very obvious. "You already tried that once and failed, idiot." Kaeya chimed in.

   Diluc looked at him with a grin. "I don't think Celestia loves you enough to grant you a second vision. They're not gonna save you this time, Kaeya."

   "Man, what the fuck. You guys hate hate each other." the Fatuus mumbled. Diluc saw resignation in him as the guy took three steps back, still holding the gun. "Fine, do it. But don't try anything shady, I'm watching."

   Diluc furrowed his brows. "You're not expecting me to kill him with my bare hands, do you? Come on, please, I swear I won't try anything else." If he didn't get the gun from him, there was no use.

   "You have a vision, fire boy. I'm sure you have a weapon of yours. I'm actually surprised you haven't pulled it out until now."

   Diluc sighed. Not a single thing seemed to be going the way they wished he would.

《☆》

   Diluc noticed Kaeya anxiously tapping his index finger on the back of his other hand. "What?" he asked.

   Kaeya's gaze found Diluc's for a brief moment, before Kaeya looked away, unable to form eye contact. "Don't—" His index finger stopped moving, eyes focused on the table. "Don't point the claymore at me."

   Diluc's eyes widened, horrifying images of a certain rainy night flashing in his mind. "Okay." he replied, trying to keep his tone stable and as soft as it was possible for him, Diluc Ragnvindr. "Butter knife it is, then." he mused, attempting to lighten the mood.

《☆》

   Diluc summoned his claymore.

   In his defense, Kaeya hadn't said anything about summoning it. He had just asked Diluc to not point it at him. Not to mention the fact that he literally didn't have a choice right now.

   "The gun is kinda ruining the mood here." he grumbled. "Shut the fuck up, are you doing this or not?" the guy retorted immediately. Okay but how was Diluc supposed to attack the guy with a claymore? It's not like he couldn't dodge a bullet, perhaps he could dodge it and make it to the guy fast enough but Kaeya was right there, tied and vulnerable. Diluc would much prefer the gun to be out of the equation.

   "Sucks that I don't have my vision on me, it would've protected me." Kaeya said with a sigh. Diluc turned to look at him, and he understood immediately. Shield. Did Kaeya know Diluc had his vision? From the way he was looking at him, Diluc assumed he did. He could probably feel it.

   "Okay, whatever." Diluc said. "I'm gonna count to three, so if there's anything you want to say, get it out of your system." he said as he slightly approached Kaeya.

   "One."

   Diluc desperately hoped Kaeya understood what he had in mind.

   "Two."

   The way Kaeya's gaze was filled with determination and seriousness as he looked right into Diluc's eyes made him think he did understand.

   "Nothing? Alright."

   They had one chance. It could cost them their lives if they couldn't coordinate. Diluc took a huge breath. He raised his claymore.

   "Three."

《☆》

   "You know... you know a lot about my abilities and my fighting style but it's almost like I know nothing about yours. I've seen you a couple times and it's so different from before you had a vision."

   Kaeya chuckled. "I refuse to believe you didn't follow me around to spy on me and take note of every little thing I do after you came back. You wouldn't trust me as far as you could spit back when you first came back. and I don't think that changed a lot since than."

   "Well, I might have spied on you. A little." Diluc admitted. "But I still don't know a lot about your skills. I'm asking so that I know what you're capable of in case we end up in a battle together."

   Kaeya put a hand on his chest, faking offense. "You don't trust my capabilities, Master Diluc? I'm wounded."

   Diluc rolled his eyes. "No, idiot. As in, what cards do you have up your sleeve? Spill them."

   "Okay, well, you know, it's ice. I... throw it around, I guess? Though I must say I'm pretty skilled with it. You'd be surprised."

   "No shit." Diluc deadpanned. "A cryo user summoning ice? Unheard of."

   Kaeya payed him no mind. "And then there's the shield, but no need to explain that one I think. You of all people should know."

   Diluc tried to look past the snarky remark. He was sort of getting used to it at this point. "What else?" he asked.

   "Well, I can heal a little. But it's nothing too impressive. Can't even fully close up a bleeding wound. It's more like... um... painkillers, you know."

   Diluc hummed in response. That was something he didn't know about. "Good to know." he said. It could definitely come in handy.

   "Oh!" Kaeya exclaimed, straightening up and scooting to the edge of the couch he was sitting on. For a very short second, he looked just like the young and naive teen he used to be. "Okay, so this next one is super cool."

   Diluc raised his brows expectantly, a fond smile subconsciously appearing on his face. "I'm all ears." he said, placing his chin on his hand.

   "I can teleport."

Chapter Text

   It all happened in an instant.

   Diluc turned to the Fatuus and dashed forward, claymore raised.

   The Fatuus' finger found the trigger, and pulled it with no hesitation as the pyro allogene's flames began to reach him.

   Kaeya, who was tied up and seated on a log, disappeared for half a second and materialized right behind Diluc.

   As the bullet made his way to Diluc, a cold sphere of crystal was formed around him, and the bullet ricocheted off the shield.

《☆》

   "I can teleport."

   Diluc's eyes widened in shock. "You can what?" Kaeya shrugged with a slight smile. "Teleport." He then chuckled. "Told you, it's super cool."

   "How far?" Diluc asked. Kaeya's shoulders fell. "Okay, well, it's not that cool. I can't teleport far. Just a little bit."

   "Well, do you use it during battle?" Kaeya nodded. "Quite often, actually. I'm surprised you haven't seen it before."

   "I never really watched you fight, honestly." Diluc admitted, he was kind of surprised at himself for not doing so. He had been literally spying on Kaeya for years now, yet he had never examined his fighting style properly.

   "Anyway," he added. "We can make use of that, good to know."

《☆》

   The Fatuus fell down to the floor, screaming as he was engulfed in flames. Kaeya scrunched his face and averted his gaze to the rope that was still firmly wrapped around his wrists. Diluc put his claymore down and walked towards the Fatuus to capture him.

   He managed to tie the guy's arms before he was startled by a loud thud. He quickly turned around to face whatever it was, only to be met with Kaeya tossing and turning on the ground.

   "What are you doing?" he asked, and Kaeya stilled. Diluc silently waited for a reply as Kaeya sat up and looked at him with a highly unamused face. "Take a wild guess." he replied, slightly raising his hands and legs that were still tied.

   Diluc couldn't help but chuckle at that. He looked back at their guy to see if he would be able to run, and then turned back at Kaeya and approached him when he decided they were safe. "I don't think whatever you were doing just now was going to work, buddy." he said as he calmly untied the rope around Kaeya's wrists. "You can take care of the rest." he then said as he stood up, pointing at the rope that was still around Kaeya's ankles.

   "Wow, thanks. Such a caring and loving older brother." Kaeya said, sarcasm evident in his voice as he untied his own legs. "And very proud of my achievements too, couldn't ask for anyone better." Diluc furrowed his brows in confusion for a short moment before he realised what Kaeya was referring to.

   "I know way better than you do what it means to be a knight, cause unlike you I had earned my spot."

   Oh, oops. "Kaeya, you know I didn't mean what I said. I had to make it believable and see, it worked." he said, pointing back at the guy who was seated at the ground, his limbs tied together and whining in pain.

   "No Diluc, I don't know shit. Do you expect me to just believe you came up with that on the spot? And that you have never formed such a thought before? Don't be ridiculous, if you don't think I deserve to be the cavalry captain then just say it."

   "I'm the one being ridiculous? Kaeya. Your plan was to have a fake argument to convince that guy we didn't get along, and thats what we did. You should've just made another plan if you were going to get offended over a fake argument."

   That made Kaeya go silent. He untied the rope around his ankles without another word and slowly stood up.

   The guy kept whining and crying behind them. Diluc turned to face him with a groan. "Shut up and we can heal you." he said.

   Kaeya furrowed his brow, he didn't know how exactly Diluc was planning on doing that. So, as the guy went silent immediately, Kaeya began waiting for Diluc to do something. When a few seconds passed and Diluc hadn't even moved a muscle, Kaeya turned his head to look at him, only to be met with Diluc's expectant gaze. "What?" he retorted. "He could really use some of your painkiller magic right now." Diluc replied. "Oh." Kaeya said. "Yeah well, there's no painkiller magic I can use on him." Diluc furrowed his brows. "But you said—" "I can't heal other people, Diluc." Diluc paused. "Oh." he replied, and turned around to face the devastated man sitting in front of them.

   "His friend should be back anytime now." Kaeya said and turned around to walk back towards the log he had been sitting on when he was tied. "What friend?" Diluc asked as Kaeya sat down. Diluc was well aware of the coldness in Kaeya's tone, yet that had to wait until they were done with this whole thing. In hindsight, Diluc should've known they weren't going to just start getting along out of nowhere. Except he had foolishly believed they would and they had gotten tangled in this whole thing hand in hand. And now Diluc was almost certain they would walk away from eachother and go back to how it was once this was over. Perhaps Diluc should savor the moment and maybe even make it last longer. But no, that would potentially put them both in danger.

   Diluc hadn't noticed just how much he had missed having a brother, and now the thought of losing him again felt like someone shoving multiple axes into his chest at once.

   "There were two of them, one left to inform their higher ups that they got me." Kaeya replied, pulling Diluc out of his spiral. Diluc nodded in understanding.

   As if that was his cue to join the scene, a guy ran out of the woods. "We got the wrong guy." he said, gasping for breath as he fell to his knees out of exhaustion. He then raised his head, unexpectedly meeting two and a half set of eyes locked on him. It was a confusing sight for sure, the man he left tied now untied, standing next to another man who wasn't supposed to be there. And his comrade was on the ground, tied, writhing in pain.

   "What is this..." the guy mumbled as his hand slowly reached for something in his belt, presumably another gun. Kaeya and Diluc shared a quick look. Diluc then reached into his pocket to pull out Kaeya's vision, and tossed it to him without wasting a second. The sudden act scared the guy in front of them, and his movements sped up in an instant, the gun aimed and ready to shoot in a single moment.

   "Now now, no need to get all worked up." Kaeya spoke gently, both of his hands raised on the sides of his head as he slowly moved to position himself away from Diluc, dragging the gun's aiming point away with him.

   A single bullet was fired. It went straight through where Kaeya stood half a second ago, and made its way directly into the body of a tree.

   "Drop the gun." Kaeya's voice came from right behind the guy. When Diluc looked that way, he saw a sword being pressed onto his neck. Kaeya had teleported right behind him, and captured him with ease. Diluc could get used to this, fighting side by side with Kaeya and barely having to do anything as Kaeya had many cool tricks up his sleeve. Diluc was a straightforward fighter, nothing tricky, just fire and brute force. And he was good at it too, but he still couldn't help getting impressed at Kaeya's abilities, how Kaeya made up for his lack at physical strenght (he could barely lift Diluc's claymore when they were younger) with his intelligence and swift movements.

   The gun fell to the ground with a thud. Kaeya seated the man next to the other, then asked Diluc to bring the rope that had been tied around Kaeya minutes ago.

   "I recall there were some news you wanted to share with your friend?" Kaeya asked once the man was securely tied down next to the other. "Yeah." the guy mumbled. "We... There was another Darknight Hero sighting tonight. We got the wrong guy."

《☆》

   "Sure." Rosaria said. "What's my role?"

   Kaeya cleared his throat and began explaining in a very low voice, low enough for only the two of them to hear. Diluc, unable to hear from behind the counter, turned around and went back to work.

   "The Fatui is after me." he began. Rosaria raised her brows at that, but the lack of concern was sickening. "They think I'm the Darknight Hero, so they're actually after Diluc. They don't know that though." Kaeya kept explaining.

   "We made a plan that would take both of us out of their radar, but we need someone else to play Darknight Hero for us while clearing ourselves. It needs to be someone capable of playing a single night of vigilant hero and also someone who wouldn't be a suspect. Everybody knows the Darknight Hero is a guyso you're in the clear already. And, you're capable enough to play the role for one night."

   "Okay, fine, but what exactly will you do?" Rosaria asked. Kaeya gave her a quick summary of his plan and Rosaria gave him an understanding nod once he was finished. "That's a shitass plan." she declared, loud enough for Diluc to hear. "I know, right?" Diluc said without looking their way. "Well, you agreed to it. You have no right to talk shit about it." Rosaria told him. "And so will you. So neither can you." Kaeya said with a frown.

   "I haven't said yes yet so I can shit-talk to my heart's extent until I do. First of all, not only is it a fuckass plan that depends on hopes and wishes, it's a selfish plan, if you manage to pull it off you two will be safe but it puts literally every other man in Mondstadt in danger once you're cleared. Especially if you're sure these people want the Darknight Hero dead. And, considering that you're practically clearing the Darknight Hero, it'll do nothing but put innocent lives in danger."

   "We... uhh, yeah we'll deal with that too. Once we're safe, I mean." Kaeya answered.

   "Sure, whatever." Rosaria said. "Just tell me when and where."

Chapter Text

    Sun had just began rising by the time Kaeya and Diluc carried their Fatui hostages back to the city and Barbara arrived to check out the injuries the one Diluc had burned had sustained. Kaeya had taken the unharmed one to the headquarters while Diluc had went to the Cathedral with his victim and now was listening to Barbara scolding him for being too harsh on the 'poor man' and pulling her out of bed at such an early hour. He apologized for the inconvenience and left the room to go sit at the main area. "No, I'm not running away from you, I'm just giving you space to work." he explained when Barbara eyed him with displeased suspicion.

   Rosaria was sitting at one of the benches, arms crossed as she swung a dagger around her finger. She was in her daily attire, she had already gotten rid of whatever costume she had used to become him for the night. "Did that do it?" she asked without looking at him. Diluc nodded, then added a verbal "Yes, thank you." when he realised she wasn't looking his way. Rosaria hummed at that as she stood up. "Good." she said, turning around and looking at Diluc. "I sacrificed a good night's sleep for you, so I'm taking my leave if we're done here." Diluc furrowed his brows at that. "I'm pretty sure you weren't gonna sleep anyway." he replied but Rosaria had already left.

   Kaeya arrived a while later, quietly sitting down a couple seats away from Diluc. They sat in silence for a while. Diluc liked it. He would've preferred more but he was also content with what he had. Their final moments of peace and alliance before everything went back to how it was. Their final moments of comfortable (or was it, if Diluc was sat there anxiously thinking about it) silence before they went back to spitting venom at each other with every sentence, every word they spoke.

   "I didn't want to wake Jean up, it's rare that she ever goes to sleep anyway. I locked him up, I'll talk to her when she comes to her office in the morning." Kaeya spoke quietly. Diluc hummed. "It already is morning." he said, his eyes focused on the lines of light reflecting to the floor from the window. "It's... not morning enough yet, you get what I mean." Kaeya explained, rubbing his uncovered eye.

   Diluc sighed, leaning his head back. He shot a quick glance around, making sure no one had came in. He stood up to approach Kaeya when he spotted two sisters at a corner. Kaeya seemed confused at first, but his expression went back to neutral when he also saw the sisters.

   "Thank you. For everything." Diluc began his speech. "You don't need to worry about the rest, I think I've bothered you enough already. I'll take care of it." Diluc could see a frown appear on Kaeya's face from his peripheral vision. "I just– it was nice working together with you. I think we made a good duo." This made Kaeya turn his head to fully look at Diluc, but Diluc wasn't looking at him. He kept looking straight ahead as he let out anything and everything he wanted to say. If they were gonna part ways again, this time Diluc was gonna walk away with no regrets. "And I—"

   "Are you going to kill yourself?" Kaeya interrupted. Diluc would've huffed out a laugh at that, because yes, it kind of did sound like that. But then his eyes met Kaeya's and that laughter died in his throat. Kaeya was dead serious. "No!" Diluc replied immediately. "No. What? No. No I won't." Kaeya didn't seem convinced. "Then why are you talking like that?"

   "Master Diluc." Barbara called out as she came out of the room she had been working in. "Oh, and Captain Kaeya." Barbara adresses the young man with a small smile. Kaeya gave a slight nod in response. "Sorry to pull you out of your cozy sleep at this hour and put you to work." he said with an apologetic smile. "It's a part of my job." Barbara replied simply. "I'm done with him. You can see him if you'd like. You can take him to the headquarters in a couple hours. I just want him to be under my watch for a bit longer." The brothers nodded in understanding. "We'll get back to what you were saying later." Kaeya whispered as Diluc took a step forward towards the room.

   The Fatuus lay in bed, covered in bandages with a handcuff on his wrist chaining him to the bed. "I did the best that I could. Still, he's most likely going to have scars all over. Burns are no joke, really." The brothers shared a quick look. "Yeah, burns most certainly are serious like that." Kaeya commented.

   "Sister Barbara." A knight welcomed himself in, giving a proper salute when he noticed Kaeya's presence in the room. "Cavalry Captain." he addressed him out of respect (or procedure) and Kaeya replied with a nod. "Yes?" Barbara replied, bringing the knight's attention back to herself. "Acting Grandmaster Jean has asked me to deliver this to you." He said, handing a note over. "Jean is in her office?" Kaeya asked. "Yessir." The knight replied. "Alright, thanks." Kaeya said before turning to Diluc. "I'm going to report this to Jean, and we're gonna continue our conversation when you come to the headquarters to bring him." he told Diluc and left after getting a nod of approval from the latter.

《☆》

   Diluc found Kaeya crammed in paperwork when he arrived at the headquarters. Kaeya had already informed the necessary staff so the Fatuus had simply been snatched from his hands and taken care of immediately upon their arrival.

   "Hello." he simply said after entering the room Kaeya shared with Jean. They both raised their heads from tjeir work to look at him. "Hello. I heard you've been busy last night." Jean responded as Kaeya stood up from his seat and walked over to him. "Um. Yeah." Diluc replied, unsure what to say. "Don't mind her, she's just surprised that we worked in this together." Kaeya told him and walked out of the room. Diluc began following him after a hum.

   They sat down on a bench outside, side by side with an awkward amount of space between them. "Why'd you talk like that?" Kaeya began. "Like what?" Diluc asked. Kaeya gave him a look that said 'Really?'. "Like this is the end." he replied anyway. "We still have work to do. Like Rosaria said, what we did only cleared your name and mine. Now everyone else is in danger."

   Diluc furrowed his brows at that. We? Diluc had talked like this was the end because he had thought this was the end. "I– You're no longer involved in it. You don't have to do anything else. You can just go back to your own life and duties." Kaeya frowned at that. "Oh." he said, and the way he sounded upset confused Diluc. "I assumed we were in this together until the end, y'know?" It was Diluc's turn to mutter "Oh.". "Do you... want to?" he asked, his voice unsure and low. "Yes!" Kaeya exclaimed desperately. "Yes I do and I thought you would too. I... I really enjoyed fighting together you know, having you by my side." He then looked away and added "I didn't know it was a one time thing though.", his voice going lower.

   Diluc had stupidly assumed Kaeya wouldn't want him back in his life without even asking him or listening to him, the way he had assumed Kaeya was a traitor who would betray them at the first chance he got without even listening to his whole story. He truly hadn't grown or matured one bit, he supposed.

   "Kaeya I thought you wouldn't want to." he explained shamefully. Kaeya turned to look at him again. "Are you dumb?" Diluc huffed out a laugh. "Maybe." Kaeya gave him a soft smile. "So, we're in this together till the end?" he asked, offering his hand. Diluc smiled back as he firmly took Kaeya's hand and shook it. "Till the end."

《☆》

"What do you think would happen if we had a very big fight and you didn't want to be my brother anymore?"

Little Diluc turned to face his brother with a frown. The boy was playing with his hair, his blue ponytail barely long enough to go over his shoulders.

"What kind of questions is that? You'll always be my brother." he replied with confidence.

"But what if we had a very big fight and you didn't want to talk to me ever again?"

"That's not gonna hap—"

"What if it did?"

Diluc paused to actually consider it this time, realising Kaeya was not gonna let it go until he got a satisfying answer.

"I'm sure it would pass. Like, we wouldn't talk for a day or two but then I'd miss you so we would talk again."

"You already do that sometimes." Kaeya frowned. "Im talking about a big fight."

Diluc was about to object to that but he remembered how he didn't talk to Kaeya for a day and a half a couple months ago when Kaeya didn't want to play hilichurl hunting with him. Diluc had tried explaining there were not gonna be real hilichurls involved, Kaeya would be the hilichurl and Diluc would hunt him. Then the other way around. No real danger. But Kaeya hadn't accepted anyway.

Diluc sighed. "I dunno, the same scenario but it would take a week or something."

Kaeya hummed in response.

"Would you wait a week for me to come around?" Diluc asked softly. Kaeya gave him a warm smile.

"I'd wait for years."