Chapter Text
DILUC POV
Diluc did not hate kids. He was actually a kid once himself. The difference was that he was not annoying like the ones that had now taken over Angel’s Share, playing Genius Invokation TCG. And they weren’t even playing it right. Like they had tossed all the rules in the air. It’s just a game. But still, couldn’t they at least try to play it correctly?
Of course, it had all started with Kaeya. Like most horrible things do. Business hadn’t been horrible – but it had been better. Then, Cat’s Tail had the genius (get it?) idea to inspire the youth of Mondstadt by hosting Genius Invokation TCG during the day. It went well. To the point where there wasn’t enough room to host everyone. Seats in Cat’s Tail became a competition – with only the best of the best sitting there.
The rest? Stuck playing outside on the roads. Diluc didn’t really care. Best they learn about the world early – the harsh truth and reality. Not have their entire life shattered in seconds like that had happened to Diluc. Best they learn early on. Of course he wasn’t evil, so he wasn’t walking around smirking at the kids with their cards drawn on paper as they sat on the corners or kicking away their pathetic stones and papers. Diluc did not care. He could care less.
But Kaeya? Oh Kaeya really cared. He had even tried to convince Jean to let the “future knights” play at headquarters. Jean refused. Kaeya of course went as far as to beg Diluc to host the game for the “losers” who weren’t good enough to play at Cat’s Tail.
Now that had been annoying.
“Master Diluc,” Kaeya had said as he drank his dandelion wine a few weeks ago.
“No,” Diluc replied
“What, Master Diluc! You don’t even know what I’m going to say.” Kaeya had whined while taking another sip of his drink. Kaeya was always so dramatic.
“You have said this every day for the past week.” Diluc sighed.
“Said what?” Kaeya asked with a smirk.
“To let the loser card kids play here.”
“Master Diluc, how could you be so cruel?” Kaeya taunted and Diluc watched in annoyance. Kaeya wiped away fake tears and placed his hand on his heart. “Oh, cruel Master Diluc.”
“Kaeya, why don’t you just rent a place for them yourself? I heard you already bought the cards.”
“Well then Master Diluc, I wouldn’t have enough for my wine.” Typical Kaeya.
Diluc rolled his eyes.
“Master Diluc, why don’t you want to inspire the youth?”
“It’s just a game .” Diluc snapped, how was it going to inspire the youth.
“Exactly,” Kaeya replied, “it’s just a game! It shouldn't be too hard to host it!”
Diluc scoffed and tried to ignore Kaeya. Nope, Kaeya was too annoying, Diluc needed to continue speaking, “It’s not about inspiring the youth, it’s a pathetic card game.”
“Wait, Master Diluc – you’re not scared are you?”
Diluc scoffed, “Scared of what? Sir Kaeya?”
“That you’ll run out of grape juice. Ah Master Diluc I knew you were greedy.” Kaeya replied, wiggling his eyebrows laughing.
Diluc grabbed Kaeya’s wine glass.
“Hey! I wasn’t finished with that.”
“Now you are,” Diluc replied, then continued, “Why do you even care so much Kaeya?”
“It’s just,” Kaeya paused for a second wiping away a single tear (it was obviously fake), “they remind me of when I was just a little wee one in Khaenri'ah. Playing with nothing but rocks and scraps and the Abyss Mages.”
Diluc quickly slammed a new drink (yes he wasn’t cruel) on the table and darted his eyes to make sure no one had heard Kaeya talk. A tinge of guilt and anger festered within his fingers.
Suddenly, Charles – that stupid, stupid man — announced to Master Diluc just loud enough for Kaeya to hear, “We just got a huge shipment of grape juice that’s gonna expire soon.”
Kaeya simply laughed and wiggled his eyebrows once more. Diluc wanted to punch him.
So, here he was now. Angel’s Share overridden by children sitting on the chairs and stools and tables. Trying to climb everywhere and being stupid. And it was only the first day!! Only 2 hours into opening!!
Diluc stood behind his bar (yes the children had tried to climb over the counter) with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. Kaeya? No where to be found. Of course, Kaeya had kept his promise and dropped off all of the decks of cards. But now he had scattered off to some sort of “mission” and Diluc was stuck. Surrounded by whatever this was.
He wasn’t judgemental, but his judgements were usually right. Of course, Diluc wasn’t rude.But he could tell that these kids were never gonna make it to Cat’s Tail or even a tournament. They had no regard for the rules, didn’t know how to play and were making up their own rules as the game went along.
What had ever happened to reading the instructions? Diluc grumbled.
“More grape juice, please!” voices yelled. Diluc grumbled again (which he didn’t think was possible), and sighed as he brought the table more grape juice. Just a few more days. Just a few more days. Oh and Charles that horrible man had to sort out some “serious business matters.”” But Diluc was pretty sure that Kaeya had done all this just so Diluc had the pleasure to host this stupid game.
But as he returned he saw an angry Diona tapping her foot looking at the packs cards Kaeya had bought.
“Very sneaky Master Diluc,” Diona said angrily.
“Pardon me?” Diluc replied.
“Just cause you have money you decided to go all out and buy the fanciest cards. What you lack in talent you buy with mora. Well that doesn’t matter, because my customers are loyal and they will not be coming to this shabby little tavern.” She then tutted and spun around leaving (not before grabbing a deck or two of cards) and kicking a stool.
Wow, Genius Invokation TCG really made people go insane. It’s just a game! Diona was usually really nice. Maybe he should grab the cards back. It was Kaeya’s money. Ah, Kaeya destroyed his business partnerships as well. Typical Kaeya.
And then Diluc turned around and saw another kid, “Sir!”
“It’s Master Diluc,” Diluc replied.
“Okay, whatever, Master Diluc,” the kid replied.
“Yes?” Diluc said, trying to hide the venom out of his voice.
“Where’s Sir Kaeya? I wanna show him how good I am now!” the kid said. No wonder all these kids were stupid, Kaeya had taught them to play!
Then before he could reply, “Sir Kaeya’s on a mission!” a voice spoke.
“What?”
“Yup! I heard he spent ALL his money on buying the fancy cards for us.”
That was so stupid . But something Kaeya would definitely do. Diluc didn’t know why, but he felt his heart drop and a void open there.
Then out of the side of his eye, he quickly caught a cup that a kid had chucked (luckily he had switched to plastic) and placed it on the table.
“Cool!” the kid who was bothering him and grabbed the cup and looked at him for more grape juice.
Diluc pinched the bridge of his nose. Just a few more days. Just a few more days. Actually, no. He was gonna quit after today. Just a few more hours until he could kick them out and prepare for his actual customers. Oh, he couldn’t wait for Kaeya to show up. He was gonna yell at Kaeya.
The chaos didn’t end. No, it got worse . The world naturally moved towards disorder. But this? This was a catastrophe. Like so bad that the Archons would have to stop the chaos just to return the balance.
Some of the kids from Cat’s Tail had come and started demanding the cards from the “loser” kids. “It’s not fair! You guys don’t even know how to play!” the kids had yelled as they did some sort of raid (the worst part was that they seemed to have put some thought and planning into it too).
Diluc stared at them. He wasn't getting paid to do this. It was just a game. Literally like all of this was free . Even the grape juice because he needed to get rid of the stock. The price: his sanity?!
Diluc huffed, it wasn’t his problem. And he couldn’t really argue with them. These kids didn’t know how to play. It’s just a game and they couldn't play it right.
Then Diona walked inside and Diluc let out a sigh. Finally ,
“Diona, finally. Please, can you..”
“CHARGE!” Diona yelled.
Suddenly they raced towards the counter and Diluc sighed.
“We’re out of cards, sorry.” Diluc said. That wasn’t a lie.
“Let’s start grabbing them from the losers!” one of the kids yelled.
“Wait!” Diona said and sent an apologetic glance at Diluc.
But it was too late.
Diluc watched as the table closest to him – with a scrawny kid playing on his own - had his cards ripped away from him by the crowd.
All this for just a game.
And at that moment a memory took over Diluc’s mind.
“Kae!? You gave away all of your toys again?” Father had said during dinner.
“Yup! I like to share!” Kaeya said with a smile and cheeky grin.
“What happened to your face?” Diluc interjected. He had just begun training with the knights and didn’t see Kaeya as much.
“Oh, I was playing in the dirt instead and I fell,” Kaeya had said with a smile.
“Well, Kaeya grow up big and strong, and soon you can join Luc in training!” Father had said as Adelinde placed the vegetables on his table. Diluc never saw Kaeya vegetables that fast.
Diluc had been really busy with the knights but he still remembers that one day. Diluc had taken a detour and was walking through the forest. It was for some sort of stealth training and Diluc was exhausted. Ready to go home.
But then by the rocks below he heard screaming. And Keaya's voice.
He ran to the edge of the small cliff just above the clearing and saw Kaeya below him. He saw Kaeya’s toys being grabbed from him as the kids huddled around him.
“Master Crepus can buy you more toys,” one of the kids said as they pushed Kaeya over and stepped on Kaeya’s face. Kaeya was there now and covered his head as they kicked him. Then Kaeya made eye contact with him in shock and pain, “Luc?”
“Your brother ‘Luc’ can’t save you now. He’s training for the knights. He’s probably happy that you're not there to bother him anymore. You’re just a LOSER!”
Diluc saw red.
As he walked Kaeya home that day (skipping knight training altogether), neither of them talked. Diluc would have brought it up, told Kaeya to do something or to have told them, if it weren’t for the extreme shame on Kaeya’s face.
So, all Diluc said, “Kae, you’ll never be a bother to me. Ever.” Oh how that had turned out.
Now, as Diluc stood in Angel’s Share he wasn’t sure why that memory had come to curse him out of nowhere.
He watched as the “loser” kids cried in the chaos and saw red again. Not as fierce as red had been once a long time ago – he was much more cool and collected now.
He slammed the counter and yelled, “Everyone stop.”
Luckily he was able to control his Vision. He didn’t wanna traumize them.
The entire tavern was still.
Silently, without even needing to say anything the attackers left, mumbling grumpy grown up (Diluc’s unfortunate nickname) as they left.
Diona looked at him to apologize but Diluc simply smiled (as much as he could at that moment so it looked more like a grimace). He couldn’t be mad at Diona. Because he knew how much the kid hated alcohol and this gave her a chance to be happy to be a kid, and Diluc wasn’t going to take that away from her.
As the day continued, Diluc was still annoyed. But luckily it hadn’t gotten worse. He also was apparently “cool?” That’s what the kids were saying.
“Master Diluc,” that was so cool how you saved us! I thought we were all gonna be done for. It wasn’t that serious, but Diluc didn’t mention that.
Of course, with Master Diluc’s 15 minutes of fame, now he was a favourite character in this stupid game. Of course, they still weren’t playing the game correctly. Making up their own rules as they went.
As the day wrapped up and the sun began to tell the world it was about to set, the tavern started clearing out. Surprisingly, as they left they put the chairs back in order, even returned the cups – Diluc did not want to jinx it, but the tavern was looking cleaner than when it had opened just a few hours ago.
“See you tomorrow, Master Diluc!” Diluc waved. He wasn’t going to be here tomorrow. Nope. Nope. He was gonna be at home.
There was just one table left, the scrawny kid had now found some friends. While Diluc still wanted to scream at them for not following the rules and making up their own he didn’t. They had made up their own stories, points and everything. Some were even throwing in dialogue too. They still fought over their made up rules, but it wasn’t horrible.
“Wrap up soon, guys,” Diluc spoke.
“Yes Master Diluc!” the voices chimed.
Diluc walked over, arms crossed observing.
“So what are you doing,”
“Master Diluc! You’re fighting Kaeya right now!” the kids said with a smile.
Oh . It’s just a game.
Diluc hadn’t noticed he was frowning until a kid chimed in, “Don’t worry Master Diluc, you’re winning right now! Even though Cyro is stronger in the rain.”
“I told you already, it’s not raining!” said another voice.
It’s just a game.
Diluc watched, trying to hide any emotion. Why was he thinking about that? That night? When things had gone horrible.
“Diluc uses a phoenix wing flame attack one million!” the kid said, slamming the card onto the table.
It was done. Diluc remembered the feeling of horror that ebbed within his fingers, within his hands, after he had sent the attack. All he could do was watch his heart drop as Keaya looked at the flaming bird with a wide eye and then that wide eye had softened in acceptance. A smile. Diluc’s heart was racing. Shuttering in his chest. It felt hollow.
“I win!” cheered the kid breaking Diluc’s trance. Oh right. The flame phoenix attack whatever was done. The game was done. Diluc’s body was shaking. His hands were burning. It’s just a game.
He still remembers the smell of burnt flesh. The blood – all of which was Kaeya’s. The way Kaeya had smiled softly until Kaeya looked at him. That’s when he saw fear. True fear in Kaeya’s eye. And it wasn’t like the fear Kaeya had, when he thought he was gonna get in trouble for something. It wasn’t the fear that Kaeya would show when the bullies were hurting him.No, it was different. And because Diluc knew Kaeya. Maybe Diluc had imagined all of it, but part of him knew he hadn't.
“Nope! Kaeya uses a frozen power ice shield triple billion!” said the kid.
When the ice shield appeared around Kaeya, Kaeya looked shocked. Even more shocked than Diluc himself. Diluc remembers.
“Hey! You can’t do that! You don’t have any points.”
“I don’t need any points to do that! It activates when Kaeya’s HP is low!” The kid argued back.
He remembered how Kaeya’s eye had widened and shaked. How Kaeya looked almost disappointed? No ashamed.
“Yes you do! You need points!” the voice yelled. Was the room getting really hot? Diluc heard the sound of rain.
“No I don't! Sir Kaeya told me that his ice shield activates on his own!”
“I don’t believe you! Kaeya doesn’t have an ice shield!”
How Kaeya’s hands were shaking as they touched the ice around him. Diluc watched as the phoenix turned into nothing but more rain. Kaeya had looked at him, and looked apologetic? The room felt hot. It felt muddy and humid. And something was burning. It smelt like smoke.
“Yes he does! He just never has to use it cause he’s so powerful!”
Other voices chimed in agreeing, “Sir Kaeya has an ice shield! He told me he only used it once ”
No. Guilt ebbed its way into Diluc. No, only once. That meant. That meant. It meant that…
“Really?”
“Yup, and he said he was more scared for the other guy .”
Kaeya, bloody and broken, had looked at Diluc and smiled softly. It had enraged DIluc. That the pathetic traitor had gotten a Vision. Yes, that’s why the traitor was smiling. Thinking he was all that powerful. Pathetic. Diluc had looked at his bloody hands – it wasn’t his blood– maybe some of it was from the way he had put his fingernails into his skin. He took out his Vision and tossed it at Kaeya. He walked away. Not looking back. Because he couldn’t.
Murmurs broke out, talking about how cool and powerful Kaeya was. And while the older brother in Diluc would have had his chest warm with pride, Diluc now stood still.
“Wow Sir Kaeya is the coolest! But even if he has a super cool ice shield, he needs points to activate it!”
“Sir Kaeya told me that the ice shield activates, even if he doesn’t want it to!”
Diluc’s entire body felt warm. But it also felt frozen. Diluc had looked back. He said he didn’t but he did. He looked at Kaeya – frozen and burning. In the dancing of the snowflakes, his brother held Diluc’s Vision in his hands, and Diluc watched as it burned Kaeya’s skin. But Kaeya didn’t let go, despite all the pain he must have been in. Instead, he gripped the Vision tighter and held it to his chest.
Diluc couldn’t hear. All he heard was a high pitched noise. A quick chime from Angel Share’s door.
“Ask Sir Kaeya, he will tell you!”
“I’ll tell you what?” Kaeya asked, as he stood with his arms crossed in the doorway – the rain pouring behind him. His hair was damp, and his uniform was bloody.
Diluc saw red.
It’s just a game.