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Kaeya wakes up a few times, but it never lasts very long. It's like there's this veil around him, protecting him from the world around him. However, every time he comes to, and momentarily returns to the land of living – or at least he hopes he's still alive to do come back to that –, he feels freezing cold, like he's been left bare naked in the middle of Dragonspine.
As soon as Diluc hears his brother whimper in pain, his full attention is on him. He immediately becomes aware of how much Kaeya's shaking, and curses himself for not having brought his coat with him– or did he?
Eight hours ago.
"Why aren't you sweating buckets?" Kaeya groans beside him, as he opens yet another button of his shirt. Diluc rolls his eyes at his brother's theatrics; apparently the heat is too much for him to keep his shirt properly buttoned up but not enough to get him to get his furred coat off.
"Getting all that fur off may help," Diluc replies, turning his head away from Kaeya so he won't catch him smiling. In all honesty, it feels nice to act like brothers again, to freely joke around each other without feeling on edge and, lastly, to be the powerful duo they are in the battlefield.
Even if it's a fact that they're both very capable in combat, it's also known that cryo and pyro are two elements that can be used to do very intense attacks, for better or for worse.
So when Diluc got word of three hilichurl camps around the same area, he called Kaeya without a second thought. Not because he needed his help, but just for the sake of fighting together.
"Excuse me? I am not taking my beloved coat off!" Kaeya says with a scoff, and Diluc doesn't need to look at him to picture his pointed look, and the hands on his hips. "I'm just concerned about you, brother mine, because you haven't broken sweat, even after fighting all those hilichurls."
"Maybe the famous cavalry captain's gotten out of shape," Diluc finally turns to look at Kaeya, just in time to catch his brother's matching smirk.
"We'll see about that, freeze!" Kaeya says with a shrug, before he extends his hand forward, promptly freezing the two hilichurls and the lawachurl running towards them.
"Retribution!" Diluc's quick to use his elemental burst right after Kaeya's, turning the two hilichurls into ashes and knocking the lawachurl back. Kaeya disappeares from his vision field as he goes to check for archers, while Diluc's dealing with the lawachurl– that's another perk of fighting together: they know exactly what the other's thinking and how he'll act.
Before long, they both regroup at the center of the hilichurl camp, which is now mostly ashes. Looking around, no doubt still looking for enemies, Kaeya says: "That felt..."
"Too easy," Diluc finishes his sentence with a sigh, as his shoulders grow tense, and his fingers tighten their grip around the tilt of his claymore, once more. "Stay alert–"
"Agh!"
"Kaeya!" At his cry of pain, Diluc immediately turns to his brother, only to find him collapsed on the ground– what's that sticking out of his neck? Before Diluc can inspect it or his brother any longer, he feels something prick the back of his neck.
"What the...?" He drives a hand to the pointy thing, and in the mere seconds the action takes him, he feels himself fall forward like a sack of potatoes.
"Not only did he take us, but he took my coat too," Diluc mutters under his breath, getting bothered at the memories reaching his mind.
If anything, it's annoying to remember how easily they'd gotten kidnapped. Even though, logically, he's aware there's nothing they could've done to prevent that ambush, Diluc feels hot anger lingering in his chest.
"Damn it all," he whispers, bringing one hand to his face, which consequently brings his other hand too, given they're bound together by these stupid chains. They could've at least handcuffed him like normal people! At least, Kaeya's free of any kind of restraint, but he's yet to wake up.
Then, he glances at his brother, while Kaeya's lying his head on his lap; since Diluc couldn't provide any more heat without his coat, nor his vision, his own body heat would have to do. And, perhaps, it'll also bring some comfort to Kaeya, even if he's not awake to properly acknowledge it.
Kaeya has long since stopped shivering, and Diluc can only hope it's because he isn't cold anymore... Diluc swallows, knowing it's useless to worry while he's this helpless.
"'luc?"
At the weak call for his name, Diluc's head snaps in Kaeya's direction. Speaking of the devil, Diluc thinks to himself with a smile, but the relief he feels is immeasurable. "Kaeya, I'm here," Diluc tells him.
"How are you feeling?" Diluc asks him. He almost runs a hand through Kaeya's hair to move it away from his eyes, but realizes that maybe uncovering his bad eye will do nothing to ease his brother's nerves; quite the opposite, certainly.
"I guess we jinxed it by being so happily working together," Kaeya says with a weak smile, but doesn't reply to the question. Diluc lets it pass, out of manners. After all, it isn't nice to shower someone who has been kidnapped and certainly tortured with questions.
"I guess we did," Diluc agrees with a court nod, ignoring the burn behind his eyes. Kaeya looks so... defeated; it's terrifying. Just then, Kaeya grimaces, and before Diluc can ask him about it, the man's already sitting up. "What do you think you're doing?" Diluc frowns at him, but doesn't stop him from getting up.
"Don't worry about me, I'll live," Kaeya says, slowly sitting up and moving so he's sitting against the wall behind them. He still has those dark bags under his eyes – yes, his bad eye is visible now, but Diluc won't let him know that – but at least he doesn't look about keel over anymore. "Any idea on how we'll get out of this?"
Feeling more relieved by the his brother's change of demeanor, Diluc smiles. "I have a plan."
"Help!" All of a sudden, Three's attention is caught by an alarmed cry of help, coming from the hallway next to his lab.
If he's not wrong, it seems to be Diluc Ragvindr calling for help. "My brother's dying!"
Brother?
Interesting...
The poison must be working, and maybe that's what's bothering the captain! Three will check on him right away.
By now, Three's almost done with the sketch of his organs, which aren't really all that special, unfortunately.
Opposite some theories of his, the captain's insides look very much the same to the insides of any other human in Teyvat.
His blood work will also be done in no time, and maybe Three will get to work on Diluc Ragvindr before he has to send them both to Snezhnaya.
What's most intriguing about Diluc Ragvindr, the crimson beast of Snezhnaya, is that as far as the records go, he was never seen with his pyro vision while he was on his killing spree in Snezhnaya.
However, when Three's men caught him, he had no delusion in his possesion and had a pyro vision instead.
And Three has to know how he made it so far without his vision, since it's said that vision bearers quite literally can't live without them!
And that's another part of the whole report Three's writing about Kaeya: how long can he last without his cryo vision.
"I'm coming!" Three announces himself before he enters the room where he's keeping the captain and... his brother.
However, as soon as he does, he feels some kind of blade stabbing the flesh, or rather what immitates flesh, of his ankle, making Three fall forwards. "Oh."
"I see you're not dying, captain," Three then says, getting on his fours as he inspects his latest test subject.
"Of course I'm not," the captain says, supporting his weight with a hand against the wall, "now, release us, and we'll let you live."
"The poison didn't work," Three notices, and regrets not having brought his notebook from the lab.
"Poison?" Both brothers say at the same time.
"I had to try it, just to make sure. And it gave wonderful results!" Three grins, excited at the thought of this experiment having been such a success. However, when the two brothers don't seem to understand what he's saying, Three takes the time to explain them. "It's proved to be deadly to humans." Three smiles at them, with his eyes still fixated on the captain, who's now looking at him with horror– Three doesn't understand why he does, though. Shouldn't he be as amazed as Three is? Happy, perhaps?
"What?" The captain gasps, and looks about to lose balance. Right then, Diluc Ragvindr appears and helps him to stay upright.
"I also took enough of your blood to kill you, captain, or at least leave you on bedrest for a long time," Three then tells him, because the captain must know the great news! "You should've died by now."
All of a sudden, the blade is pulled out of his ankle and, Three thinks, it's ran across his throat. Out of instinct, Three reaches for his throat and finds liquid pouring out of it.
Diluc Ragvindr must be specially fast, because Three didn't notice he disappeared from his sight befoee he slit his throat. And, before he knows it, Three collapses on the ground and everything goes abruptly dark.
"Diluc!" Kaeya's good eye widens at what he's seeing. Diluc has just cut the segment's throat... killing him in the process, as far as Kaeya knows about segments.
"What have you done?" He says under his breath as he, against his better judgement, kneels beside the segment and watches the blood spill over the ground. He doesn't bother to check for a pulse.
"If what he was saying is true, no one can know about it," Diluc says from behind him, and Kaeya doesn't need to look at him to picture his neutral frown. Without seeing it, it's already unnerving him.
"So you killed him," Kaeya snaps his head in his direction so that his glare will have its effect. Diluc looks as unamused as he'd pictured him in his mind.
"I did, and we better get out of here before his minions get here," he nods his chin to the exit door. "Are you good to walk?" His blank stare soon grows concerned, and Kaeya almost laughs at the drastic change.
"I think I am," Kaeya shrugs his shoulder, slowly but surely getting back on his feet, "be right back, I'll go get our visions."
"Kaeya," Diluc calls for him right when he's about to cross the door. "Take it, and be careful," he says – or rather commands, and Kaeya almost rolls his eyes at him –, as he hands him his knife. Instead, Kaeya only flashes him a smile as he takes it. After that, he exits the room. As he moves through the long and creepy hallway, Kaeya finally has some time to think and process everything that's happened.
In reality, what bothers him the most about Diluc having killed that thing is, obviously, the fact that now they won't be able to learn about him. Is he really immortal? Was it all a lie to play with him? To break him? Or was he simply immune to that specific poison? He still feels a bit dizzy, so the blood loss isn't off the table.
Anyway, leave it to Diluc to ruin things with his impulsive self...
No, that's not fair, a sweeter part of him forces Kaeya to think again. Maybe Diluc isn't so bad... he stayed with him while he was literally on the verge of death– was he even on the verge of death in the first place?
Not knowing bothers Kaeya more than anything in the whole world, he thinks. But there's nothing to do about it. That segment's dead and so will be his – its? – research, soon enough. Once they find Diluc's vision, he'll probably burn the place to the ground.
Before long, Kaeya reaches the main lab... where he was kept before, and tries not to freak out at the sight. He feels the leather around his wrists and ankles even if it isn't there, he feels the hopelessness from before, and almost gets sick.
Focus, Kaeya tells himself, deeply inhaling and slowly exhaling. He doesn't have time for this.
In the lab itself, there's the long operating table where Kaeya was kept for only archons know how long, two more tables beside it, both full of tools such as scalpel, different types and kinds of needles– there are no torture tools, Kaeya realizes and... doesn't know how to feel about it, so he goes looking.
There are three bookcases on one side of the room, but there doesn't seem to be any glowing visions, so Kaeya wastes no time on them. He does pocket the little notebook he finds close to the operating table.
Just then, he hears a "Kaeya!" right before a row of footsteps entering the door, so Kaeya instantly turns around. He finds two men just standing there, and they both have their heads covered by bags that only show their eyes.
"We can work this out with our words," Kaeya offers, growing tense like a bow about to shoot, "or with our blades," he says, raising Diluc's knife.
None of the men in front of him speak. But since they don't respond with violence right away, Kaeya isn't complaining. And, all of a sudden, they take something from their pockets, moving at the exact same time, which makes it a pretty eerie sight.
Those are... their visions, Kaeya notices with a frown, staring at them. The two men are... handing them to him? Just like that? Without a fight?
"You are free to go, captain," the two men say at the same time and they sound just like the segment did. The same nickname for him, the same tone of voice... are they segments too?
What?
"Is this a trick?" Kaeya says, never putting his knife down, because he's many thing but naïve isn't one of them.
"No, and except you want to be taken captive to Snezhnaya, I'd advice you and your brother to leave at once," the segment in the left, who's holding Diluc's vision says.
"Why are you doing this?" Kaeya asks, slowly approaching the two, with his knife still ready to strike.
"Because if they take you to the queen, I won't be able to discover anything else about you," the segment in the right's the one to speak this time around, and it's the one holding Kaeya's vision.
"Will you take me captive again?" Kaeya asks the most important question, while he's already feeling his cryo welcoming back with a cold embrace without needing to actually grasp his vision.
"Maybe, in the future," the two segments speak at the same time again, making a shiver run through Kaeya's back.
"I see," Kaeya nods and gives them a thoughtful hum, while he lowers his blade and pockets it, before he grabs the visions and hooks them on his belt. Even if it doesn't belong to him, Diluc's vision connects with him like an old friend, but Kaeya doesn't let himself dwell on it, even if it could be because this isn't the first time he's been left with his brother's vision.
The two segments stand aside to let him pass through them and Kaeya takes the opportunity to leave this awful room, and the traumatizing experience that came for free with it, behind. Of course, he won't be leaving the segments behind.
"Freeze!" with a twist of his hand, Kaeya freezes both humanoids in a thick wall of ice, which honestly leaves him breathless and heavily leaning against a wall for support, but he considers it worth it.
And no, he won't leave them like this, just to defreeze at some point and walk away. Curling his fist, Kaeya makes the ice wall shatter into pieces, shattering the segments along with it.
Huh, maybe Diluc wasn't so wrong to kill the first segment, Kaeya thinks with a shrug, before heading back to the room where Diluc is.
"Kaeya," Diluc exhales in relief at the very sight of him, now standing guard as close to the door as his chains let him.
"Your hero's here," Kaeya winks at him, ignoring how much his knees are screaming at him to lie down, and moves to hand Diluc his vision– before he can properly give it to him, the steel surrounding Diluc's wrists melts away.
"Thanks," Diluc tells him with a smile, before hooking his own vision on his belt and exiting the room. "I thought those two would hurt you as soon as I saw them running towards you," he admits with a hint of sincere fear, while they're walking through the hall, in the opposite way to the lab.
"Aw, you were worried about little old me?" Kaeya says with a smile, even as warmth fills his chest. It feels nice for someone to explicitly worry about you once in a while... he could even get used to the feeling.
"Of course I was," Diluc huffs, crossing his arms over his chest, but no annoyed frown from his part could wipe Kaeya's grin off his face.
Soon enough, they're climbing up the stairs that, hopefully, will lead them to the exit. But nothing's ever that easy, and, sooner than later, Kaeya grows lightheaded after taking too many steps in one go, and has to take a minute to lean against the wall and breathe.
"Diluc," he whispers, genuinely breathless, "I don't feel so hot," he adds, and hates the way his voice shakes.
Diluc's instantly beside him, hooking one of his arms around his own shoulders. "Here, lean on me," he gently instructs. "Do you need a minute?"
"No," with his good eye closed to prevent himself from growing even more dizzy, Kaeya weakly shakes his head. "Let's get out of here."
Resistant to poison and blood loss or not, Kaeya passes out right after they leave that madman's laboratory, so, once he's made sure he's only unconscious, Diluc gets him on his own back and starts taking them back to Mond.
He's still not very sure about how he should take Dottore's discoveries, if they were even true to being with. Yes, he's known about Kaeya's origins since that dreadful night, in the same day they both lost their father, but for him to be immortal? Or at least... less mortal than the average? It's a lot to take in.
And if it's a lot to take in for him, Diluc can't imagine how hard it already is and will be for Kaeya himself. He imagines him having felt very conflicted about his origins in the first place – merely a thought he hasn't been able to prove, since they've gotten back on speaking terms only a short time ago –, and figures this will only make things more difficult. He can only hope Kaeya will open up to him and let him help in any way he can, whenever it's needed.
But for now, Diluc will focus on getting them both back home. After all, the sun has long since set and darkness makes creatures grow bolder, and they've already gotten their fair share of annoying creatures today.