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"Diluc."
Slowly, Diluc looks up at his brother, who's now standing a few feet from him. Diluc doesn't know how long he's been sitting here, on the porch that takes to the garden behind their manor. It would be wrong to say he was lost in thought, since there hasn't been antthing worthy actually going through his head. He can only tell it's been raining all day long, ever since father...
"What is it, Kaeya?" Diluc says under his breath, with a tired sigh, "I'm not in the mood to play, you know."
"Certainly," Kaeya says, and he sounds... nervous? At that, Diluc spares him a glance, and notices him with his arms crossed and placing his weight first one one foot and then the other. "But I'm not here for a game, exactly."
Growing slightly concerned at what could be troubling his brother to make him anxious of all things, Diluc moves to be fully facing him, while still sitting. "Then, what do you need?"
"I need to tell you something."
Diluc rolls his eyes at the ambiguous answer, before he makes a gesture with his hand to tell Kaeya to continue. "I'm all ears."
"Remember the night where we first met... and I became your brother?"
With another sigh, Diluc cuts him off, already growing genuinely annoyed. "Look, Kaeya, if this is about you being nostalgic, I–"
"It's not that, I promise," Kaeya raises his hands in the air, which makes Diluc cock an eyebrow up, almost feeling curious about what this is all about. "So... you never knew about where I came from before arriving here."
"Correct," Diluc gives him a court nod.
"I'm... I'm from K'haenriah, Diluc."
That does catch Diluc's attention, and almost makes him stand at once. "The dead land? How's that possible?" Questions start spilling out of his mouth on their own, and Diluc lets them. "And why are you telling me about it just now?"
But Kaeya doesn't look nervous anymore. If anything, he's wearing the expression of a guilty man, which makes Diluc's heart drop. "I'm sorry, 'luc, I was sent here..."
"Sent?" Diluc does stand up now, and fully faces Kaeya, who's looking anywhere but at him. "By whom?"
Kaeya visibly shivers when a breeze his face – or at least that's what Diluc would like to believe, instead of the fact that his brother has just flinched at something he said. "My father... my real father sent me on a mission."
Now Diluc's the one flinching when Kaeya uses the word "real", but he makes no comment on it. "What was the mission, Kaeya?" And when he asks it, Diluc doesn't think about anything else. He believes his expression must be blank, considering how empty he currently feels. And Diluc would like to believe his voice didn't shake at all at the middle of the question.
And now Kaeya looks about to cry, and Diluc wants nothing more for this to be a stupid joke. "To.." Kaeya's voice breaks as a sob makes him choke, and he looks away, "spy on Mondstadt, to learn about it–"
"To spy?"
It all happens within a second. It's like a switch has been turned in Diluc's mind. All the pity and concern wash away from his heart and are instead replaced by anger and betrayal. To spy? Has it been all a lie since day one?
"You... you lied to us?" Diluc stares at Kaeya, and at some point his claymore materializes in his hand, but he isn't bothered by it; to grab it is actually quite comforting. "This whole time?"
"I'm sorry, Diluc!" Kaeya desperately shouts at him and continues to raise his hands in the air, but the stupid gesture only serves as fuel to Diluc's fury. "I never meant for this..." Kaeya cries like a baby in front of him, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand like a toddler.
"For what? Did you have something to do with father's death?" Diluc spits the words like they're poison, and sees out of the corner of his eye his claymore getting on fire.
"No! I swear!" At the sight of his flaming claymore, Kaeya starts backing off, stepping right under the rain.
"How could you...?" Diluc mutters under his breath, trying to breathe more slowly, while the more rational part of him is screaming at him to calm down and think this through.
Screw that, he tells that voice, and makes the flames of his claymore burn hotter, practically turning the raindrops into steam without needing them to touch the steel. "How could you?!" He throws the claymore forward, and misses Kaeya for mere inches.
"Unleash your sword," Diluc commands Kaeya, as the tip of his claymore rests over the mud.
"What?" Kaeya looks at him in horror. There's raw fear in his eyes. Diluc hates that look in him, but in his heart burns hatred alone, and the only one around to face it is Kaeya, and with due reason. "I won't fight you," Kaeya desperately shakes his head from one side to the other, and Diluc's just noticed that he's fallen on his knees.
"Take out your sword!" Diluc yells at him, picking his claymore up.
"I won't!" Kaeya shouts back, squeezing his eyes shut–
And for a second, it feels as if Diluc blacked out. Everything goes black.
But the next time he opens his eyes, Kaeya's lying on his back on the ground, limp, and with– with a huge a slash that goes from his shoulder blade to his waist– scrap that, his right eye has somehow gotten burnt too– by Diluc's own hand.
Before he even realizes it, Diluc falls to his knees and empties his stomach. His eyes burn with tears as he heaves for a few more seconds. "No... please no..." he breaks down in tears and chokes as hiccups escape his throat. He hugs himself, and, for a moment, doesn't dare to look at Kaeya again.
Diluc then crawls towards his brother on his fours, going to kneel beside him. "Kaeya... I didn't mean to hurt you... not like this," Diluc wipes his hands on his already ruined clothes to get the mud off, before he moves the hair off his brother's face.
"Hit me! Come on, I hit you too hard, hit me back!" Diluc grabs Kaeya's hand and holds it next to his cheek. When the hand falls out of his grasp, Diluc's eyes fill with tears once more. "Come on, open your eyes!"
"Adelinde! Elzer!" Diluc yells, turning to the manor when he realizes they need help. "Someone!"
It doesn't take long for Adelinde to come out of the manor, in her pink night gown. "Young masters? What is all this noise– oh, archons," Diluc catches the exact moment where she sees Kaeya and her face completely falls.
The utter horror in her face only lasts a second, before she snaps into action and goes back inside for a second. "Elzer!" Diluc hears her calling for the other man, before she rushes to his side, now with a coat on, which she quickly puts over Kaeya's chest. "Archons, what happened?"
"I didn't mean to," Diluc denies, shaking his head like a maniac. Maybe if he believes it hard enough, he won't have done any of it."I swear I didn't want any of this to happen," he says between sobs, as he grips the fabric of his pants.
"Master Kaeya?" Adelinde softly taps Kaeya's cheek with one hand, as she uses her other arm to cradle his head. "Come on, my boy, wake up."
Then, Diluc hears another horrified gasp behind him, which turns out to be from Elzer, who's standing over the porch, frozen. "What happened?"
"We need to take him inside, hurry!" Adelinde instructs, and Elzer appears by Kaeya's feet, before the two of them gently pick Kaeya up, with Adelinde's arms hooked under Kaeya's armpits and Elzer holding his legs. "Diluc, dear, go to your father's office, open the left drawer, and bring the three healing potions in there."
Diluc's eyes snap to Adelinde, before her clear instruction actually goes through his brain and he nods. "Okay."
I swear I'll make up for this, Kaeya, Diluc swears in his heart, as he sprints to the stairs to get those healing potions.
As soon as Kaeya comes to, he furrows his brows. His whole body feels sore, like he's just been sparring with Varka and Jean. He tries to find a more comfortable position, and ends up curled up into a ball under the covers.
"Kaeya."
Oh, he recognizes that voice, and finds himself smiling almost instantly at it. "Addie?" He whispers, and almost flinches at how rough his voice sounds. When he goes to sit up, there's a pair of hands that help him up. He still hasn't opened his eyes, because there's just too much light in the room right now.
"What happened?" Soon enough, there's a cold glass of water being pushed into his hand, and Kaeya gladly takes, immediately driving it up into his lips and taking two eager sips.
He hears Adelinde sighing, and his smile drops. "You fought with your brother, young master."
At those words, Kaeya's eyes snap wide open– except... "My... my eye..." Kaeya drives a hand up to touch his right eye, which has yet to open, and his fingers meet what feels like gauze, instead of, well, his eyelid.
"Please calm down, young master," Adelinde, who's looking at him with the sweetest of smiles, grabs his hand and gives it a gentle squeeze.
Memories flood into Kaeya's brain, and panic squeezes his heart. "Did he tell you why..." he trails off, staring at Adelinde with terror. She, on the other hand, is still looking at him like he's the most precious thing in the whole world.
"I don't care about what was said or done, young master, we lost your father already," she gives his hand another squeeze, "please be careful. The next time you need someone to talk, you can always come to me, young master," she says, before she uses her other hand to cup one side of his face, which makes Kaeya instantly lean into the touch.
"Is he awake?"
"Is that Diluc?" Kaeya asks, when there's a familiar voice on the other side of the door– he's just noticed they're at his own bedroom, instead of the Cathedral. Maybe Diluc didn't leave him in such a bad shape after all.
"Do you want him to come in? I can tell him you're still sleeping if you want," Adelinde suggests, and the kind offer is enough to warm his heart.
With a sigh, Kaeya steels himself and prepares for the worst. Still, if he isn't dead, he figures that perhaps Diluc isn't mad at him anymore. "No, let him come in."
"Don't worry, dear, if he loses his temper, I'll kick him out of the room myself," Adelinde winks at him and stands up, before she makes her way to the door and opens it.
"Thank you, Addie," Kaeya tells her and almost winks at her, but he realizes jt won't be... well, noticeable, considering his current predicament, so he goes for a thumbs-up instead.
"Kaeya," Diluc announces his presence when he enters, and the air abruptly shifts.
Kaeya slowly inhales through his nose, but has yet to meet his brother's eyes. "Diluc."
"Kaeya..." Diluc repeats, but this time around his voice completely breaks, which forces Kaeya to look up... only to find his brother on the verge of tears. He's never seen him like this, well, at least he hasn't seen him like this in years. Diluc drops to his knees by the side of the bed, and grabs Kaeya's bed with his two hand, holding it over his head. "This is all my fault."
For a second, Kaeya is too stunned to speak, blankly blinking at his brother. His brother? Apologizing? Is this Celestia?
Then, Kaeya smiles and uses his other hand to grab Diluc's. "No, it's mine, I was kind of an ass for... coming clean in such a bad time," he lets out a long sigh. "I just... couldn't keep it anymore," he explains, almost feeling embarrassed for being so... sincere about such a shameful side of him. "It was too much."
Diluc's head snaps up and, even as tears continue to roll down his cheeks, he looks like he wants to argue. And soon finds the strength to do as much, apparently:"But you shouldn't have had to keep it at all, I should've..."
"You did everything right, 'luc," Kaeya shakes his head with a smile. It feels wonderful to be back to normal, on speaking terms and without Diluc wanting to murder him– okay, maybe Kaeya was slightly asking for it by doing such an idiocy.
"And you did too," Diluc sniffes, rubbing one eye with his hand, "you were only seven years old when we first met, Kaeya," he says, between sobs, "you were just a kid, you were no spy."
At that, Kaeya's sure his eyebrows must raise to his hairline. With an incredulous laugh, he moves to the side to make some space for Diluc to sit with him. "You really believe that?"
With a surprised smile, Diluc accepts the offer and gladly sits next to him. Sooner than later, Diluc's leaning his head on Kaeya's shoulder, and Kaeya's leaning his head against his. "Well, you're still a crybaby, so yeah," Diluc says with a shrug, before he burst out laughing.
"But you were the one crying!"