Chapter Text
Jean was the one to announce the news to him.
It had started lightly snowing in Mondstadt that afternoon, a rare occurrence that happened when the winds changed directions and brought the snowflakes from Dragonspine’s peak to the country’s rolling hills.
Jean's shoulders were dusted with white when she entered Angel’s Share, but she certainly didn’t seem to be feeling the same amount of joy that the children squealing outside of the tavern were expressing.
Immediately, Diluc knew something was wrong.
Jean wasn’t the type to drink, much less partake in day drinking, so to see her in Angel’s Share on a Thursday's afternoon with such a sullen face…
She had squared her shoulders, and when she opened her mouth, Diluc was expecting yet another mistake of the Ordo Favonius.
Something to do with a Hillichurl camp near the Winery, probably. Or poor excuses regarding the unscrupulous merchants doing contraband of his famed Dandelion wine that the Knights couldn’t arrest due to a loophole in the export laws (unbeknownst to them, the problem was already taken care of by a grumpy Dark Night Hero earlier this week).
He wasn’t expecting that.
The words rang in his head, but he couldn’t comprehend them.
Couldn’t accept it.
He blinked once, twice, and suddenly he was sitting down, a worried Charles holding him by the shoulders.
“I think I misheard. Can you repeat that ?” he choked out toward Jean.
His childhood friend looked at him with pity before repeating the dreaded words.
“Kaeya is presumed dead.”
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It appears that being left without the supervision of Signora or another Harbinger for so long had made the Fatui stationed in Mondstadt antsy.
And unlike the so-called diplomats staying in the city proper that could spend their time day drinking (these guys had really adapted well to the local culture), the ones in the more remote locations - such as Dragonspine - had turned to more violent methods of entertainment.
As in, bothering the local adventurers.
And when no one retaliated - Dragonspine was a dangerous environment, and having an additional threat in the form of Fatui was enough to simply discourage most from going up there to begin with - they grew bolder.
As in, directly attacking the Guild’s camp at the base of the mountain, looting their food and tools, and causing actual injuries to several members.
By word of mouth, the Knights had been made aware of this incident. But, following protocol, they were waiting for the Adventurer’s Guild to formally depose a complaint before assigning someone to the case.
Or so they thought.
When Kaeya failed to show up to the Captain’s meeting for two days in a row, Jean had a bad feeling and unlocked his office with the master’s key to headquarters she had been issued as Acting Grand Master.
What she found on top of the neatly arranged pile of paperwork on his desk was the awaited Adventurer's Guild complaint, as well as notes on the possible leader of this dissident Fatui group, their camp’s location in Dragonspine, and other useful tidbits. Kaeya had obviously been digging around this case for days.
It wasn’t the first time her right-hand man had quite literally stolen paperwork from Jean’s office - it wasn’t even that hard, given he could just make off with whatever was on top of the pile on her desk without her even noticing its height diminishing.
Usually, though, he stole minor reports. Lost cats, noise complaints, some Hillichurl wandering too close to the city - things he could assign to the regular Knights or do himself quickly enough to lighten her workload without her noticing.
Not a mission that should have had a whole squad assigned to it.
Not on Dragonspine, which was currently under a storm alert so strong that even the elusive Chief Alchemist had decided to come down the mountain and seek refuge in the city.
A rescue mission was immediately organized. Unsurprisingly, the Knights never managed to go much further than the mountain’s base. The Fatui camp there was trashed, their occupants having left in a hurry.
A trail of disturbed snow led further up the mountain’s path.
The Outrider was the only one who managed to follow it. She came back almost a whole hour later, fingers blueish, eyes watery, and with a grim face.
A large puddle of blood in the snow, a shattered sword, and a ripped-up cape.
That’s apparently all that was left of their Cavalry Captain.
All that was left of Jean’s childhood friend.
Of Diluc’s baby brother.
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Presumed dead.
He punches a hole in the wall’s plaster.
No one is here to see it, and that’s for the best. He’s not sure he wouldn’t explode at whoever would dare to reprimand him for destroying the Knights’ property.
The Chief Alchemist is reputed for his usually unwavering calm. But at the moment, said calm is nowhere to be found.
Albedo is furious. At himself, at the world, at Kaeya.
Presumed dead.
That idiot. That bastard.
Of course, he’d go alone on such a dangerous mission. Of course he’d lie about it to the Acting Grand Master, delaying any rescue effort by precious hours as they struggled to figure out exactly where he went.
He raises his fist again.
Oh, when he sees Kaeya the next time, he’ll lecture him so hard that the idiot will have no choice to -
But there isn’t going to be a next time, is there ?
The thought is sobering, and Albedo slowly lowers his fist, instead leaning his forehead against the cold wall.
Presumed dead.
What is he going to tell Klee ?
Kaeya is as much of a parental figure to her as he is.
The little elf may not even truly understand the concept of death yet ; how can he explain to her that her big brother will not be coming back, no matter how long she waits, unlike her mother ? Alice’s temporary absence has already been hard on Klee, and Albedo knows she misses her mother greatly, even if it isn't that obvious to see with her explosive personality.
So if he were to tell her that Kaeya would never be coming back…
They don’t even have a body to bury. The rescue team only found some damaged items belonging to him, but not Kaeya himself.
Is that really all that’s going to be left of the Cavalry Captain ?
A broken sword, a bloodied coat ?
An empty grave ?
Archons. Albedo is the one that will have to empty his flat, isn’t he ? Since Klee has the spare key, and he can’t let Acting Grand Master Jean in without checking if Kaeya hasn’t left behind anything that could reveal his… their origin…
Is that how it ends ?
If Albedo had known, days ago, that this would be the last time he’d ever see the only man in this nation, nay, in the whole of Teyvat, that can truly understand him, would his parting words have been different ?
Would he have tried to be friendlier ?
Would he have told Kaeya how much he meant to him ?
Would it have changed anything ?
Albedo despises wasting time. And crying over spilled milk is a waste of time.
And yet. He can’t stop himself from imagining all the scenarios, all the ways he could have turned the wheel of fate if he had done anything differently.
What if, what if, what if -
Presumed dead.
They haven’t found a body.
What if he’s not dead ?
The thought snaps him out of his spiraling.
Kaeya is resourceful. A true survivor, as he’s (unwillingly) proved more than once.
Sure, it’s the standard procedure amongst the Ordo Favonius to presume individuals dead after a certain time, especially if it was a dangerous mission, and/or in specific locations that are known to be deadly.
But it doesn’t mean that Kaeya is truly dead.
…Not dead, but possibly dying, given the blood and the current storm in Dragonspine. Which, incidentally, is what led the Knight’s rescue team to retreat and pronounce him dead in the first place.
It doesn't matter.
He’s going to double-check all the locations the Knights supposedly scoured. And the one they didn’t. Kaeya might have left a clue behind that they missed, something that would help pinpoint his exact planned path that day.
Dragonspine is Albedo’s playground, the way Starfell Lake is Klee’s own.
He will not come back unless he’s found Kaeya.
Or his corpse.
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Kaeya groans as he fights to not slide down the wall.
It would be so nice to rest for a few minutes…
…But if he does sit down, he’s not sure he will be able to stand ever again.
He prods at his thigh, biting his lips to silence a groan of pain.
Good point, the cavern’s current sheer cold is helping the ice he put over his injury melt much more slowly, which means he’s no longer at risk of bleeding out any time soon.
Bad point, it means he’s also going through the stages of hypothermia much faster.
He flexes his fingers a couple of times - he can see with his fingerless gloves that the tips have started turning purple. He’s ready to bet a couple bottles of Dandelion wine that so are his lips.
…That kinda sucks.
Of all the ways to die, slowly dying alone from the cold in a Dragonspine’s cave surely isn’t the most romantic or heroic one.
Kaeya snickers.
It’s quite ironic, actually, considering ice is what saved him in the first place, on that night, years ago. A beautiful shield of Cryo that protected him from burning anger.
And now that same Cryo is going to be his downfall.
He should have had backup. Even without taking into account how dangerous Dragonspine is, he should have known better than to assume he’d be fine fighting one against ten. He should have dropped some teasing hints to Diluc, should have simply asked Albedo to help him, maybe ordered Amber to provide cover from somewhere higher up and safer -
But he didn’t. He wanted to tackle that problem himself, before others got hurt (before the Fatui got to Albedo’s camp or the Winery).
And of course, after almost three days of stalking the bastards through this white hell, he had grown tired. Exhausted even, if he was honest for once in his life. Cryo wielders weren’t the best-suited for such climates.
He had grown sloppy and didn't manage to dodge that last hit from the Fatui agent - the self-proclaimed boss of this whole group of hooligans.
Fatui agents' blades were coated in Pyro from their Delusions’ powers. Normally, they’d cauterize the wound as they cut, which hurt a lot, but it also prevented severe blood loss.
But Kaeya was so cold and tired - and he’d let his Cryo try to heal him before the knife was even out of his flesh.
It had caused a Melt reaction right in his thigh, which, first of all, excuse his language, hurt like a fucking bitch, and secondly caused what felt like a whole pint of slightly diluted blood to gush out.
Well, at least the warm spray had surprised the Agent enough that Kaeya was able to finish him with a well-placed icicle right to the chest. It made the blood dripping from his leg seem a little less daunting when compared to the growing puddle under the lifeless body in front of him.
Sighing, Kaeya had decided he had to get rid of the body properly - after all, it was better to cover all tracks. The Fatui probably wouldn’t care about a single agent, but he was trying to lighten Jean’s workload, and giving the Snezhnayans reasons to start troubles by accusing the Knights of warmongering would have the opposite effect.
He figured out the situation was truly bad when he hauled the corpse over his shoulder - and immediately felt light-headed.
Now, Kaeya wasn’t exactly the kind of burly mass of muscle his idiot claymore-wielding ex-brother was, but he was still strong. He was a knight, training daily, after all ! Carrying someone over his shoulder should have left him barely sweating.
Instead, by the time the corpse was dropped down a crevice in Starglow Cavern, he was gasping for breath, legs shaking, and his eyesight was growing blurry and darker at the edges.
Kaeya had then tried to stumble back to the cave’s entrance, periodically reapplying a thick layer of ice over his injury to slow down the flow of red red red red -
By the time he made it, he was greeted by howling winds.
He cursed, retreating further into the cave, spitting out the snow that had managed to whip him in the face in the few seconds he had spent at the entrance. There had been a weather warning for Dragonspine when he left Mondstadt, but the storm wasn’t supposed to hit for another day or two. Or had he misjudged the time he had spent fighting these Fatui ?
As he squinted into the sliver of sky he could see behind the white fury of elements, he thought he saw the sun rising. Which would mean the latter.
Well then, he was definitely late for the Captains’ meeting.
People would notice he was gone, Jean would probably find his report - he left it on his desk on purpose, just in case. Kaeya hadn’t been planning to die on this mission, but as a knight he couldn’t know when his time would come (or when Khaenri’ah would come for him). It was only basic decency to have his affairs in order in case someone needed to finish them in his stead.
But the weather… It was unlikely the search party would find him. His fight with the Fatui Agent had led him pretty far from their camp, and he had ducked into a less-known entrance to the cave to spare his poor thigh.
He didn’t even have his sword to use as a cane anymore, as it got smashed to bits by an Electro Vanguard during his attack on the camp - another proof he wasn’t paying attention and should not have been fighting alone.
He’d have to make it out by himself.
Which was fine !
…Or at least, that’s what he had thought, maybe an hour ago.
Now, the cold, hard floor looked so inviting to his exhausted body. If he could just close his eye for a few minutes…
Kaeya startles upright. He had closed his eye and almost fell down.
Shit.
He was in a worse state than he thought.
He tried to focus on the burning pain from his thigh (no, not burning, he knew what burning flesh felt like, that wasn’t it), but he could still feel his eyelid drooping.
Biting his lips and rubbing his hands together - he was trembling, trembling is good, it means his own body hasn’t given up on him (yet) - he starts walking again.
He has no clear objectives in mind at first - if the storm is raging on the mountain, going out of the cave will be a death sentence.
Should he go higher and try to reach the alchemists’ camp ? He’s not sure he can in his current state - but he should probably try to. They have medical supplies at the camp, as well as food, and considering there are no pathways going down the mountain from Starglow Cavern, being in the camp is his best chance at getting some help once the storm clears.
He’ll attempt to go this way.
As long as he walks, he’s alive. That’s good enough for now.