Chapter Text
Diluc is a good bartender.
He is. He may not enjoy the drinks he serves, but he’s good at mixing them, and sometimes listening to the drunkards who wander in is amusing in its own right.
Only sometimes, though.
This is certainly not one of those times.
The two knights seated at his bar are new faces, and already absolutely drunk out of their minds despite only being there for an hour, tops. They must be newbies too, with the way they’re blatantly bad-mouthing a certain cavalry captain in the middle of the bar, loudly.
“Can you believe they let someone like Kaeya be a Captain?” the one on the left slurs, swaying on his stool. Diluc makes himself look busy polishing a glass that doesn’t need polishing, but keeps himself very aware of the conversation taking place. “It’s just wrong. He doesn’t look like he belongs anywhere but the janitorial staff with his complexion!”
“I know,” the one on the right hiccups in response, taking a long swig from his wine, “he should be cleaning up after us, not the other way around!”
Diluc very carefully sets the glass down before he breaks it.
“If I may interject,” he starts, crossing his arms as both drunks turn to him. The expression on his face must be quite intense as he watches them both pale considerably. “There are many reasons to dislike Sir Kaeya, but the color of his skin isn’t one of them.”
The men swallow sheepishly, looking somewhere between angry and chastised as Diluc swipes their bottle out from the left one’s hands.
“You’ll do well to learn that kind of talk isn’t welcome in my tavern, nor anywhere else in Mond, for that matter. I’d suggest you make yourselves scarce before I do. Personally.”
The men stumble out of the bar in quick haste, grumbling something about how the wine wasn’t that good anyway. Diluc only allows himself a brief blooming of satisfaction as they leave, grateful that for once Kaeya wasn’t lurking to see the exchange.
Of course, as nothing ever seems to go his way, his satisfaction only lasts a few moments as Kaeya practically materializes from the shadows of the bar, looking very smug.
“My my, Master Diluc. Coming to my defense still, even after all these years? I’m touched,” Kaeya says as he steps up to the bar, in that ever syrup-sweet voice of his.
Diluc scowls, but finds his hands already preparing a Death After Noon. Kaeya notices this too, if the growing smirk on his face means anything. And, knowing Kaeya, it definitely does. There’s very little that escapes Kaeya’s gaze, after all.
“I was merely speaking the truth,” Diluc says, stirring the strong spirits into the drink with a bit more force than necessary. “That kind of talk should stay in the Mond of old where it belongs and has no place in my tavern. It should have no place in the Knights either, but I see you’re just as incompetent as always at sorting out rotten fruit.”
Kaeya laughs, but it lacks real humor. “Those two had just joined last week. Such a shame they showed their true colors so soon, I was quite looking forward to the show when they were expelled,” Kaeya sighs then, a dramatic, put-upon sound. “I suppose I’ll just have to find my entertainment elsewhere.”
Diluc slams down Kaeya’s drink in front of him, ignoring Kaeya’s raised eyebrow. “I’d hardly call their behavior ‘entertainment’. More like barbaric.”
“On the contrary, Master Diluc, it’s one of the finest forms of entertainment there is!” Kaeya claims, taking a sip from his monstrosity of a cocktail. “There’s very little I find more satisfying than someone being put in their place. You should surely understand that, no?”
By the way Kaeya is looking at him over the rim of his glass, blue eye sharp and calculating in a way only Kaeya can truly pull off, Diluc gathers he’s being put through a silent test. Or perhaps just a game for Kaeya’s own amusement; it was hard to tell the difference with him sometimes. Either way, Diluc is too old for games and tests, and certainly doesn’t want to partake in any of Kaeya’s.
Diluc turns and resumes polishing his polished glass. Let Kaeya come to whatever conclusion he wants; it doesn’t matter to him in the end.
(It does. But Diluc shoves that part of him down into a sturdy box with a heavy lock, and pretends it doesn’t exist.
It’s easier that way.)
“If there’s nothing else, you’re taking up bar space. Take your drink to one of the tables or leave.”
“Such a harsh tone, Master Diluc,” Kaeya says, though makes no move to leave. No, he stays on his stool, lounging like a cat in a ray of sun, like he owns the place.
(Diluc shoves that thought down, too, before it’s able to gain any momentum.)
“One would think you’re trying to get rid of me. Are you really any better than those knights, then? Throwing out a loyal and paying customer is hardly a good business model. Is it something I said?” Kaeya places a hand over his heart, like he’s truly hurt.
Diluc fumbles with the glass for a moment, then huffs.
“That’s—That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
If Kaeya looked like a cat before, he definitely caught his canary, lips curling up in a sly smirk and eye twinkling in amusement. Diluc reckons he’s probably the damn bird in this metaphor.
“No, but it’s good to know you’re as easy as ever, Master Diluc.” Kaeya looks seconds away from bursting into laughter as he takes a sip from his drink. Diluc thinks his eye is twitching.
“Did you actually want something, or are you just practicing how insufferable you can be in a span of five minutes?”
“Why not both?” Kaeya counters with an easy shrug, but sobers a moment after. A miracle in itself, really, given the proof of his glass. “But yes, I am actually here on business.”
“As I’ve told Jean many times before, I have no interest in working with the Knights,” Diluc states, finding another glass to needlessly polish. Anything to keep him from reaching across the bar and throttling his estranged brother.
“Exceptions exist for a reason, you know,” Kaeya suggests, gently setting down his glass. It’s already half-empty. “Besides, who said anything about the Knights?”
Diluc pauses.
“I have even less interest in working with you, Sir Kaeya,” he says finally, not bothering to hide the disdain in his voice.
Kaeya doesn’t seem to mind, huffing a laugh that means Diluc is doing exactly what Kaeya thought he was going to. It’s mildly infuriating, if not impressive, to know that Kaeya is always running the conversation, always two steps ahead, even if he lets you think otherwise.
“You haven’t even heard the proposal yet, dear brother, don’t be so rash,” Kaeya says, words thinly veiled in that honey-sweet tone of his.
“I’m not your—whatever,” Diluc grinds out, clenching his jaw. Archons, Kaeya is annoying. “You clearly already think I’m going to agree to whatever nonsense it is you’ve concocted this time, so get on with this ‘proposal’. The sooner we can part ways, the better.”
“Always such a grump,” Kaeya sighs, put-upon. “Very well, though I do sincerely suggest you learn to lighten up one of these days. A glass of wine does wonders for the soul, you know.”
Diluc very nearly throws the glass he’s holding at Kaeya’s head. He doesn’t, because his father taught him manners, but it’s a close thing.
“Get on with it.”
“Must you always ruin my fun?” Diluc turns to give Kaeya his attention, and the full force of his glare. Kaeya takes a sip from his drink, amused and unbothered. “A domain has been found in the Whispering Woods.”
Diluc frowns.
“That’s all? New domains crop up all the time; I hardly see the need for you to require my assistance for something so… mundane.” Honestly, he’s a little insulted.
“Well, if you had any sense of patience, you could learn what makes this domain so interesting, no?”
Kaeya looks a little annoyed himself now, but it's a familiar expression whenever they have any semblance of a conversation these days. It’s almost a routine at this point.
“Fine,” he bites out, just refraining from rolling his eyes. Just. “What makes this domain so special?”
Kaeya smiles and taps his finger on the rim of his glass. “Of course, we’ve sent knights to go investigate. On the outside, it appears to be like any other domain. However, no more than two people can enter at a time.”
Diluc frowns. “That is… odd, but—”
“You didn’t think that was all, did you dear Diluc?” Kaeya cuts in, and there’s something in his eye that makes him pause.
It’s not often that Kaeya looks… unnerved. And to anyone else, he probably wouldn’t, but Diluc has known him for most of his life, and knows his tells. Some of them, at least. And there, that little crease running along his bottom lash line, tells him that something about this domain is truly bothering Kaeya.
“The pairs who go in do come out, and physically they seem to have suffered no harm. Mentally, however…” Kaeya pauses, studying the grain of the wood of the bar before meeting Diluc’s gaze directly. “Mentally, they are extremely distressed. Paranoid to a degree I’ve rarely seen. They kept asking how long it had been since they’d left, how long they were trapped, why didn’t we come for them sooner… And yet, they’ve always returned before the sun sets on the day they departed.”
That. That certainly is something.
“How long did they claim to be trapped?”
“They were unable to specify, but they made it seem like months had passed at the very least.”
Months. Diluc inhales sharply, frowning as he assesses the facts before him. A domain that traps people and warps their sense of time, leaving them paranoid and terrified as soon as they’re spit out...
“Naturally, I went to investigate myself,” Kaeya says after a moment, carefully blaisé. Meeting his eye, Diluc knows Kaeya had come to the same conclusion about this domain he just had. “It reeks of abyssal energy—almost like a miasma around the entrance. One can only imagine what it must be like inside…”
“The Abyss Order must be behind this,” he says, with pure vitriol in the name alone, “that’s why you came to me.”
Kaeya grins, “ah, so you do have a working brain up there.”
This time, Diluc does roll his eyes.
“Did your knights ever say how they escaped?” he asks instead, refusing to let Kaeya revel in his own amusement.
“I’m afraid not,” Kaeya replies, looking truly dejected about it. “For the most part, it seems we will be flying blind.”
“Don’t talk like we’re a team just yet; I haven’t agreed to anything, you know.”
“And likewise, I haven’t told you everything either.”
And there it is. Nothing is ever simple when it comes to Captain Kaeya, is it?
Meeting Kaeya’s eye, Diluc pauses. Sure, he looks just as smug and relaxed as he always does, but there’s something… off about the way he’s holding himself. Like the effortless poise and calm he exudes isn’t so effortless at the moment. Maybe Diluc is overthinking it, overcompensating in trying to stay ahead of his schemes, but he doesn’t really think so. Something about this whole thing has truly unsettled Kaeya, something Diluc thinks he wouldn’t like the answer to if he were to ask.
“You think something else is at play.” It’s not a question, but the corner of Kaeya’s lip quirks up all the same.
“And they say you’re just a pretty face.”
Diluc ignores him. “What makes you think this isn’t just another ploy from the Abyss Order?”
For a moment, all Kaeya does is stare at him. Then, in a subdued tone Diluc hasn’t heard from him in years, “the energy from outside the domain feels… familiar, in a way I can’t quite put my finger on.”
That makes Diluc freeze completely. Kaeya looks completely serious, in a way he often isn’t, at least in public. It’s unnerving in its own right.
“Are you implying what I think you are?” Diluc asks carefully, lowering his voice even though the only other patron nearby is Stanley, who had passed out next to his mug well over ten minutes ago.
“And if I am?” Kaeya asks coldly, finger tracing the rim of his glass in a steady circle. That star-shaped pupil of his bores into him, making him vaguely feel like Kaeya is staring through his flesh and bone and straight into his soul. “Would it change anything?”
“If it is what I think you’re implying,” he says in lieu of an answer, not missing the way Kaeya slightly squints at him in something akin to suspicion, “then I’m assuming Jean doesn’t know?”
“She has her ideas,” Kaeya says vaguely, “but she doesn’t seem to be on the right path as of yet. How could she be?”
Diluc frowns. “This whole thing could very well be a trap if what you think is true.”
“It may well be,” Kaeya concedes, narrowing his eye at him. He tilts his head a bit, then smirks, like he’s discovered something particularly amusing. “Are you asking if I’m the one who laid it, Master Diluc?”
Once again, Diluc suppresses the urge to roll his eyes. “I never said the trap would be for me.”
Kaeya grins. “Oh? Concerned about my wellbeing, are we? Careful, one might think you actually worry over me.”
Diluc bites his tongue to keep from taking the obvious bait. “If it were you, you wouldn’t be so blatantly telling me all of these details. I’m saying we should be careful. This whole thing is probably some sort of lure.”
“That very well could be the case,” Kaeya agrees, inclining his head, “but it would be equally dangerous to leave things unattended, no?”
Nodding, Diluc starts preparing a second Death After Noon. “Meet me here tomorrow morning, at 7:30. We can leave then.”
“I’m quite looking forward to it,” Kaeya smirks, accepting his drink and dropping the necessary amount of coins on the counter. “This will be very interesting indeed. See you in the morning, then~.”
Sliding off his stool, Kaeya slips back into the tavern’s shadows, and Diluc goes back to his actual job.
Privately, Diluc agrees with him.
If nothing else, this will be very interesting.
. . .
Later, when he’s kicked all of the patrons out and locked down the tavern, and all the employees have left for the night, Diluc does a little investigating of his own.
Pulling on a few threads gets him the knowledge that the knights who had come out of the domain are being kept at the Favonius Headquarters. Sneaking in is almost embarrassingly easy, and once he’s inside he finds that not much has changed since the last time he was in here. A few new plants in the hallways, a few new names added to the memorial of the fallen, perhaps a fresh coat of paint on the walls, but other than that, everything is painfully familiar even in the dark of night.
The knights themselves prove to be unhelpful to say the least. Unsurprising, but disappointing nonetheless.
Kaeya hadn’t been kidding when he said they were extremely distressed.
The two men were hardly coherent, looking anywhere but at Diluc as if they were waiting for something to come and get them from the shadows. They were jumpy at even the slightest movement or touch, rambling under their breaths about how ‘it’s not really over’, that this is all just ‘another trick’.
Diluc knows a lost cause when he sees one, so he lets the men be. He’s no healer, or mental counselor, and there are better hands than his that can help them.
“... I thought I told you to go home, Sir Kaeya,” Diluc catches Jean scold as he walks through the halls of the Ordo.
He pauses, hovering just outside the door. Upon a second glance, it turns out to be his own former office. Which means it’s Kaeya’s now, of course. He didn’t come this way with the intent to eavesdrop, probably out of some ingrained habit from memories of old, but, well, when an opportunity arises itself…
“And I believe you said you were leaving, oh, what was it? Two hours ago?” Kaeya replies, sounding rather amused. Diluc can only picture the eyeroll Jean gives him.
“Yes, well, something came up. As the Acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonius, I must always—”
“Yes, yes, you must always be ready and willing to help the people of Mondstadt, I know. And you do it fantastically! Better than anyone else could possibly even try! But you do deserve a break. Just when was the last time you took a day off, hm?”
Jean sighs, and though Diluc hasn’t peeked through the crack in the door yet, he can easily imagine that one of her perfectly groomed eyebrows is raised.
“Pot, kettle much, Sir Kaeya?” Jean sounds teasing now, and Kaeya laughs along with it. “You’re probably even worse than me!”
“Oh, I believe my job is far simpler than yours. What’s a little overtime for a Cavalry Captain with no cavalry?”
“Kaeya,” Jean sighs, but in that fond way that means she loves you, but is sick of your shit. “We both know you do much more than anyone else here. This place would probably collapse without you.”
Kaeya pauses, and when he speaks, his voice is oddly soft and sincere in a way Diluc hasn’t heard in a long time. “Likewise, dear Grand Master.”
“I know you’ve been working double-time on this new domain as well. Do you really think that the Abyss Order is connected to it?”
“Oh, I’m positive,” Kaeya answers, “has their name written all over it.”
Jean hums. “If that’s really the case, then you know I can’t permit you to go alone. I can’t abandon the city while we’re still recovering from Stormterror, nor can I let any of the other Knights—”
“You don’t have to worry about that, Grand Master.”
A pause, a sigh, then, “what did you do?”
Kaeya gasps in mock offense. “Oh my, so harsh! One might think you’re accusing me of—”
“Kaeya.”
“Oh, alright,” Kaeya sounds amused, and there’s a soft thwack, like Jean just hit him with something. “I may have asked our very own Darknight Hero for a little… assistance. He agreed.”
Diluc holds his breath as Jean seems to do the same.
So Kaeya hadn’t betrayed his identity afterall.
Not that he really expected him to, but a slight blooming of warmth forms in his chest all the same.
“The same Darknight Hero whose identity I’m still pretending to not know?” She finally says, a little exasperated.
Ah, well. Seems like it doesn’t matter anyway.
Kaeya chuckles. “Well, I won’t tell if you won’t.”
“Regardless of who the Darknight Hero… may be,” Jean starts carefully, “he is, within the eyes of the law, a civilian. It would not be right to bring him into a matter such as this.”
“On the contrary, I truly can’t think of anyone better to aid in this case.”
“Perhaps,” Jean concedes, “but that doesn’t change the fact that he is a civilian. I would not be able to legally contract him without revealing his identity, and in doing that he would have to answer to his… nocturnal activities.”
Diluc stays very still against the doorframe.
“It wouldn’t be beyond the Knights’ capabilities to adhere to some… discretion, for this matter,” Kaeya suggests, carefully carefree.
“No,” Jean agrees, “it wouldn’t be. And if it were any other civilian, I might be inclined to agree to this line of thinking… but with someone as… high-profile, as the Darknight Hero…”
“Ah, yes,” Kaeya says, sounding a little disappointed. “The walls have ears, and all that.”
“Exactly. I cannot grant permission for you two to work on this.”
“Well, it’s a good thing I’m not asking for permission then.”
For a moment, the room falls silent. Someone adjusts in their chair, and Diluc guesses it to be Jean. Kaeya was never one to fidget.
“He has already agreed to work with you on this?” Jean eventually asks, and Diluc can tell from her tone that she’s going to let them go.
“He has,” Kaeya confirms, if not a little put-upon. “It took some convincing—honestly, he’s such a stick in the mud—but he’s fully on board.”
“And he is aware of the condition of the others who traversed the domain? He’s prepared?”
Diluc has half a mind to step in the room and confirm it himself, but he has a feeling this conversation isn’t nearly over.
“He is.”
“Are you?”
“But of course!” Kaeya replies, words honey-sweet in a way that doesn’t fool anyone who knows him well. “I’m always prepared.”
“Kaeya,” Jean says gently, and a chair creaks like someone is leaning in it. “I’m serious. You are my most trusted adviser and dearest friend. I don’t think I could bear it if I were to lose you.”
“Master Jean,” Kaeya replies, oddly soft and kind in a way he often isn’t, “you needn’t worry about me. You’ll go grey long before you’re due. I will take the utmost of care.”
Jean doesn’t answer for a moment, but sighs. She, like Diluc, knows better than to argue with Kaeya when he sets his mind on something.
Eventually the chair creaks again, and Jean takes a deep breath.
“And how are you feeling about it?”
Kaeya laughs. “How am I feeling about it? What ever do you mean?”
“You know exactly what I mean.”
Diluc waits for the rebuttal that Kaeya always seems to have on hand, waits for the deflection and the pretty words that keep you running in circles around the original question while never truly answering it.
“I am fine,” Kaeya eventually replies, a soft and simple response that nearly knocks the wind from Diluc’s lungs.
“Kaeya.”
“Jean.”
“It’s just us here,” she says gently. “You don’t have to hide from me.”
For a moment, it’s all Diluc can do to breathe.
“I promise I’ll be okay, Jean. You needn’t worry. I’ve grit my teeth and dealt with far worse than my estranged brother.”
“I thought we weren’t sharing who the Darknight Hero was?” Jean asks teasingly.
Kaeya, ever quick, chuckles. “Only for legal reasons, no? Last I checked, your shift ended several hours ago, as did mine, meaning we are free to discuss whatever we please.”
“I suppose that’s true,” Jean agrees, and the chair creaks again. “But still, Kaeya… you don’t need to do this if you aren’t comfortable. We can find another way.”
“Perhaps,” Kaeya concedes. Diluc stays very still. “But how many will wander into that place before we do, and subsequently join those knights down the hall with minds that will never recover? We are far better equipped to handle whatever it is we might find. It’s easier this way.”
Another moment of silence, then, “It’s been storming quite a lot recently. The rainy season must have come early,” Jean states.
“That it has.”
“Your hands always ache in the rain.” It’s not a question.
Kaeya seems to take a moment to consider his answer regardless.
“That they do.”
A pause, and then the tell tale sound of creaking wood. This time, Diluc allows himself to dare peek through the crack in the door.
Jean and Kaeya are facing each other now, Kaeya wearing a somewhat somber expression, reflecting Jean’s own.
It’s not an expression Diluc has seen on Kaeya in, well… a very long time. Or rather, it’s not an expression Kaeya has let him see, in a very long time. Jean seems to be allowed to though, and that’s… It’s good. Kaeya needs at least one person to be open with, or else he might drown in all the lies and pretty words of that facade of his.
Diluc doesn’t know why it hurts that Kaeya doesn’t allow himself to be like this around him, even though he damn well knows why. Prefers it that way even, or so he keeps telling himself.
Jean steps up to Kaeya as Diluc shoves his thoughts away, and he watches as she carefully and gently pulls his ridiculous cape from his shoulders, then starts to undo the fastens on his corset: first the hooks, then the laces underneath.
Diluc feels like he’s intruding on something intimate, something private that his eyes have no right to see, but he doesn’t get the impression that anything inappropriate is about to happen. Still, he doesn’t let himself look away just yet.
“You really ought to take better care of yourself, you know,” Jean chastises as she undoes the last latch, gently unwrapping the sturdy garment from Kaeya’s waist and placing it on the desk.
“I could say the same for you.”
“Mm.”
Jean’s fingers are incredibly gentle as she pries Kaeya’s gloves free, and it’s only thanks to years of practice and training that Diluc doesn’t gasp out loud.
Diluc knew he did damage that night in the rain, but he’s never really considered just how much.
Kaeya always had delicate looking hands, deceptive of their strength, but now, with the way thick scars wrap around his palms and thumbs, warping the texture of the skin, they’re even more so. They’re horribly discolored, and even from this distance, Diluc can tell it’s a miracle Kaeya has any function in his hands whatsoever, let alone be as graceful as he is with a blade.
Diluc wonders if his fingers feel numb through the scar tissue. Diluc wonders if the wounds had gotten infected and just how badly they hurt in those first few weeks of healing. Even with the magic healers can do, burns are a different breed.
Diluc wonders if Kaeya is afraid of flames now. Afraid of him. If his constant posturing is just a by-product of fear.
Diluc wonders if Kaeya could ever forgive him for such a heinous act.
He already knows he will never forgive himself.
Anemo sweeps gently through the room, carrying that particular healing energy Jean seems to exude with it. Some of the tension drops from Kaeya’s shoulders.
He really had been in pain.
Something thick and sticky and raw aches in Diluc’s chest, clawing at his ribs.
“Are you ever going to tell me what happened that night?” Jean asks, softly, like she doesn’t dare break the atmosphere of the room with volume.
Kaeya huffs a laugh, though it and the smile on his lips hold no humor. “You wouldn’t like it. It’s not a very fun story.”
No, Diluc thinks. It isn’t.
. . .
His room in the tavern is anything but homely, but he’s glad to be in it, and away from painful memories regardless.
There’s not much aside from the bed and night stand, only filled with a few books, an oil lamp, a clock, and an old teacup he must have brought up the last time he slept here. There are still a few stains left on the inside of the porcelain.
He won’t be able to get much sleep now, he knows, but he rarely does. He’s well accustomed to running on little sleep.
Diluc goes through the motions of changing into sleep clothes, glad that he keeps spare sets of everything here just for emergencies. He undoes the thin ribbon in his hair as he sits down on the bed, ruffling his fingers through the thick strands as the wooden frame creaks beneath him.
Switching off the lamp by his head, Diluc slips under the covers and falls into an unrestful sleep.
. . .
A finch chirps three times outside his window as Diluc wakes.
It flutters away in a blur of orange feathers as he sits up, leaving him to blink blearily after it and the sun streaming in.
As he stretches morning aches and stiffness away, a quick glance at the clock tells him he has half an hour before Kaeya is supposed to arrive. He wastes no time in getting ready, taming his hair and changing into a fresh set of his usual attire before heading downstairs to gather water and food for his pack.
Kaeya knocks on the rear door just as he finishes preparing a set of glasses for Charles to use later.
The clock on the wall reads 7:29 as Diluc passes it to open the door.
“Ready for an adventure?” Kaeya asks in lieu of a good morning, signature smirk already in place.
Diluc grunts his affirmation and steps out. Behind him, he hears Kaeya idly flip a coin as he checks over the locks, catching only a glimpse of gold once he turns back around.
“So, are you looking forward to this? It’ll be a nice opportunity to take down some of the Abyss Order,” Kaeya asks as they leave the gates of Mondstadt, ignoring the odd looks the Knights give them as they pass.
It must be an odd sight indeed, to see the Cavalry Captain and Master Diluc walking peacefully together, no gripes about old hurts to be found.
For now, at least.
“It will probably be the only pleasure I gain from this trip,” Diluc responds curtly.
Kaeya laughs, only half-way bitter. “Come now, Diluc; surely you must feel just the slightest bit of nostalgia? It’s been quite a while since we last worked as a pair like this.”
Sighing whimsically, Kaeya deviates from the path once they cross the bridge, walking up to the Sunsettia tree and plucking one free from the branches. Diluc declines the offer of one for himself and continues on, leaving Kaeya to jog a few paces in order to catch up.
“There is a reason for that, Sir Kaeya.”
Kaeya chuckles humorlessly as he tosses the Sunsettia back and forth between his hands. “Oh yes, what was it again? That you’re incredibly stubborn and bull-headed and don’t play well with others? Honestly, Diluc, if you have something to get off your chest, you know you can talk to me. It might make you more friends if you at least act like you enjoy the company of others.”
Diluc feels his eyebrow twitch, but keeps walking. “I have plenty of friends, thank you. And I don’t have anything to say to you.”
“Mm. Name three.”
Diluc opens his mouth.
“Jean, your employees, and the Traveller don’t count.”
Diluc closes his mouth.
“I’ve been known to have a conversation with Lisa from time to time,” he says eventually. Even though Kaeya is several paces behind him, he can feel the smirk burning through his back. “And Venti, I suppose. Though our conversations tend to be more along the lines of his ever growing tab…” Diluc mutters, brows pinching together.
What has his life come to, worrying over the bar tab of the resident God?
Kaeya sidles up to him, smirking something gleeful. Diluc glares at him, but he doesn’t seem dissauged.
“I appreciate the effort to prove your friendships to me; it’s rather cute!”
“And what of you, Sir Kaeya? Do you have any real friends, or just people comforted by an easy conversation?” It’s a low blow, he knows, but Kaeya cast the first stone, so he only feels marginally guilty.
Kaeya’s smirk widens, and Diluc can tell he’s struck a bit of a nerve.
“Are you worried about my relationships, Master Diluc? Why, I didn’t know you cared so much! Not to worry, though; I’m quite pleased with my social life as it is. I never come up short when in need of a drinking buddy, and really, isn’t that what Mondstadt is all about?”
No, it isn’t, Diluc thinks, but he doesn’t have the energy to get into a real argument with Kaeya now.
Especially when he can already feel the abyssal energy oozing through the trees.
Kaeya can too, if the way his expression sobers means anything. Quite honestly, if Diluc didn’t know any better, he’d say Kaeya looks rather unsettled. But, the uneasiness lining his eyes is gone before Diluc is able to fully process it, so he says nothing.
They’re quiet the rest of the walk, Diluc resolutely trying to ignore the way the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end as they get closer and closer.
Standing before the narrow entrance to the domain as it leaks something dark and dreadful, something that makes every primal fight or flight instinct in Diluc’s body screech and tell him to run, Diluc frowns. Because there, underneath the layers of the Abyss and elemental energy, is something Diluc’s never felt before. He’s willing to blame that urge to flee on whatever it is, and when he looks at Kaeya, he knows he’s right.
“You can feel it, I assume?” Kaeya says, none of his false humor and honey-sweet tone present.
Humming his assent, Diluc brushes his fingers along his Vision, just to check that it’s there. He doesn’t want to set foot in a place like this without it.
“Last chance to back out,” Kaeya teases, though to Diluc’s ears it falls flat by several meters.
“If you wish to find a scapegoat to go home you’ll have to look elsewhere, I’m afraid,” he replies as he summons his claymore, and though Kaeya huffs a laugh, he knows he isn’t that far off.
Kaeya tosses his half-eaten fruit aside for a fox to find and summons his own blade, giving it an experimental twirl.
“Shall we, then?”
“The sooner this is over, the better.”
Kaeya sighs. “Always so harsh.”
. . .
As Diluc expected, the inside of the domain is even worse than the entrance.
The air is thick with whatever corruption inhabits it, coating everything in an unrelenting miasma that almost makes him want to cough and free it from his lungs. A sharp metallic smell stings at his nose, threading its way down his throat and the back of his tongue. He tries to swallow past it, but it only serves to make it worse. Everything around them is shrouded in a chill that settles under his skin, the stones radiating cold as if they were blocks of ice. It almost reminds him of Dragonspine, in a deeply unsettling way.
There are no beautiful flowers intertwined with the snow to make the cold bearable, here.
The walls are lined with the same letters one finds in almost any domain, not that it helps Diluc read them. Kaeya seems to be scanning them critically though, frowning as he looks over each foreign letter.
An odd thought strikes him.
“Can you read this?” he finds himself asking.
Kaeya smirks with a false sense of ease. “But of course. It’s my mother tongue.”
For a moment, Diluc stills with the implications of that, though he recovers quickly.
He often forgets, or rather, tries his damnedest to not remember, that in the early days of Kaeya’s stay with them, he had an accent.
Not a thick one, by any means, barely noticeable to anyone not paying attention. An extra roll on an ‘r’ here, emphasis on an odd part of the sentence there; overall, nothing really worth mentioning and easy to write off, especially when Kaeya seemed to outgrow it within just a few months of living with them. The Ragnvindr’s encountered many an accent and language in their business, and since back then Diluc often clung to his father’s pant leg in meetings, he never gave it much thought at all.
Now, however, Diluc really takes a look at his former brother.
“How much of it can you still understand?” he asks, carefully casual as they descend the stairs.
“How much of any language does anyone understand?” Kaeya deflects, equally casual as he disrupts a spider’s web with the tip of his blade.
Diluc sighs. He should know better than to ask Kaeya such direct questions by now. “Do you understand enough to read what’s in here?” he tries again, carefully avoiding cracks in the old stone.
Doing so vaguely feels like this conversation.
“Inquisitive today, are we?” Kaeya counters, kicking a stray piece of broken rock free.
Eerie shadows cast over them as they round a turn, cool purple lighting greeting them as they enter a seemingly empty circular room. The stone walls around them are higher than they usually are in domains, meeting at a rounded ceiling. Diluc can see more glowing letters inlaid in the worn stones, along with a door opposite them.
Everything is suspiciously quiet. If he focuses, he swears he can hear his own heartbeat thrumming in his skull, the blood rushing through his veins. He can hear the whoosh of air entering his lungs with every inhale. It triggers a primal fear, a sense that something is deeply wrong in the marrow of his bones, curling in the spaces between his ribs and settling like tar. He needlessly clenches and unclenches his fists, eyes darting every which way. Next to him, Kaeya seems equally unnerved, eyebrow pinched against the strap of his eyepatch.
“Well, if what you can read is of any use to figuring out what this place is, I’d love to hear it.” Something is always better than nothing, he tells himself, if only for a distraction from the atmosphere. “Could have been helpful to know you could read it all in any domain, actually. You never said anything.”
“You never asked,” Kaeya returns simply, taking a careful few steps forward into the room. “Besides, this seems to be much the same as the other domains: a code I have no answer for.”
Diluc sighs. “You couldn’t have said that earlier?”
“Like I said, you didn’t—”
“Look out!”
Before either of them can react properly, a mitachurl wielding a geo shield comes charging into the room from seemingly thin air, slamming its shield into Kaeya full force.
Diluc’s breath catches as he watches him go flying into the wall, landing with a deafening slam and crumpling into a limp heap on the floor.
Summoning his claymore to his hands, Diluc calls forth his flames and strikes the mitachurl’s shield, taking no time to let it burn as he starts swinging.
He doesn’t understand where the creature could have come from so suddenly; it was as if it just manifested from the shadows. There were no footsteps to hear, no doors or pathways opening. The door at the other end of the room is still closed, so how—
Finally breaking through the creature’s shield, Diluc makes quick work of it with heavy strikes, spinning on his heel to check on Kaeya as soon as it falls to its knees.
“Kaeya!”
There’s no response, though Diluc doesn’t have much time to listen for one before another mitachurl appears, charging straight for him.
He’s barely able to raise his blade before he’s struck across his skull and everything goes black.
. . .
A finch chirps three times outside Diluc’s window as he wakes.
It flutters away in a blur of orange feathers as he shoots up in bed, eyes wide and right hand clutching as his chest. With his left, he checks the back of his head, his shoulders and torso, then slumps in relief when he finds no injury.
It was a dream.
Letting out a long breath, Diluc swings his feet over the side of the bed, letting the cool morning floor wake him up further.
This isn’t the first time he’s had a dream about Kaeya getting hurt, and he doubts that it’ll be the last, no matter their current relationship. This one was probably just caused by underlying nerves about their trip today.
Eased by that thought, Diluc goes about getting ready, already letting the dream fade from his memory in fuzzy details like all dreams do.
Kaeya knocks on the rear door just as he finishes preparing a set of glasses for Charles to use later.
The clock on the wall reads 7:29 as Diluc passes it to open the door.
“Ready for an adventure?” Kaeya asks in lieu of a good morning, signature smirk already in place.
Diluc grunts his affirmation as he steps out, brushing off the brief feeling of déjà vu he gets at the action. Behind him, he hears Kaeya idly flip a coin as he checks over the locks, catching only a glimpse of gold once he turns back around.
An odd feeling creeps up the back of Diluc’s neck, but he ignores it as they walk.
“So, are you looking forward to this? It’ll be a nice opportunity to take down some of the Abyss Order,” Kaeya asks as they leave the gates of Mondstadt, ignoring the odd looks the Knights give them as they pass.
“It will probably be the only pleasure I gain from this trip,” Diluc responds curtly.
Kaeya laughs, only half-way bitter. “Come now, Diluc; surely you must feel just the slightest bit of nostalgia? It’s been quite a while since we last worked as a pair like this.”
Sighing whimsically, Kaeya deviates from the path once they cross the bridge, walking up to the Sunsettia tree and plucking one free from the branches. Diluc declines the offer of one for himself and continues on, leaving Kaeya to jog a few paces in order to catch up.
Diluc adjusts the ribbon tying his hair back, hoping it’ll make the itch on his neck go away.
It doesn’t.
He opens his mouth a few times, but can’t seem to find a way to answer Kaeya.
Something feels very wrong.
Kaeya doesn’t seem to mind his lack of answer at least, happy to eat his fruit and walk in silence. It’s not too out of the ordinary, after all. They aren’t much for conversation these days.
The itch on the back of his neck gets worse as they get closer to the entrance of the domain, travelling down his spine and creeping into his skin.
It’s almost as if gravity has suddenly become heavier around them, pushing down on his shoulders and chest in a way that makes him want to run, want to grab Kaeya and get as far away as he can possibly get them.
What’s worse, is that it’s familiar. It’s familiar in a way it shouldn’t be, because Diluc is very much certain that he’s never been here before. There’s no way he has, no way he’s felt this exact energy before when—
“You can feel it, I assume?” Kaeya says, none of his false humor and honey tone present.
Diluc’s fingers brush along his Vision, just to check that it’s there. “Yeah,” he whispers, hardly audible, but Kaeya hums all the same.
“Last chance to back out,” Kaeya teases, though to Diluc’s ears it falls flat by several meters.
“If you wish to find a scapegoat to go home you’ll have to look elsewhere, I’m afraid,” he replies as he summons his claymore, and though Kaeya huffs a laugh, he knows he isn't that far off. He doesn’t really blame him.
Kaeya tosses his half-eaten fruit aside for a fox to find and summons his own blade, giving it an experimental twirl.
“Shall we, then?”
“The sooner this is over, the better.”
And he really means it. He wants to get away from here as soon as he can.
Kaeya sighs. “Always so harsh.”
. . .
The inside is so much worse.
Diluc feels as if he can hardly breathe within the cold stone walls, nerve endings chilling with anxiety at every step, even if he makes sure to keep his composure. The last thing he needs is Kaeya thinking he’s scared.
He watches as Kaeya scans the walls, frowning at whatever he finds there.
The feeling on his neck intensifies again, and no amount of fiddling with his hair-tie fixes it.
“Can you read this?” he asks, even as déjà vu presses down on his shoulders, creeps up his spine.
Kaeya smirks with a false sense of ease. “But of course. It’s my mother tongue.”
Diluc swallows against the lump in his throat.
He knew that.
Why did he know that?
Kaeya’s never told him that before, he’s sure of it. Sure, he had an accent growing up, but he never specified—
“How much of it can you still understand?” he asks, feigning casualness and finding his voice a touch raspy as they descend the stairs.
“How much of any language does anyone understand?” Kaeya deflects, equally casual as he disrupts a spider’s web with the tip of his blade.
Diluc’s heart thumps against his sternum, loud enough he’s certain Kaeya can hear it.
This is more than just déjà vu, he thinks.
Carefully, Diluc steps around the cracks in the old stone, shoving the sense of familiarity and recognition down down down—
“Do you understand enough to read what’s in here?” he tries again, harshly concealing the raw fear he feels.
If Kaeya can tell him anything, anything at all about this place, it might ease at least some of this feeling. He doubts it, honestly, but at least it would be better than nothing.
“Inquisitive today, are we?” Kaeya counters, kicking a stray piece of broken rock free.
Diluc breathes harshly through his nose. He should know better than to ask Kaeya such direct questions by now.
Eerie shadows cast over them as they round a turn, cool purple lighting greeting them as they enter a seemingly empty circular room. Diluc can see more glowing letters inlaid in the worn stones, along with a door opposite them.
Everything is suspiciously quiet. If he focuses, he swears he can hear his own heartbeat thrumming in his skull, the blood rushing through his veins. He can hear the whoosh of air entering his lungs with every inhale. It triggers a primal fear, a sense that something is deeply wrong in the marrow of his bones, layering on top of that itch in his spine. Next to him, Kaeya seems equally unnerved, eyebrow pinched against the strap of his eyepatch.
Is he feeling that same sense of déjà vu? Has Kaeya just been shoving it down the entire time like he has?
Have they really been here before?
Was it really just a—
“Look out!”
Before Diluc can react, a mitachurl wielding a geoshield charges into him full force, sending him flying into a nearby wall as everything goes black.
. . .
A finch chirps three times outside Diluc’s window as he shoots up in bed, gasping heavily for air.
It flutters away in a blur of orange feathers as his lungs heave for breath, eyes wide and right hand clutching as his chest. With his left, he checks the back of his head, his shoulders and torso, then slumps in relief when he finds no injury.
His relief is very short lived.
The same dream, twice in a row?
(Was it ever a dream at all?)
Diluc blinks at the clock, strands of tangled red obscuring his vision, but he can read the time well enough to know he has about half an hour before Kaeya arrives.
Already, the itch of remembrance tingles at the base of his neck, but he has no ribbon to blame it on now.
Diluc’s hands shake as he roughly pulls a comb through his hair.
He doesn’t know what’s going on, but he’s going to find out.
. . .
Thankfully, by the time Kaeya knocks on the door, Diluc has composed himself with not a hair out of place.
The clock on the wall reads 7:29.
“Ready for an adventure?” Kaeya asks in lieu of a good morning, signature smirk already in place.
Diluc squints at him for just a moment, using every bit of ‘Kaeya-reading-skills’ he has left, but he can’t find anything amiss.
If whatever’s happening with Diluc is happening to Kaeya too, he’s at least better at hiding it.
(But, even after all this time, all this hurt, Kaeya still has the same tells, and no one can read them like him.
Which means Diluc is alone.)