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Chapter Text

Getting back from Liyue has been an ordeal.

Diluc grunted as the carriage, offering him a ride closer to his winery - jumped and hobbled on the rocky road. Every piece of stone and wood it passed on the uneven ground, Diluc felt all the way down his spine. The man was beyond tired after staying up fo more than 24 hours doing some tricky business negotiations with the Liyue folk.

In the end, they agreed on shipping an additional batch of Dandelion Wine and Sparkling Wine over to their district, with a huge Mora bonus for the Dawn Winery. The transports are going to be handled by professionals, too, coming from the capital and setting a mid-way meeting point near Wangshu inn.

Another rock jostled the small cart, the wooden wheel making the entire thing shake, Diluc along with everything else. He was regretting his decision to take the scenery route. He was regretting leaving the comfort of his city, just to make his workers get a nice raise. 

Archons know Elzer does too much work for too little pay...

"Almost there!" The man driving the carriage called out to the redhead. It was a kind, old guy, probably not even knowing who he was transporting. Not that Diluc wanted to be known or recognized, of course. The only time he was actually planning to reveal himself is when he offers this compassionate grandpa a bottle of wine, as thanks for this ride.

"Good. Thank you, again." The redhead replies, after which he jumped down from the cart, making the wood creak. The vineyard was shining in the sun before him, and the dark-clad warrior couldn't help but smile at the lush fields.

"It was no trouble. Now, i'm off. Take care..."

Diluc watched the riding cart get smaller and smaller. He knew where this man had his routes, now - surely, Diluc will catch him again with that gratitude-vintage he was considering. There really isn't enough good people like that, anymore. Times have changed, ever since everyone around him grew up, grew greedy, malicious or false. The criminal forces infiltrating Mond day in and day out were proof enough, not to mention the laziness of the knights. Their inefficient methods.

Approaching the doors, Diluc relished the feeling of being back home. No more odd Liyue hotels and inns and restaurants - now, it was only him, his bedroom, his kitchen, his office, and his staff. Just as it was always supposed to be.

By the time he came back from his four-year venture across the entire nation of Teyvat, he really started to appreciate... this.

Just this. The simplicity and stability.

But...

Something was amiss...

It wasn't the usual feeling of 'not-quite home yet' - because he sold his father's mansion, and technically the winery was only Diluc's second home.

It wasn't the old oddness, an itch, that the only person who should be here - still wasn't.

It also wasn't the state of the winery - it was clean, and nice, and....

...Empty?

Aside from the birds, watching him from the paintings, as well as the fancy vase attacking his retinas with its stark color-schemes, the entire building was silent. Outside, too, there was no one around. Diluc's employees, his staff, his maids, even Adelinde, who was like a family auntie as far as his mind could remember - they were all gone.

Diluc grunted in displeasure. This was... off.

His instincts were telling him that something was wrong, but he didn't understand what, exactly. It wasn't a holiday, it also wasn't the Windrise-hide-and-seek season ... so where did everybody go?

Despite being tired, the redhead decided it is no time to rest. There might be some issue, some important gathering or an evil plan being put in place - he has no time for being sleepy. Grabbing some coffee and chugging the straight-black liquid, he walks outside, and combs over the nearby areas.

Diluc finds absolutely nothing.

He has searched through the closer houses, knocking, looking for clues, signs of people, and he found none. Absolutely no person, no human. The fields of grapevines were empty of gatherers, only little crystalflies flying off as he got closer.

His next best bet was the capital. The road there was lengthy, sure, but Diluc has been through worse treks in his life. Something was clearly wrong - so he feels like he needs to do this. Despite feeling like death warmed over after his travel.

He ends up dragging his feet on the final stretch, leaving long marks on the ground by the time he passed the signature hills and fields.

His boots has gotten a bit loose from all that walking. He really had no energy to even step forwards properly, and the relentless dragging of the sole has let the leather a bit down. Sighing, he crouched down to correct his buckles and straps, and as he eventually got back up, his breath came out as a gasp.

"Huh..?!"

Jerking upwards as if he just got electrocuted, he rushes towards the main gates, legs pounding against the path. There are huge clouds of smoke coming from within the city's walls, high into the air. He knows that clouds this dark come from massive fires, ones where many different elements are burned. The fact that the fumes cover Mondstadt like a poisonous dome only makes him sprint faster.

Running, dashing towards the bridge, he already sees that something awful happened when he was away. The metal bars at the entrance are lowered, as if to keep something out, as was their defensive purpose - But the metal is bent and burned and melted off.

The gate has a huge hole in it. Even the brickwall is damaged. 

There is a knight, laying in a puddle of their own blood, stuck with something sticking out of the chest. It has clearly pierced the armor, burying deep, nailing them to the ground.

Diluc knows it's too late, even before he checks for breathing. The stab wound's placement is, unfortunately, buried deep inside the lung. He gives a quick prayer, closing the knight's eyelids, hoping that at least this soldier managed to do their job and protect the civilians. 

Hopping above the bars, Diluc enters the burned town square. It is still smoldering in some places, the little embers still orange from the heat. The wood of the buildings is barely holding anything together, the charred scaffolding giving up on supporting the roofs. As far as Diluc can see through the dark wall of smoke, some structures have already collapsed. 

The top of the houses isn't even seen, not through the black cloud that Diluc just walked into. He covered his mouth and nose with his glove to avoid inhaling too much of it, but his eyes were covered by the smoke without his input. He was going in, blind memory guiding him forward into the wreckage.

"-Someone! Anyone!" He yells, trying to look for the citizens. For survivors- or for a sign that he didn't just enter a ghost town, full of corpses. "Is anyone here?! Is anyone h--!?"

The redhead stops suddenly, berating himself for his impulsiveness, clasping a hand tighter around his mouth. How could he have been so stupid? 

His rapidly beating heart and stressed-out mind didn't even think that the attacking forces might still be within the city. Calling and yelling can spell disaster if he manages to catch their attention.

He waits in silence. Inhales once, exhales.

Checks over his shoulder, listens closer to the crackles of the fire.

He doesn't hear anybody. Not the Fatuii, not the Abyss Order, nothing.

What he does hear, however, is the building behind him groaning under pressure and threating to collapse. Without having a wooden core intact, the bricks and clay and plaster and paint - it's all going to come down. On him. Unless he makes a run for it, dodging the world's greatest weapon - gravity.

He quickly leaves the area, mere seconds before the house comes down and becomes a pile of constructional hazard. It picks up yet another cloud of ash and powder, and if the dense smoke from the fire stained black, this one stains white.

It catches on Diluc's coat, on his hair, on his gloves. He leaves quickly, unable to breathe.

"Khack-- Hah..."  - Barely keeping himself from inhaling the unhealthy and sticky particles in the air, Diluc takes two steps at a time to get above the sea of smoke. He reaches the fountain, gasping, collapsing onto it. He doesn't see water - he sees black. The burned ashes have made a layer on the surface, thick and dissolving into a dark slop more than a liquid.

But then he sees the body, laying dead in the fountain's opposite end, and he promptly vomits into the slush. It's not only burnt powder in the water, it's blood, and now, Diluc's internal digestive acids, too.

He gags on the taste, and coughs, feeling drained of energy. He's barely holding the marble edge, barely keeping himself from falling head-first into his own sick.

Everything is suffocating him, and he wants to both scream and cry at once. The smell of a burning city, the missing people, the bodies.

He knows there might be survivors. But it's already so bad he feels no hope. Just what could have wrecked his city so bad? What happened when he was away?

Collapsing away from the structure, he falls head first onto the street's pavement. He thinks the tears come from the smoke irritating his eyes, but he knows it's not only that. His mouth is sour, his nose smells the burning, his heart is in shatters. His city - it is destroyed.

Before he passes out, unconsciousness pulling him under, his eyes focus one last time. The red-orange orbs shift towards the only thing in his direct line of sight - the stone alchemist's bench. It is still standing tall and sturdy, the small roof above it not yet collapsed, the supplies spilled on the floor below. 

It even glows, slightly. But there is also something else that glows right next to it, just two small blue dots right behind the bench. They are shiny, just like twin golden shoe soles next to them. 

Diluc recognizes these boots. 

But he looses the fight to stay awake too quickly to realize it.

With a building collapsing in the distance, a windmill falling over - he faints.

Chapter Text

The night has fallen by the time the Dark-Night-Hero regains consciousness. He blinks his eyes many times in a row, trying to dispel the nightmare that was the reality before him. In the darkness, he almost convinces himself he cannot see what is plainly laid out in blood.

There is nothing burning, anymore, nothing left to burn.

Everything seemed to be extinguished, remains of a city no longer in cinders - although exactly how Diluc survived with nothing collapsing on him might forever stay a mystery. There is no more fires or light here, no lamps - so he blindly tries to heave himself up, grabbing whatever was closest.

He grabs onto the fountain's ridge.

Diluc feels awful just thinking about it, remembering what happened to this once-happy decoration. He knows what's in it, now, still feeling vomit deep down in his throat, along the choking smell of ash.

He stays on his wobbling legs, lighting up a bit of Pyro on his glove. The town is destroyed, silent, oh-so-silent, just like it was yesterday. Looking around at the warm glow, he notices a thick layer of dust covering the pavement. It's black, ashy dust - deserted town cloaked under the layer.

The normally clean and polished streets were merely a memoria, now.

He looks to his left, then to his right. He didn't manage to search for any survivors yesterday. Judging by the silence, he may have no reason, anymore. The burned down rubble surely can't--

He sees the alchemy bench. The same thing he saw before he collapsed - this stupidly upright construct, mocking him. Mocking the city by staying perfectly untouched.

But looking closer, Diluc sees what he thinks are ... shoes?

He sees long, black boots, right behind the crafting bench. He walks closer, slowly, and his flame reveals even more.

These familiar clothes, dirty and burned, bloodied tears in the fabric and cuts, catching in the light.

And all Diluc can think is no.

This cannot be him. This cannot be happening.

As much as he didn't trust Kaeya, the liar - he didn't want him dead.

As much as Kaeya was annoying, as much as he angered Diluc- the redhead knew, after all these years of doing no harm, Kaeya didn't deserve death.

Laying before him, it hits the Pyro user like a ton of bricks. He always thought they had more time. That Kaeya will eventually ... and Diluc would eventually ... 

--That they would reconcile.

His pride never let him apologize. Even after years of self-exile, of thinking about that rainy night, thinking of all the 'what-if's, wishing desperately to have someone by his side when he fought the Fatuii - Diluc came back, and he... couldn't do it.

Couldn't confront. Couldn't stop himself from falling into the banters and jabs, without giving any sort of apology.

Now, it was too late.

Diluc rushed over, hysterical. His fire finally shows him the entire view, showing him what he's missing as he nears and falls to his knees.

Before him rests his brother, back supported against the damn bench, legs crossed in a slight curl - and skin red with crusted blood. No familiar fluffy cape, fabric torn and messy and lost. Hands without one glove, scars peaking through. Hair in complete disarray, covered by the layer of dust carried by the smoke. 

A peaceful face, bangs covering both eyes. No golden string of an eyepatch.

"K-Kaeya... Oh, Archons..."

The red gloves reach forward, trembling. Diluc is so close now, right at the level of Kaeya's forehead. He grasps the captain's shoulders tight, and, uncaring of everything, brings him close to his chest. He cradles the man he once considered family - as children, playing in the summer fields.

There was no way their childhood was false, not if Diluc felt so empty at this moment.

Diluc's heart felt stabbed with regrets and guilt, repeatedly, the darkness of the sky hiding away his pained cries.

"--I'm- I'm sorry... Gods, why..."

But as he lets tears fall, as he heaves and regrets and remembers, his cheeks damp and voice shaky, Diluc almost misses a soft sound right next to his ear.

Lost in grief rekindled anew, his senses have stopped working. No sight, eyes squeezed shut, no hearing through his own voice, no touch, not when he felt weightless and cold and alone.

But minutes pass, and Diluc eventually registers this strange ... something. 

It's an empty thumping - a beat of something, knocking back and forth. 

It's a sound of a heart, warm and pumping blood - no matter of what origin. Slow, and weak, but there.

Jumping away, unbelieving, Diluc takes a look at Kaeya. -Was his chest moving slightly? As if Kaeya was actually still breathing, still living?

"Kaeya-Kaeya?!" Diluc brings his ear to Kaeya's ribcage, and sure enough, he hears life. Diluc grabs onto the blue-haired knight as tightly as he can, hugging him closer, relieved beyond what he thought possible.

"Oh thank Barbatos- Kaeya, Kaeya... you're not dead..! I knew you couldn't be..."

Despite being tired and partially surrounded by darkness, Diluc somehow manages to pick up his adopted brother blindly, following only the warmth and touch of skin. Kaeya doesn't react, deeply unconscious. The redhead sets Kaeya onto his back, lighting up a bit of Pyro in his free hand as a guide when he carries the other man away from this deserted wasteland.

It wasn't a long way away from here up to the city gates, but going beyond that got more and more difficult. However, if Diluc needed to guarantee Kaeya's safety, treat his wounds at a safer place and wake him up - nothing will stop him.

Reaching a hand hesitantly towards a blue teleportation point, he tries his luck in getting back to the winery's safe grounds.

Somehow, by some miracle, Diluc manages to drag Kaeya to the winery. The teleporting-waypoint normally listened mostly to the traveler, but thankfully it worked for Diluc this one time, getting him as close to the winery's grounds as possible. Close enough for him to carry Kaeya inside, at least.

Now, with a better and homier environment surrounding him, Diluc finally let out a sigh of relief. Putting the unconscious knight on one of the couches in the living room, Diluc kneeled down next to him, pressing his ear against his chest once more. Hearing the heart beating still made the redhead relax against the sound, his exhausted and stressed-out body regaining a tiny bit of peace.

He put his gloved hand on Kaeya's torso, gently, just to make sure everything wasn't an illusion - that he wasn't just hearing things. Yet Diluc felt breathing, felt the heartbeat, and he didn't doubt himself any longer, standing up fully.

"...Hm. Alright. These wounds need to be treated as soon as possible...."

After discovering that his brother wasn't actually dead, the Pyro user was overjoyed - but his worry reignited as soon as he remembered that they aren't in the clear just yet. Not with all the other wounds and lacerations he could see, marring Kaeya's skin in reds and purples all over. It wasn't looking great, so far.

The future is still uncertain, especially when it comes to serious fires and damages he saw happening in the city. No one would leave unscathed from something like that, and if Diluc wanted Kaeya back in relatively good state - he needed to do something about all this, immediately. Especially since he didn't know what exactly happened - he first needs to make sure everything is alright beforehand.

With that thought on his mind, Diluc set to work, determination burning bright. 

Chapter Text

With a sudden jolt, Kaeya wakes up, gasping.

There is a stabbing ache all over his body, his mind deciding to bring him out of his peaceful unconsciousness right back into the painful reality. His sight is blurry, but he just barely makes out the dark room he is in.

He also sees the source of painful touch - the edges of a red, plush duvet - covering him neck down.

Moving his arms, he throws the offending cloth off of himself, feeling the fabric bite into his skin even after it's been removed.

Breathing heavily, he sits up, only to regret it as his vision blurs and twists, bringing nausea and dizziness with it. But he ignores it.

He needs to ignore it. 

If he doesn't, he will stop, and if he stops, stops moving, running, fighting - he will end up dead.

The entire city was attacked, and all he could do at this point was try to not get killed. They had no way of fighting back. He needed to evacuate the civilians, and--

--And he falls back down onto the cushions, unable to keep his balance.

Vertigo claims him twice as hard as before, his breathing picking up as he feels confused at the spinning surroundings of... this oddly familiar wooden room. Of the soft thing under him, around him. The dim window moonlight, flashing.

"Ugh..." Kaeya groans, his breathing ragged and catching. The pain grasps him tight, and in his disoriented desperation to get away from the discomfort, he ends up falling further onto the floor.

All his nerve endings go off at once, and he just curls up, trying to keep a scream inside. Hide how horrible the feeling truly is.

The sound of stomping boots echoes seemingly all around the knight, who in vain attempts to stand again. He cannot even sit up as he tries and wavers, ending up right back on the fluffy carpet.

The stomping finally stops, closer, and Kaeya realizes that somebody was speaking to him - for quite some time, by now.

The words go misunderstood when someone's hands try to touch him, dark limbs touch electing a flinch, tense muscles reacting to danger.

" Gah-!... hah... " - The two struggle, one trying to escape the other's hold. The person holding Kaeya only shifts in response to his attempts to squirm away.

"L-Let me go!!!" Kaeya yells, because he needs to go, run, fight, save people, no matter how weak he is--

"Stop! Stop moving already! You're only hurting yourself!"

--That voice...

It makes Kaeya's eyes widen, realization hitting him like a blow from a Mitachurl.

It stops the blue-haired knight in his tracks. He breathes loud against the newfound silence of the room, the air still and motionless. 

Then, slowly, as if to confirm if he heard right, Kaeya whispers, lowly and quiet.

"Diluc?"

It feels real, the hands that held him in place, the breath felt on his skin, the sound of a hum, agreeing. What didn't felt real was the memory. Diluc was not here before - not in the massacre.

It isn't possible. The reasoning. The actual gravity of this situation. What Diluc was doing, here, with him.

Kaeya shrugs off Diluc's hands, sitting up properly and turning towards him. Diluc lets him, allows him to move away and orient himself, albeit reluctantly.

Kaeya feels his insides twist, both in pain and in guilt.

If Diluc was here, and this was the winery... then...

Diluc remained troubled and tense still, staring at Kaeya who stayed silent. His gaze was lost somewhere, a fact that worried Diluc a fair bit.

The other was clearly still in pain, evident by the slight downturn of his lips, the ragged breathing pattern, the bruising and the very way Kaeya held himself. Not touching anything, supporting his bodyweight with his hands on the floor, muscles lax.

After the attempted escape, all adrenaline seemed to vanish. All desperation vanished, too - the only sign of life Diluc saw so far.

Praying to gods it wasn't his fault, Diluc slowly came closer to snap Kaeya out of ... whatever he was experiencing, thinking - at the moment.

"Kaeya," he called, slowly and soothingly, "how are you feeling? What hurts - What do you need?"

But Kaeya only brought his hand to a nearby bed post, pulling himself up. 

"Kaeya-" Diluc followed suit, standing up and extending his arms in case that Kaeya would fall. The knight did sway a little, but upon Diluc reaching out to him, he batted the assisting hands away.

"Diluc... when did you arrive?..."

Diluc observed Kaeya as he cautiously let go of the supporting wooden post, now standing at his full height. Trying to look normal, trying to analyze as much information as he could. As if he wasn't covered in lacerations under bandages, bruises upon bruises.

"I arrived to Mondstadt, burned down, yesterday morning. I found you by yesterday's evening." Diluc admits, looking away when Kaeya winces at the news.

"Right..." the man sighs wearily. "Have you found... anyone else? It sounds like you were searching all day - but i don't see any other survivors here..."

At that, the redhead found himself staring into the ground.

"I..." he begins, softly, giving Kaeya no hope whatsoever.

Diluc cannot keep his voice from wavering.

"The town was empty and quiet when i arrived. I ... passed out from the smoke, carelessly - and by the time i woke up, even if there were survivors before... they would have either suffocated or bled out by that point."

Kaeya inhales with a hiss, closing his eyes. "Have you--"

"Yes, i checked again later... after i woke up... but nobody called out, there was only a few bloodied places among the ashes."

Diluc doesn't expect Kaeya to waver slightly, bringing his hand up to his temples. He doesn't look like he can stand any longer, not after hearing such devastating news - Diluc closes the distance immediately, catching him at the last second.

"Kaeya..."

Setting them both down onto the cushions, Diluc still keeps his hand on the bluenette's back. They have both failed at something, this time.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't manage to protect your city, didn't manage to save anyone..."

Kaeya didn't think it would hurt quite this much, telling Diluc all of this. Feeling his chest tighten around a wound that's deeper than any other he received during the day of the attack.

" There was so many-- Too many of them..! We couldn't... I couldn't--"

Kaeya's eyes are filling with tears. One stream of sadness flew freely, while the other is turned inky black, the salty liquid from the blackened right eye mixing with blood from his head wounds, no eyepatch to stop or hide the flow.

The only thing Diluc could do is come closer, trapping Kaeya in an embrace they both needed.