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Something was wrong with Kaeya.
Diluc sensed it the second he walked into Angel’s Share, much later than usual, his visible eye not meeting his for a second. Besides that, the man barely spoke except to request a Dandelion Wine.
“No Death After Noon this time?” Diluc asked, frowning.
Kaeya, gazing off to the side, simply smiled and shook his head.
Something was definitely not right. As the seconds ticked by, Diluc tried not to make it obvious that he was watching the man. As it was, Kaeya was barely paying attention to him and Diluc found that it irritated him to no end. Far more than any incessant teasing would have.
Once or twice, Diluc tried prying. At some point, he stopped his indirect questions and just asked him outright what was wrong. But again, he simply smiled and shook his head. Eye always narrowed, glaring off into the distance, his smile the slightest bit crooked.
Finally, Diluc decided he’d had enough. So when Kaeya stood with a hurried farewell, Diluc reached forward and grabbed his wrist before he could take a step.
Kaeya finally met his gaze, eye wide and confused but he didn’t resist. Diluc positively glared at the man before letting go and gesturing for him to sit down again.
“Kaeya.” Diluc began once he’d hesitantly returned to his seat. “You can’t fool me that easily. Something’s not right.”
Kaeya’s eye flashed in suppressed anger and he opened his mouth, probably to protest but all at once, the anger died down as if something occurred to him and Kaeya’s gaze drifted again. Diluc waited patiently, watching as Kaeya sighed heavily before reaching under the glove of his left hand, pulling a slip of paper out.
“Master Diluc…” Kaeya said, hesitantly as he passed the slip to him. “Tell me… What do you make of this?”
Diluc frowned, taking the slip of paper from him and squinting at the hastily scrawled words on them.
Keep your eyes open, for the Eclipse always shines.
“I’m sure you have an idea what that’s referring to but…” Kaeya muttered. “What do you suggest I do with it?”
Diluc smirked wryly and let the paper fall onto the counter. Clearly it was some Khaenri’ahn fool trying to confuse Kaeya. A warning and reminder to reassess where his loyalties lay.
“Well, you should do as the note says.” Diluc told him. “Keep your eye open but at the same time…”
And Diluc paused, squinting down at the words again.
“Personally, I think it’s a pathetic attempt to scare you. Probably some idiot trying to be a vigilante when the higher ups could care less.”
“Sounds like someone.” And Kaeya’s teasing smirk was back.
Though it made Diluc’s heart lift slightly in relief, he rolled his eyes in irritation.
“Anyways.” He grumbled. “Don’t worry too much about it. No one’s out to get you. No one truly dangerous at least.”
Kaeya nodded, his smile still tight though undoubtedly more relaxed than before. He grabbed the slip of paper, rising to his feet as he did so.
“Alright then.” Kaeya said, waving. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks for your help, Master Diluc.”
Diluc simply nodded, watching as Kaeya left the tavern, brows creasing once again in worry.
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Diluc really had no business being worried about Kaeya. After all, they weren’t on the best of terms. They’d never spoken about their obvious history since Diluc returned to Mond.
Still, while their relationship was strained, it was much better than it would have been if Diluc hadn’t immediately left. Sometimes, Diluc wondered if Kaeya still considered him a brother or if he was just another citizen of Mond to him at this point.
Diluc had seen the way he treated Mond’s people and he didn’t make an effort to treat him any differently. He always kept a little distance but didn’t outright ignore him. Diluc supposed Kaeya wanted to keep that distance there so he never really initiated conversation with him. He would simply respond in kind whenever Kaeya spoke to him and more often than not that consisted of useless arguments and blatant insults.
Sometimes though, their conversations would be quite civil, even somewhat pleasant.
This was the first time Kaeya had asked him for any sort of advice though. And despite his better judgement, Diluc decided he couldn’t simply sit around and wait for something bad to happen to Kaeya.
He still waited a few hours too long, not sure if his worry warranted such an early close up for the tavern.
When he finally decided enough was enough, he asked Charles to take care of the closing up before hastily rushing out the door.
The first thing that struck him was how eerily still and silent the streets of Mond were. The sun had set but Mond was usually lively until the dead of night. Diluc vaguely wondered if he was simply on edge because of the cryptic note but decided he didn’t have time to think about that right now.
Shaking his head, he walked briskly through the streets of Mond, keeping an eye out for a shock of blue hair or the glint of an earring. It didn’t take long for him to find the Cavalry Captain and he could have cried in relief at seeing him unharmed.
But now he felt silly as he watched the man exchange farewells with Jean, leaving her at the doors of Favonius HQ. Jean smiled brightly as she waved, the usual exhaustion weighing down her shoulders, but other than that it didn’t seem like anything was troubling her.
Kaeya probably hadn’t told her about the note.
While Diluc was somewhat comforted at the sight of his brother, safe and sound, he couldn’t put out the small spark of worry still alight in his heart. Without thinking too much about it, Diluc began to follow his brother, keeping at a safe distance from him.
He made sure to stay out of his way, masking his steps so he didn’t freak him out. He knew Kaeya was also expecting anything to happen at any moment now. But if things went well, he’d simply follow Kaeya and make sure he went home before leaving him alone.
He doubted Kaeya wanted his estranged brother following him around like a stalker but…
The fact of the matter was that Diluc had made a promise to his brother years ago. And despite their brotherhood being nonexistent at this point, Diluc intended to keep that promise.
And in the end, Diluc was glad he decided to follow him.
They were nearly at his house when it happened. Kaeya was just about to turn the corner when the glint of a blade flew towards him. The knife would have hit Kaeya between his ribs if he hadn’t immediately dodged.
And perhaps Kaeya had known Diluc was following him all along because he didn’t just dodge the blade. It would have hit Diluc if Kaeya hadn’t reached out and caught the knife midair.
Diluc winced when Kaeya closed his fingers tightly around the blade, blood dripping to the floor below. Diluc was going to have to talk to Kaeya about his reckless behavior but he had saved him in the process.
Regardless, that was a conversation for another time.
Diluc didn’t hesitate a second longer, running over to his brother’s side just as three hooded figures converged on him, daggers out. Kaeya barely spared Diluc a glance before dropping the knife and summoning his own blade.
It was laughably easy to take out the three enemies. Diluc drove them back with his blade, disarming them of their weapons. At some point, he ditched his claymore entirely, choosing to use his fists to push them back. Kaeya, seemingly inspired by this, wove through the enemies before teleporting behind them, landing a kick against the one who seemed to be their leader.
Said leader then leapt to their feet, clearly annoyed at the turn of events. With a harried gesture to get out , the leader ran off, their cronies falling into step behind them.
With a growl, Diluc ran after them, not keen on letting them go after the stunt they pulled. He barely registered Kaeya’s stumbling steps behind him. The anger had all but consumed him when a voice suddenly broke through the haze.
“Diluc, wait.”
Diluc slowed to a stop, frowning as he turned to see Kaeya bent double, one hand on his knee and the other clenched into a fist, held tightly against his chest. Eyes wide, Diluc immediately ran back to his brother, never sparing a backwards glance at the escaped enemies.
“Kaeya…” Diluc said, worry bleeding into his voice as he put his hands on the man’s shoulders.
Kaeya was trembling under his hands, breathing too fast for comfort. He lifted his gaze, unfolding his bleeding hand to let Diluc see.
“I think it was poisoned.” Kaeya muttered with a breathless laugh.
Diluc inhaled sharply before letting his breath go in a rush.
“Of course it was.” Diluc sighed. “What the heck, Kaeya…”
“I’d love to banter but…” Kaeya breathed. “Don’t think I’ll be awake much longer.”
“Come here.” Diluc said begrudgingly as he grabbed Kaeya’s arms and situated him on his back.
“Heh…” Kaeya laughed. “Been ages… since you carried me like this.”
“Shut up.” Diluc sighed. “Go to sleep, you idiot. With any luck, it’s probably a common poison that Barbara can handle. I told you, didn’t I? Those jerks didn’t seem like the real deal. It was just the two of us and we scared them off.”
Kaeya hummed in response and Diluc’s heart fell when he didn’t speak after that. Despite all his comforting words, Diluc couldn’t help the way his steps quickened as he ran to the cathedral, injured brother in tow.
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When Kaeya awoke, it took a few seconds for the world to right itself and the bright colors to dim. His head still spun sluggishly, but he definitely felt better than when the poison first started to settle in.
He still wasn’t over the jolt of fear that struck him when he tried running after Diluc only to discover that the world was tilting beneath his feet and the dim nighttime light was suddenly too bright to bear.
It hadn’t been long before he’d been hoisted onto his once brother’s back, falling asleep to his comforting words. He almost smiled at the memory but a painful twinge in his hand made him wince.
Glancing down, he grimaced at the red bandages wrapped around his hand and he struggled to sit up for a moment. He had barely moved before a gentle hand descended on his shoulder, keeping him in place.
Kaeya blinked up at Diluc as he grabbed his hand, busying himself with replacing the bandages. He didn’t say a word the entire time, achingly gentle and focused as he tied them off.
“There you go.” Diluc said finally, a hesitant smile on his face as he lifted his gaze to him.
Kaeya couldn’t help the way tears stung his eye and he blamed it entirely on the exhaustion weighing him down. Why else would he become so sentimental about something as simple as changing his bandages? Why else would that simple action remind him of so many other times the two took care of each other?
While it made his heart swell with joy, it also tore it apart. He’d missed moments like this the most and if they were still a possibility then… what could that possibly mean?
“Why…?” Kaeya asked hesitantly, wondering if Diluc would answer the way he hoped he would. “Why did you help me, Diluc?”
Diluc’s smile faltered and then it completely melted away, a sorrowful sheen veiling his eyes. He tore his gaze away from Kaeya’s and stayed silent for a time as though remembering something from the past.
Finally he sighed, the sad glint never vanishing though the smile returned.
“I made a promise to you once.”
And just like that, Kaeya remembered the day Diluc had made his promise.
It had been a silent night, just like the one they’d just encountered.
In the early years when Kaeya had only just been adopted into the family. The nightmares still hadn’t stopped and Kaeya did all he could to hide them from his father and brother.
One night, Diluc begged him to sleep in his room so they could read throughout the night. Kaeya didn’t mind, thinking he’d be able to stay up through the night, but before long, the sound of his brother’s gentle voice had lulled him to sleep.
He was thrown into a ruthless nightmare. He couldn’t remember much of it when he was forced awake with a scream. Only that his father was undoubtedly going to return to find him and take him back to Khaenri’ah. The details were lost in the ensuing panic, and Diluc managed to calm him down just as Crepus came in, looking as panicked as he felt.
Kaeya was wrapped up in a long hug and when he had finally calmed down enough to stop crying, Crepus decided to get some sweets for the children to lift their spirits.
When he’d gone, Diluc hesitantly asked Kaeya if he wanted to talk about his nightmare. At the time, Kaeya wasn’t quite sure what to say. But since he was still a young child, he spoke the truth.
“My father came to take me back and…” Kaeya looked at Diluc with his wide, teary eye. “I don’t want to go back.”
Diluc hugged him again before holding him at arm’s length and setting his face into a fierce frown.
“I won’t let anyone take you away, Kaeya.” Diluc swore. “I promise.”
Kaeya’s mind was brought back to the present when Diluc echoed his words from the past.
“I promised, didn’t I?” Diluc sighed. “I’m not gonna let anyone take you away.”
“I never doubted it.” Kaeya smiled, tiredly. “I suppose that’s why I decided to tell you what happened. And… I’m glad I did.”
Kaeya met Diluc’s sorrowful gaze, grinning at him and reaching out his injured hand for him to take. Diluc frowned slightly but gently took his hand, sad eyes still watching him.
“Thank you, Diluc.” Kaeya said sincerely.
And the sad glint lessened the slightest bit as Diluc grinned. Something had just gone right. And both brothers were aware of it.
“Anytime.”