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In this life, the Drake still attacks.
Crepus still loses his life to the combined injuries born from Ursa and the Delusion, Diluc still cries as he holds his dying father in his arms, and Kaeya still feels sick as he realizes their father is gone and he still can’t make a choice.
A secret is spilled.
In this life, brotherhood still ends in fire and blood and rain, in the forest near the Winery.
Two lone figures stand in the storm, facing each other, but where there was once unwavering trust there is now doubt and hurt.
“D-Diluc ! Please, I don’t… I’m - “ Kaeya pleads, clutching his bleeding eye, eyepatch long lost to the mud.
“SHUT UP YOU TRAITOR ! You’re no brother of mine. You’re nothing to me !” the redhead shouts, swinging his claymore in a wild arc as his Vision pulses in time to his erratic heartbeat.
The flaming phoenix starts forming, and Kaeya simply stares.
He could probably avoid it. While he’s sustained a couple injuries and burns from their earlier fighting, none are so bad that he can’t move anymore.
But.
But what’s the point ?
Crepus is dead. His father is dead, and can he even call him his father anymore ?
Diluc hates him, and rightfully so. He’s a traitor, a sinner, he’s the one that should have died.
But he hasn’t, not yet, and his family hates him, so what’s the point of staying alive ?
If this is how he dies, he is at peace with it.
Kaeya closes his eye as Dawn flows forward.
“KAEYA !”
And then it snaps open.
Razor.
Razor who Kaeya made sure was left at the Winery when he dragged Diluc out to talk, but when has the young kid ever respected any orders to stay put -
Razor who is running toward Kaeya, toward his big brother who’s injured -
Razor who is still running toward him while Dawn has been let out from Diluc’s claymore.
He can see growing horror in his older brother’s eyes. Diluc can’t control Dawn once she is flowing, it’s too late to stop or redirect the flames. Razor, now kneeling right beside Kaeya, is going to get hurt too.
Kaeya is fine with dying today to his brother’s fire.
But Razor is innocent .
He’s his baby brother, and he once promised he would protect him, and he’s not going to go back on his word now.
The blue-haired teenager leaps forward, crushing Razor into his arms and turning around so his back gets the brunt of the phoenix.
There’s a muffled noise of protest from his little brother and Kaeya hugs him harder, hoping and praying this will be enough to leave the child unscathed.
But instead of pain, of fire charring skin and the smell of burning hair, there is only the sizzle of embers hitting a cold surface.
Come to think of it, why does he still feel so cold -
Razor gasps and Kaeya open his eye -
They both stare at the glowing blue orb floating above them.
A Vision.
A Cryo Vision that just created a shield over them and saved them.
Kaeya stares, and stares, and stares .
And he laughs.
He laughs, and he laughs, and he must sound more than a little hysterical given the worried look Razor is giving him, and he laughs so hard he starts coughing, and he keeps coughing to the point even Diluc, who remained glued in place from where he unleashed Dawn looks vaguely worried.
He’s still wheezing when he feels the adrenaline leave him, and he slumps into the sweet, merciful embrace of unconsciousness.
“Kaeya ! Kaeya, wake up, please !” Razor is desperately shouting, his hands flailing over their brother, hesitant to shake him and aggravate whatever injuries he sustained.
The blue-haired teenager’s breath is still uneven and wheezing after passing out.
Razor shivers a little, and Diluc suddenly realizes he and Kaeya have been trading blows in the pouring rain for the better part of an hour. While his Pyro Vision means Diluc runs hot and isn’t bothered, Kaeya must have been freezing even before the whole... Cryo Vision thing happened.
It would be a miracle if the blue-haired teenager doesn’t get sick after today -
“Kaeya ! Ah, I can - “ Razor starts, struggling to carry him. While he is already more muscular than the average child thanks to his claymore training, he’s still much smaller than Kaeya, and the latter’s gangly limbs are not helping the child’s attempts.
Diluc takes a step forward with the intent to help and immediately flinches backward. What right does he have, to try to help Kaeya, when he is the one who injured him ?
He almost killed Kaeya with Dawn. Would have killed him, and badly injured Razor too despite the kid not being guilty of anything, if Celestia had not intervened. Diluc has no right to call them his brothers anymore, not when he is such a danger -
“Come help me !” Razor barks, tears mixing with the rain, and Diluc goes, because when has he ever been able to refuse anything to his younger brothers ?
He easily scoops Kaeya in his arms - his own muscles and height having no problem lifting the thin sword user. His brother's head lolls to the side, and Diluc pushes it against his chest by reflexes.
Archons.
Spy or not, Khaenri’ahn or not, Kaeya is his baby brother just as much as Razor is, and Diluc isn’t sure he will ever be able to look at himself in a mirror anymore after what he has done today.
“W-We need to get t-to Addy - !” Razor mutters, shivering more strongly. If he stays any longer in the rain, he’s going to get sick too.
Diluc hurries along the muddy path toward the Winery, Razor still fretting by his side.
Adeline, thankfully, does not ask any questions when she sees the state her boys are in, just ushering them in and having someone sent to Mondstadt to call for a healer for Kaeya.
She urges Razor to go get changed and take a warm bath.
His youngest brother hesitates, obviously not wanting to leave Kaeya alone, but the head maid manages to convince him once she says Razor will be of no help to his brother if he gets sick too.
The moment Razor is out of view and hearing range, Diluc sags.
Razor is safe, Kaeya is safe too, albeit hurt and sick and still wheezing under the three quilts Adeline puts on his bed, and it is certainly not thanks to Diluc.
“Young master - I mean, Master Diluc, what happened ?” Adeline gently prods.
The redhead wants to offer an explanation, a word of comfort, something -
“I need to leave,” is what comes out of his mouth instead.
“What ?”
“I need to - I need to leave. I can’t stay here,” Diluc confesses, only realizing it as he says it.
He can’t. He truly can’t.
He’s still angry, angry at the world and at the Knights and at the Fatui and even at Kaeya for lying, but -
He does not want to hurt his brothers anymore. But he is not sure he can control his fire if he stays here, with their Father gone and Kaeya bedridden and Razor must hate him too, and what if he accidentally burns him as well -
For the first time since receiving his Vision, Diluc is afraid of the power the gods have bestowed upon him.
“But - Young master, what about young masters Kaeya and Razor - “
“They’ll be fine. Kaeya can take care of Razor, he doesn’t need me… I have to - to go and talk to Varka, then I should… The Fatui…”
“Master Diluc. Maybe young master Kaeya doesn’t need you, but don’t you think he wants you to stay by his side ? And the same goes for young master Razor…” Adeline tries to interject.
Diluc lets out a harsh laugh that startles the maid.
“He shouldn’t , not if he knows what’s good for him. Neither he nor Razor, for that matter. Sorry, Adeline, I need to go to the Favonius Headquarters now.”
And Diluc leaves the Winery behind, leaves his family behind, and he knows as he walks toward Mondstadt on the rain-sodden path that he will not be coming back here any time soon.
He needs to get away to
avenge
his father and to
protect
his brothers.