Chapter Text
It should’ve been concerning how much fun he was having taking down the Fatui agents sent in to fight him. But, he couldn’t find it in himself to care very much about that.
One, two, three, four waves came and went. Each time it was about four or five agents, quite less than when it was Cyno but he supposed that made sense. Kaeya was used to fighting against groups about this size anyway. Treasure hoarder camps were never very big after all.
He was just getting into the routine of it all when, strangely, only one agent entered the room.
The captain glanced up at the blank window with a raised eyebrow.
Completely missing the first move from his opponent.
With a very audible crack, a fist struck across his face. It mostly hit his nose, which almost immediately started bleeding. The force also caused him to stumble back a few steps. He barely recovered enough to dodge the kick to his knee. His shoulder collided with the wall. Something hit his stomach. He pitched forward, which allowed his attacker to grab his hair and yank on it.
The next thing he knew, he was somehow pinned underneath the agent. The wooden pole he had been given was out of his hands. His arms were trapped above his head while the agent sat on his hips to make any movement with his legs useless.
“Excellent work, Vasin.” Dottore praised from the speakers, “It appears letting you in by yourself proved interesting.”
“Thank you, Lord Harbinger.” The agent, Vasin, smirked down at the captain. With the hand not pinning his wrists to the floor, he reached into his coat and pulled out a syringe. Damn it, he was getting real tired of these things, “Permission to proceed with the next phase of the experiment?”
“Permission granted.”
“What are you doing!?” Kaeya thrashed as much as his position would allow. That didn’t stop the needle from piercing the skin on his neck.
A burning sensation rapidly began to radiate under his skin from the base of his throat to the rest of his body. He started to sweat and shake. His insides started to feel like they were being squeezed and burned. He tightly grit his teeth and forced his eyes shut through the pain. However, he couldn’t stop the sounds of pain from leaking through. Tears started to slip down the sides of his face.
Half of his body then went numb while the other half screamed in agony. He couldn’t discern which parts hurt and which didn’t. All he could focus on was the pain itself. Dread settled in his stomach like a lead weight but he didn’t know exactly why. Breathing was getting hard to do, his lungs spasming in sharp gasps. He could feel his limbs being moved around, which sent more waves of pain through him.
It felt like an eternity went by before the burning finally settled to a manageable degree. He caught his breath and opened his eyes. He immediately noticed how much his position had changed. Much to his chagrin, his arms were cuffed behind his back and his legs were bent back and spread apart.
“So, this is the famed Cavalry Captain of the Knights of Favonius?” Vasin sneered, settling between his thighs.
“What are you doing now? What ‘experiment’ is this supposed to be?” Kaeya frowned. Like he usually tried to do, he buried his discomfort and fear deep within himself. He would not allow any kind of distress to be visible on his face.
“Oh, this part isn’t any kind of experiment.” The agent waved his head dismissively like he was swatting the idea out of the air, “Our Lord Harbinger has so generously granted me this opportunity to enact some justice on my part.”
“What are you talking about?” He had absolutely no idea what this guy was on about. He’d never seen him before that moment, how could he have done anything to him?
“I’m assuming your brother has never told you about his…certain exploits in Snezhnaya?”
“Oh you mean the four years that he went running around playing vigilante? Yes, I’m very aware of his escapades there.” Kaeya turned his head to stare pointedly at the still darkened window, “Including his run in with your Harbingers. I heard all about it.”
“Then you know that countless Fatui soldiers were slain by your brother’s hand?”
“Obviously.”
“Then you are aware that one of those soldiers was my older brother?”
“Considering I’ve never seen you or your older brother, I’d say the odds of me knowing are slim to none.”
That was not the answer Vasin was looking for, obviously. The agent growled in annoyance and reached forward.
“Ghh!” A startled and confused yelp left his lips when he felt a cold hand wrap around his soft length. He started to rub and pump the captain into full hardness, “What the-what are you doing!?”
“Your older brother took mine away from me, so I’m taking his little brother. In a different sense, of course.” Vasin purred, “You might as well just lay back and let this happen.” His hand moved up and down a bit faster.
“Gghhg! It’s not like I…ah! Have much of a choice here…nngh, do I?”
Kaeya carefully kept his expression flat and annoyed. He refused to give this random guy with an obvious chip on his shoulder the satisfaction of seeing him afraid. Which if he was being honest, he really wasn’t. He was actually annoyed with the situation.
In usual Kaeya fashion, when he was annoyed, he was going to make it everyone’s problem.
----
When they returned to the Sanctuary of Surasthana, it was immediately apparent that something had happened while they were gone.
Nahida and Zhongli were obviously having a very serious discussion off to the side. Diluc was sitting on one of the couches, leaning forward. His elbows rested against his knees and the back of his linked hands was pressed against his forehead. Sethos was pacing back and forth by the bookshelf with a book in his hands.
It all left Venti with a rather unsettling feeling crawling up his back.
“Alright. What happened?” Tighnari stepped inside, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Oh good, you’re back.” Nahida perked up, a small but nervous smile appearing on her face, “Were those at Aaru Village able to give us any information?”
“Candace and Dehya are still asking around, but so far we have about three people on the outskirts of the village spotting a suspicious caravan around the timeframe Cyno was kidnapped.” Kaveh sighed, “We’re hoping to hear back from them in a day or so for a concrete direction they were headed.”
“That’s…good, I suppose.”
“Sethos, sit down. I haven’t cleared you for walking around on your ankle, yet.” Tighnari marched over to the boy in question.
“I’m fine.” Sethos boldly attempted to wave him off, “I’ve been walking on it for a few hours now and it’s fine.”
“I’d still like to take a look and make sure.” The forest ranger pushed.
“He’s not going to drop it if you don’t agree, Sethos.” Kaveh sent him an apologetic look.
While the desert boy reluctantly agreed to be examined again, Venti and Lisa approached the other two archons and Diluc.
“So…what happened in Irminsul?” Venti asked, “What…what’s happening to Kaeya and Xiao?”
“We…” Zhongli’s hesitation made the bard’s heart start beating faster. He was being relatively silent and brooding. That was never a good sign.
“We saw The Doctor in the midst of conducting one of his ‘experiments.’” Despite the situation, Nahida using air quotes around the word experiment was admittedly adorable and hilarious, “I’m afraid to say that Xiao was the subject of said experiment. He deliberately broke a portion of the contract that pertained to celibacy.”
“Oh.”
“There was also something else…”
“Hey guys! We’re back!” Paimon’s loud voice announced the entrance of Lumine, Albedo, and herself.
“How did it go? Did you get any information about Kaeya?” Diluc sharply stood.
“Well, we were able to learn quite a bit about Kaeya’s family.” Albedo quietly walked to the same couch that Tighnari was fussing over Sethos, “From that information, I believe we may be able to come up with a hypothesis as to why Kaeya was targeted. Of course, that also operates on the assumption that Kaeya was targeted due to his heritage and not for…other reasons.” The alchemist shot an odd look Diluc’s way.
“You have other ideas on the matter?” It wasn’t a surprise that Lisa immediately picked up the implications.
“Now’s not the time.” He shook his head.
“Seriously, Tighnari. I’m fine!” Sethos abruptly leapt to his feet and stepped away from the group. He started pacing again, his hands buried themselves in his hair and he started absently pulling at it, “It’s not me we need to be worrying about right now! I’m not that one that got a sword through his stomach!”
The room went very…very quiet.
Oh that was not good. Not good at all.
----
His whole body was sore when he managed to drag his consciousness back to awareness. Parts of him were aching that he didn’t remember could ache. He could tell that he was being held by someone as they ran their hands all along his form. It wasn’t a comforting touch at all, but more of a…possessive one. So that immediately ruled out Kaeya or Xiao. Which meant…
Ugh. It was either Dottore or…Web.
An involuntary shudder ran down Cyno’s spine. The movement sparked sharp pain in his lower half and he let out a short gasp.
The hands stilled.
“I see you’re awake now, general.” Web’s sickeningly warm breath brushed against his ear. His head was forcibly tilted backwards against the segment’s shoulder, “Prime~ Our dear general is back~”
“Oh is he, now?” Another hand gripped his chin.
“Let go.” Cyno tried to lean away, peeling open his leaden eyelids. He scowled at the harbinger and his segment.
“Cyno!” Xiao’s voice came from beside him. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the yaksha bound to a padded chair. Thankfully, it looked like he was relatively unharmed. Good. That meant the hours of pure agony that he’d endured, the searing electricity poured straight into his head and the seemingly endless marathon of being fucked senseless had been worth it. It appeared that they were in the same room that he’d seen the other two in back during the first experiment. But the window looking below wasn’t clear. It was dark. He didn’t see the third captive anywhere and that put him on edge.
“Where is Kaeya? What have you done to him?” He winced a little bit at the scratchiness in his voice.
“It would appear your surly personality is still intact.” Dottore released his hold, walking over to a short table with a notebook. He started jotting down things on it, “As for the captain, I wouldn’t worry too much about him yet. Vasin has been given strict instructions not to harm him…too much.”
“Enough about him, general.” Web cooed, one hand slipping underneath his gown. He felt a brush against his abused and still very oversensitive slit.
“Nnghh! No! En-enough!” He hissed, jerking away as much as his sore body would allow.
“Stop it! Don’t touch him!” Xiao growled.
“Web. You’ve had your fun with the general.” The harbinger offhandedly called over his shoulder, “I said you could hold him until he awoke. He’s awake and I have use of you elsewhere.” He turned around, holding his arms out expectantly, “Give him back to me and go. I’m sure you’ll have other opportunities to play again.”
“ Fine. Fine. You’re the boss, Prime.” Web huffed in annoyance. He stood up with Cyno still in his arms. Although he would rather chew off his own foot than admit it, he was almost relieved to be handed off to Dottore, “I’ll be seeing you soon, general.” The segment stroked his cheek one last time, a touch he admittedly flinched away from, and then he disappeared out the door.
He was set down on the same chair Web had been sitting in and quickly strapped into it.
“Now, I’m going to check in on Vasin and the captain in person.” The harbinger strolled over to the door, “I trust you two will behave yourselves.”
Neither of them responded as he exited the room.
They remained quiet for a moment. A twinge of pain went through Cyno’s stomach and chest, a quiet hiss left his lips.
“Cyno, are you okay?” Xiao whispered.
“I will be.” He sucked in a shaking breath, “What about you? Are you…?”
“I’m fine.” The yaksha shook his head, “I…I’ve been more worried about you.”
“Mmm.” He nodded. His chest again pulsed with pain, worse than before. But that didn’t make sense, he didn’t recall having any injury to his upper body. Nothing that would explain this.
Something was different and Cyno didn’t know what it was.