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The first thing he noticed as he awakened from his shotty nap was the sound of humming. Quiet and fragile. The next? A surge of pain washed over the rest of his senses. Something stopped him from sitting up against better judgment.
A voice. “Don’t move. That Abyss Mage got you pretty good.”
Kaeya gritted his teeth. Diluc. He’s not sure if he should be surprised or worried that Mondstadt’s great vigilante stayed behind to help. Why couldn’t he let Kaeya lick his wounds in peace?
He hated when they ended up having to work together. Of all the things he has loved about his brother, his stubbornness was not one of them.
But that was probably his fault too. Diluc was the one that ignited the fire, too true, but Kaeya was the one to spill the gas. He shouldn’t be surprised that his no-longer brother would lead the next chapter of his life with the expectation of a blade at his back when his own family was the first to pull that trick. The Ragnvindr family were as imaginative as they were vindictive.
He’d take it back, if he could. Erase the truth with more lies if it would save them. Leave the important things left unsaid. But it wasn’t right. That’s why he unspooled his tangled web of broken identities.
It would be so much easier if his father had been a simple asshole and not a man driven to the brink by war.
“Come on,” Diluc said, physically dragging him up. “I still need you.”
Kaeya can't apologise for what he’s done—no "I’m sorry" short of his death would ever be enough—but sometimes… he feels like he can still hear a brother’s worry in that stranger’s voice.
Or perhaps that was the pain talking.