Work Text:
Ever since Kaeya had joined up with the Knights of Favonius and given up on spying, he had known that his life was worth less than those around him. It was simply math: the Knights of Favonius were an organization, an order of knights sworn to protect Mondstadt--if he died, they would just replace him. When he first joined the Knights of Favonius, he had thought his death would have worth because Diluc would mourn for him, Crepus would mourn for him--but then Crepus had died. Crepus had died, and Kaeya had told Diluc the truth about who he was, what he was--
Well. Kaeya had still thought, in long, lonely nights, both sober and drunk, that if he died, his death would still have value: he would make his brother happy one last time.
That wasn’t to say, of course, that he didn’t think his life had value. Of course his life had value--he was Cavalry Captain of Mondstadt (though he had no cavalry to command), he had contacts in all parts of the city and he was invaluable to Mondstadt’s defense. He knew his importance to the city--just as he knew that they would all go on if he were dead, and, in Diluc’s case, be better off for it.
But none of his musings on life and death even knocked on the door of his mind as he saw the Cryo Whopperflower send spikes towards his brother, saw Diluc turn too late, saw acceptance in his eyes.
He wasn’t stupid enough to try to shove him out of the way--that would just leave him vulnerable to the Abyss Mage--but the first use of his Vision had been to create a shield, and it only made sense to have that be the last use of it, too.
It was only after he’d thrown himself on the spikes of ice that he remembered he could have actually built a shield with his Vision instead of using it to slick the ground under him to quicker become a human shield. Kaeya burst out laughing--he was such an idiot! Well, at least he’d just made Diluc’s life, assuming the Whopperflower didn’t get his brother too--Kaeya gasped for breath and tried to get his laughter under control, used his Vision to shoot his sword into the Whopperflower in a spray of snow and ice before slumping down as much as he could while held up by the awful, awful spikes. The spikes made of ice. Made of his element. It was too funny--his life had been a joke, and now his death was too.
Diluc turned away from the defeated Abyss Mage and immediately saw the Whopperflower, pinned to the tree. It occurred to Kaeya that he might expect him to finish it off since his sword was firmly pinning it to the tree, so he took a shaky breath (fucking archons that hurt) and gasped out, still between laughs, between horrible, painful laughs: “You might--want to--finish off that Whopper...flower, older brother.” He contorted his face into a winning smile. “It’s immune--to my Vision, so--I think I’ll just watch the show!”
Diluc’s eyes fell on him, and his face went pale. It was funny, so funny--his expression of delight had changed since they were children, now he only looked scared. Kaeya laughed harder, imagining Diluc receiving a gift and looking terrified, something he truly wanted and the giver thought his gift ill-received.
Luckily, Kaeya was smarter than that: he wasn’t stupid enough to even consider the idea that his brother was afraid for him, even as he desperately wanted him to soothe him and reassure him, to hold him as he’d done when they were younger and Kaeya had had a particularly bad nightmare. Archons--all Kaeya wanted was his brother’s love back, and now Diluc was rude enough to not even look happy with Kaeya’s death, despite all of Kaeya’s daydreams where he would die--heroically or stupidly, it didn’t matter, because he would always imagine Diluc smiling at him, glad that he was finally dying.
“You’ve been impaled,” Diluc said. Thank you, Captain Obvious, Kaeya thought, but he didn’t say anything, just kept smiling, kept laughing--if there was one thing he’d learned to do in the four years since their father’s death, it was to laugh instead of cry, smile instead of frown. “You idiot, you--why didn’t you get out of the way?!”
Kaeya giggled weakly, tearfully. “Technically...technically, I got... in the way.”
“You idiot!” Fire raged around Diluc and over Kaeya’s head as he dropped down and shoved his warm hands into the icy stab wounds, probably to enjoy Kaeya’s death up close and personal. “You need--you need medical attention. Maybe if I cauterize the wound…”
Kaeya shook his head, laughing, not crying. “I’m dying, Diluc. Isn’t it...isn’t it wonderful?”
Kaeya did not think it was wonderful. He did not want to die. His death would mean nothing--he knew this--his life meant something. His death would make Diluc happy, though, and fuck if Kaeya didn’t want to see his brother smile at him--because of him--one last time. Please--he was laughing--he found it funny--why was Diluc trying so hard to look upset? Was Kaeya not good enough, even dying?
“Don’t be stupid, Kaeya,” Diluc snapped. “You won’t die.”
“Don’t...don’t worry.” He was so tired. Too tired to keep laughing, too tired to continue hiding the tears. He wanted to stay--wanted to live long enough to see his brother happy at his death. It was a test both of wills and of the blood in Kaeya’s body actually cooperating with him. “It’s...so much...I’ll die, don’t worry. I know...it’s what you want…”
Diluc jerked back as if he’d been slapped, and Kaeya had no idea what that meant. He was too tired and hurting to try to unpack it, though. “Kaeya, you stupid idiot, you know I--that I…”
“...Hate...me. Yeah...don’t worry.” Kaeya smiled at his brother, a tired, genuine smile. “I know...big brother…” He huffed out a laugh. “I know. You don’t have to pretend...not to be happy.”
Diluc looked angry--probably that Kaeya’d seen through him--and opened his mouth to say something, pressing a bloody hand to Kaeya’s cheek. Kaeya leaned his head against it, soaking in the comfort that would probably soon be followed by a slap. But before that could happen, a blast of wind threw Diluc backward into a tree. For a single, strange second, he thought the traveler was back--but this stranger’s hair was long and in a braid, where the traveler’s was short; his shirt was a crop top and high boots, he was flanked by Abyss Mages on either side, and archons, he was hot--not that the traveler wasn’t, of course, but she was a teenage girl. This one probably wasn’t.
“You’re the cavalry captain from Khaenri’ah, right?” the hot stranger asked.
“Stay away from him!” Diluc shouted from somewhere far off, heat rushing around the clearing and melting the spikes fully.
“Fucking ow,” Kaeya said, voice not quite cooperating as he collapsed onto the ground. “Yeah, uh...who’s...asking, gorgeous?”
To Kaeya’s drowsy surprise, the stranger actually blushed. Huh. Assuming he survived the next couple hours, he could definitely use this.
Instead of answering, though, Kaeya was bodily lifted up. Diluc started screaming as flames filled the air, and Kaeya couldn’t stop himself from crying out in pain as his wounds stretched and clothes caught.
“Diluc…!” Kaeya begged, terror finally creeping into him at the idea of being held captive by--whoever this was. The Abyss Order? Was he with the Abyss Order? There were Abyss Mages there… “Diluc...please, help! Diluc! I’m sorry, please, Diluc…” He was so tired. He hurt so much, and then suddenly he couldn’t hear his brother screaming anymore, and everything was dark, quiet, and peaceful.
Then his midriff was hurting like hell once more, and he was in a bed, with shackles around his wrists. He had just enough time to think, holy shit, what did I do last night before remembering the fight, Diluc’s strange reactions, and the stranger whom Kaeya was reasonably certain was the traveler’s missing twin (Aether?) was sitting by his bedside. He felt like absolute shit, and definitely did not want to be here, but he didn’t want to literally die even more, so. He had to recover. He had to recover, and escape, and make it safely back to Mondstadt with as much information as possible, and also never look Diluc in the eyes again. He had begged him to rescue him--how embarrassing! Diluc was probably celebrating his capture right now with a glass of fancy grape juice.
“How are you feeling?” said the stranger. “I’m really sorry about the impaling...I meant for you to be brought here unharmed. You are Khanri’ah’s spy, right?”
“Assuming I survive my ribcage being ground up like some chump with late library fees, yeah,” Kaeya muttered.
“Late...library fees?” echoed the stranger.
“Ah, the Knights of Favonius librarian is...enthusiastic about her job, to say the least,” Kaeya said. “But that’s not important. Why did you kidnap me? Who are you? What’s going on? And has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are?”
He blushed again. “My name is Aether, and I’m the Prince of the Abyss Order,” he told him. “I was there when Khaenri’ah fell, five hundred years ago...my ex was from there, but we broke up and now he’s trying to destroy the Abyss Order. I’m here to ask you to join me.”
...There was a lot to unpack there. Kaeya had spent years worrying over, if Khaenri’ah and Mondstadt ever came to blows, which side he would choose. The night his father died, he had made his choice.
He gave Aether a winning smile. “Of course! How could I ever say no to someone as beautiful as you are?”
He would heal. He would gather information. And when the time was right--he would freeze his way back to Mondstadt with their plans and their goals and watch the Abyss Order burn.