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Chapter Text

“Your precious cavalry caption Kaeya is from Khaen’riah.” The abyss mage cackled. Jean gasped in horror and put a hand over her mouth.

“What?!” She gasped, then quickly put her blade to the Abyss mage’s throat. “Please explain.”

“Hehe..” The laughs the Abyss mage let’s out started to disturb Jean and she pressed her blade deeper. “He’s the prince. Our prince. The savior of our nation. He’s a traitor in your midst.”

Then, with a flick of its staff, the Abyss Mage disappeared, leaving Jean alone. Little did she know, a certain man had been listening to their conversation.
…

Diluc was having a great day. He hadn’t seen Kaeya or any other drunkard today. Happily strolling down the streets, he thought nothing could go wrong.

“Acting Grandmaster Varka is back!” A voice yelled, catching nearly everyone’s attention. Diluc turned around and saw the grandmaster (along with the rest of his team) enter through the gates.

“Hello, everyone.” Varka said, his hair flowing through the wind. “I apologize for coming so suddenly, but their was an urgent issue that had to be dealt with at once. Please make way.” The citizens of Mondstadt quickly moved out of the way as Varka ran towards the Favonius headquarters.

…

Kaeya was busy sorting out the paperwork stacked on his desk. He had forgotten to do half of it yesterday and then offered to do part of Jean’s work today. His head was throbbing and the eye under his eyepatch hurt so bad.

‘Is this a bad omen?’ Was all he thought until he heard loud footsteps in the hallway.

…

Jean knew something was wrong when she saw Varka’s crew in Mondstadt. She raced towards the favonius headquarters, desperate to ask Kaeya what she had found out. Even if he was a ‘traitor’, she wanted to trust him. They were friends.

Jean then saw Grandmaster Varka rushing towards the favonius headquarters.

‘Did he hear?’ Jean thought, panicking all of a sudden. ‘No- I need to get to Kaeya first!’

She tried to speed up, but tripped over a cat and landed on her chin.

“Are you okay?” A voice asked, making Jean look up.

“Diluc!” Jean gasped, then quickly got back up. “I- wait- we need to get to Kaeya!”

“What?” Diluc scowled. He could already feel his mood darken, and he looked down.

“It’s Grandmaster Varka!” Jean exclaimed. “He found out!” Diluc stated at her in confusion, then his eyes widened in surprise.

“How did you-“

“An abyss mage told me.” Jean replied, looking away. “I was surprised too. But I’ve seen the way Grandmaster Varka tortures people for information. It’s heartless. W-we should help Kaeya.”

“Oh.” Diluc said, then nodded. “Favonius headquarters, right?” Jean nodded and the two ran towards the building.

By the time they reached the building, the guards saluted and allowed the two adults to enter the building.

‘The favonius headquarters had a dungeon underground.’ Jean whispered. Diluc’s eyes widened and then his face returned to a poker face. ‘Varka normally used it for torturing reasons, but because he hadn’t been here for so long, a lot of people ended up forgetting about it.’

‘That’s probably where Kaeya will be, right?’ Diluc asked, and Jean nodded.

“Grandmaster Varka!” Jean suddenly exclaimed, seeing the older man come from around the corner.

“Miss Jean.” He smiled, then looked at Diluc. “And Master Diluc.” Diluc gave him a slight nod. “I’m quite busy now, and I need to pass by you two.” Diluc and Jean moved out of the way to let Varka pass.

“By the way, where Sir Kaeya is?” Varka asked. Jean and Diluc looked at each other, suddenly feeling cold.

“H-he’s probably in his office.” Jean said. Varka nodded and kept walking forward (going the wrong way btw.)

“Hurry!” Diluc hissed, once Varka was no longer in sight. Jean nodded and the two rushed towards Kaeya’s office.

…

Kaeya has finished up half of his paperwork.

‘Just four hundred more to go..’ Kaeya thought, and then he felt his eyes feel heavy. ‘No- snap out of it.’ He slapped himself in the face quickly, then dipped his quill into the ink again.

“Kaeya!” Kaeya looked up and saw Jean and Diluc run into the room.

“Huh?” Jean grabbed Kaeya’s hand and looked at him in the eye.

“You need to get out of h-“ Before Diluc could finish his sentence, Varka walked into the room with two other guards behind him. Jean and Diluc froze in shock.

“Hello Sir Kaeya!” Varka smiled, then his eyes narrowed. “It’s nice to see you well.”

“You’re back, Grandmaster!” Kaeya exclaimed, then bowed his head.

“Thanks for grabbing him for me.” Varka said, tilting his head towards Jean and Diluc. Then, he turned back to Kaeya with a stony glare. “You’re coming with me you traitor. Guards, take him to the dungeon.”

“What!” Kaeya gasped, then felt the two guards grab him tightly. He looked at Jean and Diluc in desperation, but suddenly Varka grabbed his hair, making him wince.

“Wait sir!” Jean said, making Varka stop. “Allow Master Diluc and I to escort Sir Kaeya to the dungeon.”
Varka hesitated, then nodded, allowing Jean and Diluc to take hold of Kaeya’s arms.

Kaeya decided not to bother resisting. After all, everything Varka had said was true. What was there to deny? The three of them went through the halls, and went down the stairs leading towards the dungeons.

‘Sorry we didn’t arrive earlier.’ Jean whispered. ‘We were planning to take you elsewhere, but Varka reached us before we could say anything. Kaeya nodded, but he still felt sick inside and he could feel himself slightly shivering.

“This cell is open for the traitor.” A guard said, pointing at a small cell. He sneered at Kaeya and then looked at Jean and Diluc. “Varka’a orders were for me to take it from here. You two may leave now.”

“Alright then.” Diluc said, then looked at Kaeya. “See you soon.”

Chapter Text

Another guard entered the room, this time armed with a whip. It had been two days since he had seen Jean and Diluc, but it felt like two decades.

He was already peppered with bruises and had multiple gashes on his body.

“What’s the plan?” The guard asked, grabbing Kaeya’s face. “What’s the abyss order planning to do? Huh, traitor?” Kaeya winced as the guard slapped his face. “Not planning to talk? We’ll do this the hard way then.”

Brandishing his whip, the guard hit Kaeya across his back harshly.

“AH!” Kaeya screamed, pain shooting throughout his body. He could feel blood trickling down his back. The guard continuously hit Kaeya, until Kaeya was barely moving.

“Boring.” The guard clicked, the walked out of the cell, allowing another person to come in.

“Hello, Kaeya.” The person said. Kaeya closed his eyes. He could recognize the voice as Varka’s, and he didn’t want to see Varka’s face at the moment. “I’m hurt to see that you despise me. Why? This is for Mondstadt. This is for us.”

Kaeya shuddered at the sound of Varka’s voice and stayed silent. Annoyed by the silence, Varka grabbed Kaeya’s hair, making them stare eye to eye.

“We’ve known each other for a long time, Kaeya Alberich.” Varka growled, eyes narrowing. “What is the Abyss order planning and why were you sent to Mondstadt?”

Kaeya tried to look away but Varka slapped his face.

“Answer me now.” Varka snapped. Kaeya didn’t bother answering and Varka clicked his tongue in disgust then stepped on Kaeya’s right hand and twisted his heel. Kaeya yelped in pain then suddenly stopped moving.

…

Diluc walked through the halls in the headquarters of the knights of favonius. He had memorized the steps to the dungeon and managed to easily find the place he was looking for.

“M-master D-Diluc!” A guard said in surprise, then instantly saluted. “W-what’s your business here?”

“Here to check the traitor of course.” Diluc said, and the guard nodded. Diluc easily passed through all of the guards, until he bumped into Varka. Diluc instantly cursed in his head.

“A pleasure to see you, Master Diluc.” Varka smiled, bowing slightly. Diluc returned the gesture. “What business do you have here?”

“I’m here to interrogate the prisoner.” Diluc stated confidently. Varka nodded and allowed Diluc to pass.

As Dilu finally reached the prison cell, his face contorted into fury the moment he stepped in. On the floor was Kaeya, getting stomped on by a lowly soldier. Diluc immediately ran towards the man and grabbed his throat.

The man’s eyes rolled back and started convulsing. Once the man was out cold, Diluc ran over to Kaeya.

“Hey, Kae.” Diluc whispered, holding Kaeya’s hand.

“L-luc?” Kaeya asked, then started coughing.

“I’m getting you out of here.” Diluc promised, and lifted Kaeya up. Diluc was surprised. It was no secret that the cavalry captain of the knights of favonius was skinny, but Kaeya was literally as light as Klee.

“Master Diluc?” A voice called out. Diluc froze, but sighed in relief as he saw Lumine come into view. “Are you ready now?” Diluc nodded and followed Lumine until they were out of Mondstadt.

The plan was simple. Diluc would take Kaeya to Lumine, who would take Kaeya to Liyue. Then they would get everything sorted out there.

“W-where am I?” Diluc looked down and saw Kaeya who had just woken up.

“Not in Mondstadt.” Diluc replied.

“It’s here!” Lumine exclaimed, making the two boys turn. A wooden cart came over and stopped once it reached them.

“Thanks for helping us out, Childe.” Lumine smiled, and the man in the cart returned the smile.

“In he goes!” Childe said, reaching over for Kaeya’s body. Diluc hesitated, then allowed Childe to carry Kaeya.

“Wow you’re really light.” Childe commented. Kaeya didn’t say anything.

“Diluc, if you want, you can go with them.” Lumine said, gently taking Diluc’s hand. “It’ll be hard for you to return, since you’ll be branded a traitor, but it’s really your choice.”

Diluc paused, and nodded. He entered the cart and put Kaeya’s head on his lap. Once Lumine had also settled into the cart, Diluc turned back to look at Mondstadt for the last time.

Goodbye, Mondstadt.

Goodbye home.