Chapter Text
Fanart by Fain!
It’s been a long day, but the end is finally in sight. Not just that, but it seems like it’s coming early. It’s one of those rare nights where all the customers at Angel’s Share have cleared out on their own, a full hour before closing time . . . which means Diluc can close up early.
It comes at a good time. He’s been working since this morning, because catastrophic inventory errors had to be sorted out. Somehow, the tavern was grossly understocked, so naturally there was a sudden spike in demand, equivalent to the increases they’d see during a festival. No less than five transport balloon trips were needed to bring their stores back up to a level that would get them through the night, and even more will be needed tomorrow . . . but that’s a problem for tomorrow.
His final problem for tonight is cleaning three more glasses then loading the transport balloon with empty barrels and escorting it home to Dawn Winery. It’s testament to how tired Diluc is that he’s considering just . . . taking it home empty . . . but he knows he’ll regret it in the future if he does that. Those barrels do need to make it back to the winery so they can reuse them, and since he needs to take the balloon home anyway, so they can load it up with more wine tomorrow morning, there’s no sense in wasting the trip.
Just as Diluc resolves to do the right thing, another problem walks in the door. Kaeya.
The first thing Diluc notices about his estranged brother is that he looks as tired as Diluc feels. Not overtly, of course, because Kaeya is a master at covering things up. Diluc knows that only too well . . . and it kind of makes him hate himself that even after everything, when seeing Kaeya like this, his first instinct is to ask if he’s okay, if something’s wrong, if he can help . . .
Ridiculous.
“Awfully empty for the hour,” Kaeya says, approaching after giving the empty tavern a quick once over. “I do hope you didn’t just chase them all away so you could go home early.”
“No, as it so happens,” says Diluc, giving his brother a deadpan look, “but since, by fortunate coincidence, all my customers left of their own accord, we are closing up early.”
Kaeya’s presence here changes nothing. His plans to turn in early remain intact, despite the puppy dog expression Kaeya turns on him as he hauls himself onto a barstool.
“You would really turn away your best customer, after I spent all day working hard for citizens like you?” Kaeya whines, leaning on the counter, and not so subtly scoping out the area for bottles he can try to swipe.
Diluc returns to his task of cleaning the last few glasses, but keeps a wary eye on Kaeya, and sure enough, there it is. Kaeya leans over the bar, hand snaking out for a bottle of wine. Unfortunately for him, Diluc is wise to his tricks. He reaches out and snatches the bottle away, right before Kaeya’s thieving fingertips can make contact.
“I said we’re closing.”
“How cruel of you to leave a stalwart Knight of Favonius, of the City of Mondstadt, high and dry,” complains Kaeya.
“Stalwart nuisance more like it,” Diluc returns.
“I feel I’ve hardly done anything wrong, coming here as a paying customer, just looking for a drink, and you won’t even give me the dregs of a bottle. If anyone is being difficult, it’s you.”
It’s then that, for just a moment, Kaeya’s mask slips, and anyone looking at him would see that yes, he is exhausted . . . and despite everything that’s happened between them, it still tugs on Diluc’s heartstrings, damn it. So . . .
“If I give you the bottle, will you stop being a pest and just go?”
Kaeya perks up minutely, mask back in place. “I think we can make a deal.”
Diluc picks up the same bottle Kaeya had designs on. He’s not sure if Kaeya wanted that one specifically, or was just going for the easiest one he could get his greedy hands on, but it’s what he gets now. Diluc walks around the bar to hand it over, shoving the bottle into Kaeya’s chest, perhaps a bit harder than he means to . . . but it’s been a long day. Kaeya almost stumbles, and for a second Diluc feels bad, as his brother shifts his stance to stay balanced and grasp the bottle before Diluc releases it and lets it slide to the ground. For a moment they’re looking each other in the eye, and they’re both too tired and moody to sort out their issues tonight, but wildly, Diluc almost kind of wants to.
Then common sense wins out and he begins herding his estranged brother toward the door.
“Then good night, Sir Kaeya.”
“You know, dear Brother,” Kaeya says melodramatically as he grips the door handle, “you should perhaps treat those around you more kindly. Your temperament may be what leaves you alone one day, and you’ll have none to blame but yourself.”
There’s a lot Diluc could say, but he’s just too tired. He settles for scowling at Kaeya instead, and Kaeya seems to realize that he’s done for the night.
“Good night, Master Diluc,” he says, and finally makes his exit, leaving Diluc to his solitude.
Once the annoyance that is Kaeya is gone, Diluc makes good time with closing up. He gets the last few glasses cleaned, gets the transport balloon loaded with empty casks, then gets on the road home. On his way out of town, he passes two carts coming into the city, even at this late hour, which makes him wonder if there really is an upcoming festival he’s forgotten . . . but one of his people would surely have reminded him of it had that been the case. Perhaps the knights are preparing for a joint training session with the Millelith, or another nation’s military or . . . well, Diluc is too tired to think of any other possible scenarios and doesn’t much care right now either way.
All he wants is to get home and get a few hours of sleep before he has to roll out of bed and begin hauling more wine back to Mondstadt in the morning . . . and yes, he could delegate, but after coming back from near crisis levels of low stock, he’d be remiss if he didn’t see to it that Angel’s Share is properly restocked himself.
Adelinde waited up for him, as is her way. Normally Elzer would have stayed up as well, but he’d been forced to work overtime today too, and has to be up just as early as Diluc tomorrow. Diluc is glad he’s already gone to bed. He makes a few notes then turns in for the night, sinking down onto his bed, overtop of the covers, too exhausted to even bother undressing.
It seems like he’s barely closed his eyes when he’s startled awake by a scream. One of the maids. Hillie, he thinks. She’s the one who rises earliest to bake the estate’s bread each day . . . which is not important now, because her scream is followed up with a shout of, “Fire! Fatui! Help me!”
Diluc bolts off his bed and summons his claymore. Then, rather than rushing to his bedroom door and down the stairs, he leaps through the window, onto his balcony, then vaults over the railing.
His plans were to make a beeline to the kitchen, and with one of his employees in danger, from the fucking Fatui no less, he had absolutely no qualms about taking the shortest damn possible route to get there . . . but he quickly realizes that the Fatui that are terrorizing his maid are not the only ones on the property.
“We’re under attack!” Diluc shouts, to rouse the rest of his staff. Then he leaps to return the favor.
Skirmishers, Agents, Cicin Mages, and Mirror Maidens . . . there are dozens of them . . . and in addition to them, there are . . . others. Normal humans that go down real quick. Only about as tough as Treasure Hoarders, but slightly better armed and armored. Sort of ragtag, probably mercs. That’s Diluc’s first impression of them, at least. Foreign mercs by the sounds of their swears and accents when Diluc cuts them down. Then he sees the emblem they’re fighting under.
The patches are the only thing all the mercs have in common, and they stand out because they’re new. Only the dim light kept Diluc from noticing them immediately, but once he does, they’re all he can see, because the symbol they bear is unmistakable.
The symbol of the Lawrence Clan.
Renewed fury grips Diluc, both at the realization that the Lawrence Clan has teamed up with the Fatui, and just the sheer number of enemies they’ve brought to bear. He unleashes Dawn on the mercs where they’re thickest, even though they’re angled so his flaming phoenix is bound to singe some of his vines before rising skyward, then spins to lay into the Fatui, his sword alight with flames. This is taking too damn long and his people are in danger!
His people, however, aren’t exactly helpless. Especially the ones who were raised at the winery. Crepus made sure all his employees could fend off at least a hilichurl or two, in case the need for them to escort a transport balloon shipment ever arose. Those who were raised on the property were given the chance to be tutored in swordsmanship by retired knights. Many became knights themselves . . . but many more who were good enough to become knights stayed. Elzer and Adelinde included.
Diluc doesn’t have time to keep track of everything, but he catches glimpses out the corner of his eye. Adelinde wielding her Cresent Pike like silver lightning, dancing past the cicins to carve up the mages who control them. Elzer rolling under a Fatui Agent’s circling flames and inside his guard, then cutting him down like a dog. Ernest with his claymore holding his own against an Anemo Boxer, while Connor directs the employees flocking up to help from the outbuildings to help suppress the fire that’s been started inside the manor house. Whenever an enemy gets too close, Connor flicks his rapier through their throat. With so many of his people there to help keep things under control, Diluc is able to turn his focus on the most dangerous enemies.
It’s slow. Too slow . . . but there are so many enemies to kill. While Diluc has often dreamed of slaughtering so many Fatui, he’d rather it not have happened here, at his home, putting his household and employees in danger . . . but it is what it is, and Diluc is happy enough to kill every last one of them. He summons his flames as often as he can, and cuts, and strikes, and slices, and burns until there’s nothing left to kill.
It happens rather abruptly. He quite literally cuts a Cryo Cicin Mage in half, then leaps over her corpse to the Mirror Maiden behind her and engages, and perhaps some part of him registers that there’s a lot less enemies to choose from now, but Diluc is in full on slaughter mode, so if he notices, it doesn’t really register. He lays into her, and with her hydro powers she is admittedly not the greatest match up for him, but it doesn’t matter because he’s stronger. Then there’s a flash of silver, and Adelinde is standing there as the Mirror Maiden falls. No one at Dawn Winery is above cutting down an enemy from behind. Especially not when their master’s life is on the line.
“Master Diluc? Are you injured?”
“I’m fine.” Diluc’s a little cut up, and the tail of his coat is singed, but he doesn’t even need a healer. “What’s our status? The fire? Hillie?”
“Hillie is alive. Injured and burned, but she’ll pull through. Moco was able to reach her in time. The fire is under control. The men doused it with wine.”
Diluc nods, unphased, even though the monetary loss is probably in the tens of thousands. The scarcity will drive up the price of his other barrels, so he can recoup some of those losses, and mora is of no consequence next to his employees and his home.
“Anyone gravely injured?”
“I don’t believe so, but I’ll double check. Master Diluc, some of the outlander mercenaries broke ranks and fled. Should I give the order to give chase?”
“No.” With a head start, at night, trying to hunt down the Lawrence Clan’s mercenaries will be more trouble than it’s worth and he won’t risk his people in the process . . . not that it’s actually night anymore. Dawn has broken, Diluc sees. It will soon be fully light . . . but his decision remains the same. “I’ll go after them myself.”
Thank you for reading! This fic is actually my first ever collab. Its plot is entwined with its sister fic’s, Song of Resistance: Frostborn Loyalty by TheOpticalMouse, which tells the story of those trapped inside Mondstadt when the city falls.
Both of these fics will be updated at least once a week for the next seven weeks, until the plots collide, and the stories conclude on October 27th. We hope that you’ll enjoy the ride!
Feel free to check out my Twitter for our posting schedule and other information: https://twitter.com/StrangeDiamond5
Special thanks to Fain for the fanart! https://twitter.com/f_ai_n
Mondstadt Forever!
(I recommend reading Chapter 1 and 2 of Frostborn Loyalty before proceeding on to Chapter 2 of this fic, but both fics are written so that you can enjoy them even if you read them alone, or one after the other.)