Chapter Text
'This is your chance. You are our last hope.'
His father's squeeze pierces through his shoulder. Eyes filled with both hope and hatred look right through him.
A calloused thumb wipes a tear off his face.
'Forgive me, Kaeya.'
He wants to say something, anything, but his head's run out of words. He can only look down.
Without so much as a goodbye, his father disappears between the trees.
Cold, shivering, fighting back tears. He tugs on the edges of his cloak, wrapping it tighter around his arms.
He's not sure where he's going, if he should even be going anywhere.
Raindrops sting his cheeks like needles. The wind chases through the leaves overhead.
He slows down, the water in his boots weighing him down more with each step he takes. His fingertips and toes are slowly going numb.
Running is no use, he's got nowhere to go. No home to return to, no safe haven. All he's got now is these hills and these trees.
He finds a sturdy tree and sits down by the foot of it. He curls himself up into a ball, hood pulled firmly over his face. He's not sure if his cheeks are wet from the rain, or wet with tears.
Light. He rubs his eyes. The warm light of dawn trickles into the room through an open window.
Warmth. He tries to move, but finds himself struggling against the weight of a thick blanket.
Where is he?
'Ah, you're awake.' A man's voice sounds from somewhere on the right.
He turns his head.
A tall man with deep-red hair tied in a low ponytail gets up from the chair beside the door.
'Good morning, little man, are you alright?'
'What happened?' He manages to reply.
'I found you sleeping outside in the rain yesterday.' The man kneels beside the bed. 'Carried you here so you'd have a warm bed to rest in.'
The door opens. A blonde woman wearing a white apron over a black dress enters the room holding a tray with steaming cups on it.
'Is he awake?' She whispers.
The man turns to her and nods.
'Oh!' She exclaims, setting the tray down on the nightstand beside the bed, 'is he alright?' She kneels down beside the man, her eyes wide.
'Easy, Adelinde.' The man smiles. 'He only just woke up.'
'Who... are you?' Kaeya asks.
'My name is Crepus Ragnvindr,' says the man, 'and this is Adelinde.'
The woman smiles at him.
'What is your name?' She asks.
'Uh... Kaeya.'
'Kaeya...' Crepus Ragnvindr mumbles, 'that's... an interesting name.'
Kaeya can practically feel the beads of sweat forming on his forehead. Don't blow this, Kaeya. You're here with a mission.
'I think it's a beautiful name!' Adelinde grins.
Relief. Kaeya manages a smile.
'You were out alone in the rain last night.' Crepus scratches the stubble on his chin. 'Do you remember how that happened?'
'Have you been alone for long?' Adelinde cuts in.
'I, uh... my father, he...' he stumbles, 'my—my father, he... he said he was going to... he said he was going to buy... grape juice? And he didn't come back.'
Adelinde's mouth falls open. She quickly covers it up and turns to Crepus.
The man's brows are scrunched up. He turns to Adelinde. They don't speak a word, but Kaeya can feel the atmosphere shift. Adelinde tilts her head at Crepus, who nods slowly in reply.
He gets up, still scratching his chin.
Adelinde turns back to Kaeya. She opens her mouth to say something, but is distracted by the sound of someone running down the hall.
The door swings open, and a young boy with fiery red hair like Crepus' enters the room.
'Father! Miss Adelinde! Is he-'
Adelinde shushes, turning to the boy and laying her hands on his shoulders.
'Quietly, young master Diluc. He hasn't been awake for long.' She looks up at Crepus Ragnvindr, who seems lost in thought.
The man walks over to the foot of the bed, resting his gaze on Kaeya. He nods to himself.
'Diluc,' he says to his son, 'won't you come say hello to your little brother, Kaeya? He'll be staying with us at the winery from now on.' He turns back to Kaeya. 'If... you want to, of course.' He smiles.
Kaeya looks the man up and down, then he looks at Adelinde, who's still sitting crouched beside the door, and then at the young boy named Diluc, who is approaching the bed slowly, a curious glow in his warmly coloured eyes. Kaeya's never seen red eyes this gentle before.
He turns back to Crepus, and nods at him slowly.
The man beams at him, and Kaeya can feel his own lips curling into a smile.
'H-hello, Kaeya,' says a child's voice from beside him.
Kaeya pushes himself upright in the bed and turns to face the boy.
'Hello, Diluc.' He smiles.
'C'mon, Kaeya! What's taking so long?' Diluc giggles.
'I dropped some!' Kaeya shouts back over the grapevine.
'Leave them, then! That's okay! Now, let's go!'
The two boys run up the stairs to the winery, holding the hems of their shirts out in front of them to carry all the grapes they've picked.
'Mister Elzer! We've got them!' Diluc shouts.
'Well then, lads, let's see what you've gathered this year.' Elzer smiles as the boys dump their grapes on the table in front of him. 'Ah, I see! You've got the best of the bunch, well done! You may both make fine winemakers one day!' He ruffles Kaeya's hair.
'I'm not going to be a winemaker, mister Elzer,' Diluc says, 'when I grow up, I'm going to be a knight!' He poses triumphantly, arm stretched out as if holding a sword.
'Yeah, me too!' Kaeya says, posing beside his brother.
They make eye contact. Diluc beams at him. His smile is infectious, Kaeya can't help but return it.
'Oh, look at you, boys! All muddied up!' Adelinde appears in the doorway of the winery.
'Knights get dirty in the field, miss Adelinde,' Diluc laughs.
'Knights also keep their quarters tidy,' Adelinde says, 'how do you expect me to clean your rooms when I can't even see the floor?'
'But, miss Adelinde—'
'It's alright, young master Diluc,' Elzer says, 'I'll get everything set up while you boys tidy your rooms, and then you can come back out. I promise I won't steal a drop.'
Diluc turns to face Kaeya, and shrugs at him dramatically. Kaeya smiles at his brother and shrugs back.
'Well, you've heard miss Adelinde, boys! In you go!'
With wide eyes, the boys watch as Elzer pours the fresh juice into two glasses. Rich purple sloshes out of the bottle, and their mouths water at the sight.
'And there you have it,' Elzer closes the bottle with a flourish, 'your very own homemade grape juice. Enjoy, gentlemen—be sure not to spill any!'
'Thank you, mister Elzer!' Diluc eagerly grabs a glass off the table.
'Thank you.' Kaeya smiles, following his brother's example.
'Come, Kaeya! Let's drink it over there!'
Kaeya follows Diluc around the winery. On the south side of the building, Diluc sets his glass down on the low stone wall. He hops, and then pushes himself up, swinging his legs over the wall. He turns back to Kaeya, and pats the space next to him.
'Come, sit.' He grins.
Kaeya's eyes move from Diluc to the wall, to the glass in his hand.
'Here,' Diluc reaches out his hand, 'I'll hold your glass for you.'
Kaeya climbs the wall, a little more slowly than Diluc, admittedly, but it's not as hard as he feared it would be.
Diluc hands him back his glass with a smile on his face.
The afternoon sunlight tingles on Kaeya's cheeks. He closes his eyes as the warmth wraps around his body like a blanket. Summers in Mondstadt turned out to be so much more pleasant than he'd been told. All he'd heard of was the storms, nobody back home bothered to mention the sun. Sure, the air wasn't as warm as in Sumeru or Liyue, but the sunlight made the summer breezes gentle.
Home. Where even is that these days? These past few months, Kaeya hadn't been so sure anymore. The Ragnvindr family, much like the wider population of Mondstadt, had received him with open arms and shown him nothing but warmth and kindness. He'd started feeling more than a little reluctant to turn on them.
Khaenri'ah's been waiting for a good five hundred years, what's a few more? He'd really rather not think about these kinds of things right now, he'll wait until he's a little older.
He opens his eyes to look at his brother beside him. The pyro Vision he wears as a pendant around his neck glitters in the sunlight, and even Diluc himself seems to emit a warm glow.
Diluc takes a swig of grape juice and sighs a dramatic 'ahhh.'
Kaeya looks down at the glass in his hand. He sets the glass to his lips and takes a sip.
Diluc giggles as Kaeya's face contorts.
'Don't like it?'
Kaeya shakes his head.
'Well, then.' Diluc holds out his hand. 'Give it here, I'll finish it for you.'
'A toast.' Crepus Ragnvindr rises from his chair, his glass aloft. 'A toast to both my sons, young masters Diluc and Kaeya, now both Knights of Favonius! You've worked hard, you've trained hard, and you've made your father proud.'
Cheering erupts from the table. Wine glasses clink together.
Kaeya laughs at Diluc. Diluc laughs back. They're still too young for wine.
Their father sits back down and sets his glass aside. He reaches out for his sons' hands, taking Kaeya's in his left, and Diluc's in his right. He squeezes them tightly.
'Youngest captain in history, and his second-in-command.' He grins from ear to ear. 'I am so unbelievably proud.'
'Argh!' His elbows dig into the grass. His sword lands behind him. 'You win again, Captain.' He grins.
'You made me work for it.' Diluc grins back.
His brother stands over him, casting a shadow over Kaeya in the afternoon sun.
'Come.' He tosses his blade aside and reaches out his hand. Kaeya takes it, and Diluc pulls him up.
He's grown recently. He's taller than Diluc now. He's always looked up to his brother, but now it's Diluc who has to look up to him.
'You're getting faster,' Diluc says, placing a hand on his shoulder, 'just a little more and I won't be able to keep up with you.'
'Oh, you'll find a way,' Kaeya laughs.
'There! I see smoke!'
All knights turn and run, Kaeya in the lead.
His heart is pounding, his muscles ache. His stomach drops when he reaches the clearing.
There, by the wheel of the carriage he was assigned to guard, is Diluc, crumpled on the ground, sobbing over their father's body.
Nobody says a word.
They're too late.
Kaeya wants to run, to kneel beside his brother and cry with him. He wants to move, to speak, to do something.
But his feet are stuck on the ground. His mouth feels like it's been sewn shut.
Without Crepus Ragnvindr, Diluc is an orphan. Kaeya is not. He still has a father, somewhere out there.
A sinking feeling. Without his permission, Kaeya's mouth curls itself into a smile.
His brother stands before him on the steps leading to their home, eyes streaming with tears, Vision burning.
'You! You—' he struggles, 'you traitor! You liar! We should've never let you into our home!'
Kaeya tries to fight against his own tears, but it's pointless. Maybe Diluc is right.
'Kill me then, if you hate me so much!' His grip on his sword tightens. 'Raise your sword, and kill me!'
Without taking the time to consider, Diluc takes his greatsword into his hands. Kaeya can only watch as the flames engulf the blade.
Diluc raises his sword over his head.
This is it. He can feel himself thinking. End it here.
A roar of pure rage escapes Diluc's throat as the sword comes down.
It was an honour to serve beside you, brother. But it's better this way.
Unfathomable pain erupts from his skull as the blade connects, just above his eye.
The plan had been to simply take it, die by his brother's hand and let that be the end of it. But his body reacts before he can compose himself.
He leans back, swinging his sword on instinct. The blades connect.
Tears turn into snowflakes, turn into ice.
The next moment, he's lying on the ground. His clothes are soaked from the rain. His right hand is covering his face, pressing down on the cut over his eye. He looks down at his left hand. A glowing, ice-blue crystal rests in his palm.
He looks up at Diluc, who's still standing atop the stairs. His sword is no longer burning. There are no more tears on his face.
The man who once called him brother turns away, and walks back into the manor.
'Housekeeping!'
A knock on the door. Kaeya bolts upright.
'Sir Kaeya? Are you awake? Should I come back later?'
He rubs his eyes. The light on his bedside table is still on. The gold on his eyepatch, carefully laid out, glints at him.
'Just a few minutes, Noelle.'