Work Text:
Diluc was at loss on how two capable fighters like them had been captured in such a stupid way. Perhaps they'd been too confident, or perhaps too cocky. Then again, both possibilities were merely the two sides of the same coin. At the end of the day, it had apparently been a mistake to trust each other's abilities because it ended up leaving them a blind spot.
Before he knew it, Kaeya had been knocked out by a strong hit to his head, on his blind side, the one Diluc should've been looking out for, and he soon followed the same fate in the second his distraction lasted.
An amateur's mistake, really.
Diluc was forced out of his pacific slumber because of the repeated clinging sound of chains moving. "What are you doing?" He asked without opening his eyes. When he did, however, he found Kaeya well awake and trying to break the metal keeping the chains, that were holding his hands, above his head. "You'll get us buried."
It wasn't that far-fetched, to be honest. After all, they were being kept in some sort of a cave, while their captors stayed outside in a Fatui camp. It was kind of ironic that they had stumbled into their camp by accident– well, at least on Diluc's part, since Kaeya hadn't been all that surprised. Perhaps he'd even planned on taking Diluc with him to take them down.
"I'm sorry, brother dear," Kaeya once again took him back to reality, and Diluc only spared a glance his way. Truth was, it hurt to look at him when there was blood coming out from the cut that'd knocked him out cold covering his bad eye, right where the eyepatch would usually be, and raw fear in his good eye.
"You were visionless for years," Kaeya scoffed, as if hiding the fear away from his words would make it vanish completely. "I've never been without my vision, so excuse me if I'm feeling a bit restless over here." Because of course they'd taken their visions– in any other case, they wouldn't have spent so much time captive and would already be back at Mond.
"That's exactly why you should calm down," Diluc let out a tired sigh, "it'll only get worse if you freak out." Unfortunately, the lack of blood loss and probably of a concussion to some degree, plus what Kaeya had just mentioned, weren't the only advantages Diluc had. This also wasn't the first time he'd been captured. The first few times, of course, he'd been just like Kaeya, uneasy and scared.
But then, he'd learnt to keep his heart cold and his mind steady: the only way to get back to safety. However, as far as he knew, Kaeya hadn't had the same previous preparation.
"I think there's a way out of this."
There it comes, the first stage: denial.
"Kaeya."
"Hear me out," Kaeya tried to reason with him, but Diluc was having none of it. He didn't want to sound mean and hurt his brother's feelings, specially in such a delicate and, most of all, vulnerable moment, but he had to put a stop to whatever crazy plan his brother, in his desperation, was trying to come up with:
"You're not listening–"
"No, you're not listening–"
"Archons!"
Both brothers abruptly stopped talking, with their heads snapped up at the source of the shout. A big man and another smaller one joined them in the cave. "Will you two shut the fuck up?" The bigger one said.
"I think they're in dire need of a lesson, don't you think?" The slanky man next to Boulder said with a dark look. A shiver ran through Diluc's spine when he noticed them eyeing Kaeya.
"Wait!" Diluc shouted, but it was too late. The bigger man had already punched Kaeya on the stomach, making the latter bend forward with a choked out gasp. Diluc tried to get closer to them, tried to do something to stop them, but he was too far away to even reach them with his foot. "Hey! Stop it! Take me instead! Hit me, damn it!"
Tears prickled at his eyes and his heart burnt inside his ribcage, but Diluc still found himself utterly useless in their current situation. The only comfort he could think of was the thought of burning the whole camp down with all the bastards still inside, as soon as he was able to. That and, obviously, taking Kaeya back to safety.
Not even once, however, did Diluc look away. He'd run away last time Kaeya had needed him. He would endure the painful watch this time.
Of course, it was over as soon as it started. Just a few hits over Kaeya's side and a punch on the nose. There was no blades involved, at least. Or delusions. Archons knew Kaeya didn't need any more concerning injuries.
Just when Diluc was sure those people were gone, he whispered: "...Kaeya? Talk to me." He couldn't remember the last time he'd felt so deeply concerned for someone else. Diluc didn't particularly like the sentiment.
Kaeya's head hung low, letting mant strands of hair fall over his face– no doubt touching the cut above his eyebrow. His legs were barely keeping him up– his cuffed wrists were taking most of his weight.
"Hey, say something." Diluc tried again, in a pleading one.
No answer.
Diluc let out a defeated sigh. "Please."
"That boulder's breath stinks."
Against all odds, Diluc found himself laughing at his words. It was a sad noise, probably, having come out as choked exhales. "I'm glad you're okay," he then added with an earnest smile.
"They didn't hurt my pretty face too badly, did they?" Kaeya finally looked up at him.
"No, you're good," Diluc assured him with a nod. And it wasn't completely an empty reply: if you forgot about the blood now also dripping from Kaeya's nose and the blooming black eye, he was good as new.
"Ready to hear me out?" Kaeya asked him there a few moments later, with a hopeful grin– it was all Diluc needed to know he was either bluffing or was about to tell him the craziest thing in all Teyvat.
"Only if you're ready to hear me say it if your idea sounds stupid."
A beat of silence went by, where Kaeya looked at him in confusion, before everything apparently clicked into place. "If it does," Kaeya added, and Diluc rolled his eyes. "Okay..." A nervous chuckle escaped Kaeya, making Diluc frown. "Remember... my connection with the Abyss?"
After blowing out a deep breath and closing his eyes, preparing himself to hear whatever Kaeya had in mind, Diluc replied. "I do."
"Well..." Kaeya turned his head away, as if in shame. Diluc's heart ached at the sight. "I can... or I think I could... mimic my cryo with it. I'd only borrow a bit of power–"
"That's not stupid, it's reckless," Diluc cut in, sorrow replaced by a certain angry protectiveness taking over him. "You could easily die, Kaeya. No way we're doing that."
"It might be the only way, 'luc."
"Stop that," he immediately snapped at the nickname– he knew Kaeya could totally dig his way into his heart approval, and his childhood nickname was a very easy way in.
"I'm serious," Kaeya weakly argued, with a begging look in his eyes, "we have no idea what they have in store for us, and without our visions, I don't see any other way out."
"We'll find it. I'll make sure of it, I promise."
Lying to a desperate man? Diluc could surely take another sin to the long list.
Except Kaeya was stubborn– he wouldn't take no for an answer. Even less such a lame lie. He was many things and naïve wasn't one of them, unfortunately.
"I'm sorry," he whispered, looking at Diluc with regret, before eyeing his restraints again.
"I'm sorry, Diluc!"
"Liar!"
"Let me explain!"
Diluc's own eyes widened for a moment, as he threw himself forward, as if he'd magically become able to reach him. "Don't."
Diluc licked his dry and chopped lips, looking around them. There was nothing of use. The last sunrays were dying over the horizon and night was around the corner– the cold would hold no mercy against them. Diluc very well knew that.
"Wait, listen... do you even know how to use that?" Diluc tried to distract Kaeya, for a little longer, until he found another way to get them out of this mess. "The... Abyss?"
"I've seen it being used, Diluc," Kaeya's eye landed on him once again. "It's something I can reach for... and take power–"
"But you've never used it, have you?"
"No, but I can try," he glanced at the chains above his head, before cocking one eyebrow up at him, with a smile creeping across his lips. "Diluc, I know you're trying to buy time– that's the oldest, and cheapest may I add, trick in the book." He smiled at him, but there was a hint of sadness in it. It terrified Diluc to no end.
"It won't work," Kaeya's smile vanished. "Trust me, okay? Just this once."
"Don't get yourself killed," Diluc pleaded, "that's all I ask of you."
"I'll try," Kaeya smirked.
All of a sudden, the temperature in the enclosed space of the inside of the cave started dropping. But it wasn't a chill and fresh breeze like Kaeya's cryo often felt. No, this felt wrong, like the harsh storms Diluc had experienced back then in Snezhnaya. His eyes never left Kaeya.
In a second, the chains holding his wrists froze with a layer of ice before they snapped in hundreds of pieces. Kaeya's knees hit the ground the next second, before his hands followed the same fate. His breathing was slow and labored, and Diluc's heart dropped to his stomach.
"Kaeya," he whispered, eyeing the entrance of the cave. No signs of anyone close. Of course, it would be pointless to stay alert on that if his brother died on his watch. His gaze returned to Kaeya. "Come on, talk to me."
"I'm okay," Kaeya murmured. "Give me... a second..."
"Hurry," Diluc instructed instead. "If you pass out before you free me, I can't do anything for you," he tried to reason.
"Good... point," Kaeya managed, before getting into a kneeling position. He was paler than before, with his skin taking an ashy tone, but besides that he didn't seem in the verge of death. Diluc counted that as a huge win.
With a vague motion with his hand and a few moments of full concentration, Kaeya managed to give Diluc's chains the same treatment as his own.
Luckily, Diluc caught himself before he could hit the ground, massaging his aching wrists. They were bruised and there were small cuts over them– nothing a bit of healing wouldn't fix, though. "Are you good to... go? Kaeya?"
His brother fell to the ground with sick thud, and Diluc had to actually bite his tongue to stop himself from shouting his name. Instead, he dropped to his knees and held Kaeya up by the shoulders.
There was more blood coming out of his nose– had he hit it? Or was his brain suffering because of the Abyss? Diluc felt hopeless and utterly useless. He had no knowledge on the topic and his brother might be dying and–
"Hey-!"
That he could work with, an enemy on sight. With a swift move, Diluc grabbed the hidden blade he always kept in his boot and threw it towards the thug's neck, hitting right in the target. The man instantly clutched his neck and looked at Diluc with wide eyes before he collapsed on the ground, with blood quickly pooling beneath him and desperate wheezes of air escaping him.
Serves you right, Diluc thought when the man stopped struggling and fell limp.
Now without any enemies rushing in, Diluc turned towards Kaeya again. His hand flew to his neck, and he soon found a strong pulse. Okay, he's okay, calm down, Diluc let himself just breathe for a moment, trying to steady his racing heart.
First, he needed to get rid of the Fatui camp outside– perhaps they could stay the night then. It was totally unviable to travel at night, even more so when they were so close to Dragonspine, since its cold breezes would certainly reach them for more than a bit.
"'luc," Kaeya called for him, still sitting on his lap and with his head resting on his arm. Diluc allowed himself to smile at him.
"You're an idiot."
Slowly, Kaeya returned the smile. "I know."
"Can you walk?" Diluc asked him, before cutting himself in. "Of course you can't, much less fight," he looked around. Still no enemies around.
Kaeya made a sound of protest, akin to a scoff. Diluc raised an eyebrow at him. "Damn, thanks," Kaeya looked away with an annoyed glance.
It took Diluc a second to get what was supposedly going through his brother's mind– when it did, he couldn't help but roll his eyes. "I know you can fight, Kaeya. I meant at this exact moment."
Kaeya's eye softened as he turned back to him. "Oh."
With a sigh, Diluc changed the topic. "Does anything hurt?"
"...I don't think so... 'm just tired," Kaeya murmured, growing limp on his arms.
"That's good," Diluc nodded, before moving Kaeya to prop him against the wall. "I'm getting you to a healer as soon as we get out of here, though."
"You haven't gotten our visions back," Kaeya suddenly commented, as if he were just now realizing.
"Not yet," Diluc bit back a groan of frustration. Everything would be going way smoother if his brother was fully awake and capable– but then again, as much as it hurt Diluc's pride, he'd been the one to save them with that weird abyssal magic.
"Hm."
"Kaeya," he called for him when his head started dropping forward.
"Hm?" He opened his eye to throw him a puzzled look.
"Stay alert, in case someone attacks you... you shout at me if that happens, alright?" Diluc was speaking while he stood up and went to retrieve his blade from the thug's neck. He cleaned the blood on the dead man's pants and went back to Kaeya's side. "Here, take my knife in case I'm busy when you call."
"Alright," Kaeya gave him a court nod, staring at the blade. It wasn't a picture of reassurance, but it wasn't like Diluc had time to stay around.
When he passed by the Fatui agent's body, Diluc stopped and felt him for a weapon: he found a delusion and two knives. Who would've thought the agent would turn out to be useful for something. With his newly-adquired weapons now on his belt, Diluc moved to leave. "See you in a minute," he told Kaeya, and didn't wait for an answer.
As soon as Diluc left the cave, he hid behind one of the three tents set around the fire. There were two more men sitting over the fire and chatting about something in Snezhnayan. From what Diluc could gather, they were speaking about going on holiday very soon.
I don't think so, Diluc thought, with fire taking over his heart. He still had to find their visions, but they were probably locked in some kind of vision-inhibitor box– yes, those existed, he'd seen them in many prisons of Snezhnaya. He could play hide and seek with their visions once he'd taken care of the enemies, he decided.
In a swift move, Diluc threw himself against one of the two soldiers, grabbing him by the neck with his arm around it and holding a knife to this throat. The other one was now staring at him wide-eyed, holding a knife with one hand and curling his other one to a fist.
"Where are our visions?" The question escaped Diluc– change of plans, then. First he could get the information and then he'd get rid of them.
Before the free soldier could talk, Diluc felt pain suddenly bloom over one side of his face– it took him a moment to realize he'd been headbutted, as he laid on the ground.
"Stupid little shit," the man he'd grabbed by the neck turned around, delusion in hand. It didn't take long for Diluc to feel cold chains wrapping themselves around his legs and arms, taking him down to his knees and restraining him. "We were planning on bringing you and your little brother to the Tsaritsa," he admitted with a dark look, "but who said we had to bring you with all the limbs?"
Diluc tried with all his might to fight the chains away, but he found himself unable. His breathing became unsteady with raw fear– not only for himself but for Kaeya, who was hurt and probably unconscious back at the cave, and would be probably tortured just like he would.
All of a sudden, something heavy fell to the ground behind the soldier restraining him, making him flinch and quickly turn around. "What the...?" He trailed off, before he yelped. "Lev!"
Diluc felt the chains growing weaker– without the delusion's user fully concentrated, the elemental attack naturally vanished. Unlike the visions, with their divine power, the delusions weren't as strong and resisting over time. As soon as they gave away, Diluc got on his feet and ran towards his previous attacker, stabbing him on the back multiple times.
Just when the man fell to the ground to a pool of his own blood, Diluc found the sight that had distracted him: the frozen body of his colleague–
Frozen...?
Kaeya!
Diluc snapped his head up and looked around himself. It didn't take long for Diluc to find the figure leaning back against the entrance of the cave. "Did you like the show?" Kaeya had a sly smirk on his lips, but by the way his legs were subtly shaking, he would falling face-first soon enough.
"Sit down," Diluc instructed, pointing at him with his index finger, "I'll get our visions and then we can rest the night."
"We're staying in the wolf's mouth?" Kaeya frowned at him, crossing his arms over his chest. He was shivering, Diluc also noticed.
"The wolf's dead," he shrugged, "so yeah."
"Cool," Kaeya hummed, "I'll sit– woah," just then, he fell to his knees.
"Kaeya-!"
"I'm fine, I'm fine, 'luc, go and get our things back," Kaeya took a more comfortable sitting position against the side of the wall. "I'll still be here when you're done," he assured him.
Still uneasy, Diluc complied and got inside one of the three tents. There was a sleeping bag and two bags. No luck with the bags, there was only food and water; it would come in handy later though, so Diluc wasn't complaining.
He had the same luck with the second tent. Only food, water and another sleeping bag.
After all, third time's the charm. In the last tent, Diluc found the same things plus a tiny chest. He made quick work of getting it open– it hadn't even been locked. It was magic-embedded to prevent the visions from working or responding to their owners when they were inside the wooden box, but besides that it was actually pretty simple to get them out. Just get rid of the lock with some blunt force and open the lid.
Inside, there were three visions. Diluc could only wonder whose the geo vision was. He didn't waste much time pondering; he grabbed the cryo and the pyro visions and left the tent.
Kaeya surprised him when he got out of the tent: the man was already sitting by the fire. "I can already feel it healing the worst," he said with a chuckle, extending a hand towards him.
"That's good," Diluc commented, handing him his vision. "Are you hungry? We should probably eat something before we go to sleep."
"Hm," Kaeya stared blankly at the fire for a few seconds, and Diluc almost thought he wouldn't add anything else until he did: "you're probably right."
So Diluc got to work. First, he got all the food bags out to see everything he would be working with. Then, he found some meat, various vegetables and a pot.
"Can you chop some vegetables?"
"Sure," Kaeya shrugged one shoulder, and just now was Diluc thinking of getting him a rag and some fresh water to clean the blood off his face. And probably get him a healing potion, if he was able to find one.
"Is there some kind of table or something to support all this?" Kaeya spoke again, pulling Diluc out of his thoughts.
Diluc laid back down the food bag and went inside one of the tents again. He found some kind of coffee table next to the sleeping bag and took it outside. "Here you go," he left it next to Kaeya and in front of the fire.
Then, he went back inside and checked inside the sleeping bag– jackpot. There was a couple of changes of clothes that seemed to fit Kaeya, and two shinning vials. He took everything back outside, left the clothes on the wooden log Kaeya was sitting on, next to him, and threw some water on one of the shirts he didn't hand Kaeya.
"In case you want to get off your dirty clothes and," he handed him the makeshift rag, "in case you want to clean the blood off your face."
Kaeya's face lit up at him, leaving the chopping table aside for a moment. "Thanks," he gave him an earnest smile, before he grabbed the rag. Giving him some privacy, Diluc turned away and went to inspect the supposed healing potions.
There were no tags on any of the two vials, and even if there were, they could easily be false and the contents could very well be deadly poison. I guess Kaeya will have to endure the pain for a little longer, Diluc thought to himself with a grimace.
"You can turn now," Kaeya announced with a chuckle. His face was clear of blood and dirt, and Kaeya had hid his scarred eye behind a few strands of hair– it hurt Diluc that he thought he had to hide it from him, but he understood it and was in no mood of starting an argumen, nor did Kaeya seem to be.
Diluc poured some water into the pot and held the bottom on his naked palm. With his pyro reincorporated to his belt, he didn't even need the fire to heat the food. "Are the vegetables ready?"
All of a sudden, he felt the pot shake and watched the vegetables falling inside, making the some of the water spill. "You could say they are," Kaeya replied, now standing next to him.
"You could've just said so," Diluc said with an amused huff.
Before long, each of the two brothers had a bowl of soup on their hands as they enjoyed a comfortable silence.
"You're not a half bad at cooking," Kaeya commented after a while, leaving his bowl on the ground.
"Of course I'm not," Diluc replied without missing a beat, but there was no bite in his words. "I had to cook for myself for literal years, you know."
"Right... sorry," Kaeya cleared his throat looking away. There Diluc went again, ruining yet another interaction– shame invaded his gut.
"That's alright," he tried to save their weak attempt at conversation, "do you know any good recipes? I've got yet to have dinner at your place."
"That's true," Kaeya's smile returned to his face, "we should probably schedule a meal together," he drank some water from one of the canteens they'd found. "With Adelinde too," he added shortly after.
"I think it'd be easier for that to happen at the Winery."
"We can do both," Kaeya nodded, with his eye shinning with hope, "first at my place and then at yours... like when we would switch rooms to have sleepovers, remember?"
"I do," Diluc hummed, nostalgia attacking all his defenses, "dad would always get pissed at us in the morning."
"Poor old man," Kaeya let out a content sigh, "he must've had gray hairs because of us at such a young age."
"Certainly," Diluc nodded, before sighing too. "Kaeya... I've missed this," he confessed, looking at the fire, mentally preparing for rejection.
Except the rejection never arrived.
"Me too," Kaeya let out a wet laugh, "it feels like it's been a decade since we've last shared a civil conversation."
"I'd like to change that," Diluc said, feeling hot tears welling up in his eyes– if anyone had asked him, he would have said it'd been something wrong with his eyes.
"We can make it work," Kaeya smiled at him like a child. "Archons, if we survived this, we can handle each other."
Against his better judgement, Diluc found himself laughing at the absurdity of their situation. They'd been kidnapped only a few hours ago and now they were reconciliating after literal years of silent treatment. "You believe so?"
"I'm sure of it, 'luc," Kaeya assured him.
Perhaps trusting each other wasn't that bad. They'd certainly had far worse.