Chapter Text
Perhaps breaking into Angel’s Share at an unholy hour with a certain green bard wasn’t the best idea especially knowing that Diluc was the one bartending last night. But at the same time, how could he not? The opportunity was right there and he’d be a fool to miss it—it’s not like he’s never done it before. Obviously, the outcome had been the same as it’d always been.. for the most part.
It would always go like this: Diluc came in, caught them in the act, forced them to put back what they stole (except for the bard who, this time, managed to flee with a bottle of wine), and have a heated discussion with Kaeya.
However, it must’ve been a bad day for Diluc and what was supposed to be the usual “heated discussion” turned into an argument. And by argument, it was just a bunch of insults thrown back and forth that grew nastier at a concerning rate of time. At one point, Kaeya had been so done with it that he cut Diluc off mid-insult by angrily snagging a bottle of wine right in front of him and storming out the tavern door.
That night he’d taken that exact bottle back to his apartment and chugged it. He drank and drank until he paused for a moment, wine halfway gone. He wiped the excess drops of wine that dribbled down his chin with his gloved hand and looked at the bottle.
It’s not even a fucking vintage.
In his fit of petty rage, he brought the wine bottle to his lips again and downed the rest of it all.
Kaeya was human, he got drunk like any other Mondstadtian would, and that’s why by the time he finished the last drop, he could feel how the room started to spin and how his balance swayed.
“That was.. fast-“ He muttered to no one in particular, truly impressed at the rate of his intoxication despite the fact he was quite literally wobbling around with shaky legs, attempting to avoid face-planting into the ground. It wasn’t long until he lost his balance, tripping over a small box that rattled as his foot hit its side. The last thing he remembered before his head hit the side of a table was the sound of something shattering.
With those memories intact, Kaeya found himself confused as he groggily woke up in the middle of a field. He groaned as he got up, his limbs ached terribly and his sides felt like they’d been cut by a Mitachurl’s axe and sewed up together again. His hand found its way to rub the sleep away from his eye as his other hand supported him on the smooth stone surface.
Wait.
Stone surface?
Kaeya suddenly whirled around, wincing a bit at a cramp in his neck, to see a Statue of the Seven. He looked a little past the statue to see a familiar elevated view. His eye(s) widened.
This was the statue near Dawn Winery.
Kaeya suddenly sat up straighter, crawling away from the Statue of the Seven and away from the Winery. His hand brushed against a Wind Aster flower and he went to look at it. The flower and the surrounding grass blew west with the wind. It was beautiful.
However the afternoon winds in Mondstadt don’t blow west, they blow east.
He felt his stomach twist.
“Kaeya! Kaeya? Kaeya, where are you?!”
The voice sounded urgent, desperate even, but what had Kaeya nearly sweating from nervousness was the fact that it sounded familiar. Too familiar.
Kaeya had no time to react when a certain redhead had already climbed up the small cliff from behind him. He snapped his head around and made eye contact with the man. Taking one look at him, Kaeya widened his eyes and nearly fell off the support of his arms. He’d recognize that curly mess of red hair anywhere, that fur-leather jacket he wore, that fierce glowing pyro vision that hung at his belt- he recognized it all. What he didn’t recognize were the tear stains on the man’s face and the look of utter despair, relief and concern written deep within his eyes.
“Brother!” The man rushed towards him, a smile was on his face.
A smile.
On his face.
A smile.
He called me brother with a smile on his face.
Kaeya scrambled back- he couldn’t help it- it felt like he was hallucinating. As much as he appreciated the lack of a hangover considering how much he drank the previous night (or at least what he thought was the previous night), having this sick illusion in front of him at the moment had him wishing he’d just be throwing up in his toilet. He almost regretted going backwards, almost, as the man slowly stopped just a few feet in front of Kaeya, smile faded and replaced with a frown.
“Kaeya..” the redhead began but trailed off once he saw, what Kaeya assumed to be, his attire. He furrowed his eyebrows as he looked at Kaeya’s eyes again. “Kaeya.. are you okay?”
Kaeya really, truly could not help it. He eye(s) were as wide as saucers now, his mouth partially open.
He just asked if I was okay.
Diluc asked if I was okay.
Diluc Ragnvindr just asked if I, Kaeya Archons-Help-Me-Alberich, was okay.
“No..” Kaeya began and ‘Diluc’ slowly took a step forward before stopping once more.
“No..?”
“Nononononono, absolutely not, absolutely not. This cannot be real.” Kaeya broke eye contact with the man and stared at the grass in front of him, lifting his arms off the ground and began lightly tapping his face with his palms. “You’re dreaming, Alberich. Get up. Wake up.”
“Alberich..?” ‘Diluc’ quietly asked, loud enough to be heard but Kaeya ignored it.
Kaeya began circling his temples with his forefingers, now closing his eyes. “You’re in Mondstadt..”
“Yes, you are..” ‘Diluc’ said, now crouching in front of Kaeya.
Kaeya dearly wanted to scoot back a bit, but he decided that doing so might mess up his meditation and/or his manifestation. He continued, “You’re not near Dawn Winery..”
“But you are..?”
“You’re at your apartment..”
“Wait, since when did you-“
“You got blackout drunk..”
“You did wh-“
“You just fought with Master Diluc..”
“‘Master’? Kaeya, what are you on-“
“You’re not his brother anymore.”
It went silent. Kaeya kept his eyes shut, a bitter taste in his mouth. For a long moment, Kaeya held his breath but he still heard no sounds other than the wind. No footsteps, no Diluc. He left his window open before he drank last night, right? Right? The wind he’s feeling and hearing right now is just the wind coming from the window he forgot to close. Right??
After what felt like a good enough moment of silence, Kaeya dropped his hands, let his body relax and exhaled. He felt himself smile before borderline-maniacally giggling. “Ah, ahahaha.. What a funny drea-“
Kaeya’s eye(s) shot open when he felt arms wrap around him. He was met with red hair and that same fur-leather jacket.
His brain malfunctioned as he felt a comfortable warmth from his embrace. “D..” He began but couldn’t finish.
Diluc is hugging me.
Diluc is hugging me.
Diluc is hugging me.
Oh my Archons, Diluc Ragnvindr is hugging me.
Kaeya Alberich, Calvary Captain of the Knights of Favonius with no calvary, really, truly, truly honestly, could not help it this time.
Kaeya Alberich screamed.