Note: the original format had a lot of spaces. Since fanfiction doesn't save them, (period)s were used to fill in the space.
EDIT (April 21, 2021) - I changed up a section in the story, because I needed a better plot to ruin Diluc's life.
Kaeya woke up late.
He really didn't mean to.
The expedition he was sent on lasted for a whole week.
It was mildly frustrating that he made it back to the Manor in the dead of the night.
His family had turned in for the night.
Diluc had many responsibilities during the day, and Kaeya was glad that his brother was asleep.
The door to his room was only just across from him.
He could always see him when they would come home today.
After all, Kaeya was more than ready to celebrate his dearest brother's birthday at midnight.
He was usually a light sleeper— all the early days of his childhood had instilled it into his bones.
He wore himself out just to be home on time.
He rushed to get home, pushed his limits.
For Diluc.
Just this once.
Just that morning, he slept in.
He never heard Diluc walk past his door.
Never saw the Calvary Captain off like he did every dawn.
It was the one morning he regretted ever letting his exhaustion win.
._._._._._.
Diluc had no idea where he was.
Darkness flooded his sight all around, and he could barely make any heads or tails.
The only thing he could do was breathe.
Yet, despite the silence, he knew he couldn't stay. The air made him uneasy, wary.
This was no place to rest.
He pulled his arms toward himself, lifting his dead weight off the ground.
His side ached, maybe even screamed at him.
He accidentally kicked a blade of steel in his actions.
The claymore had no sheath, oddly enough.
His mind felt scrambled. It was hard to remember what the hell just happened to him.
Images of his room in the early morning flashed through his mind.
He clearly remembered how the sunlight had filtered through his window.
How the wind had rustled through the curtains when he dressed.
How his Vision basked in the morning light, burning brightly.
Diluc froze.
His body immediately reached for his Vision, hissing at the flare of pain.
The warmth of his Vision surged at his touch.
Diluc dropped his head back with relief.
It was still there.
Hooked inside of his inner pocket.
He paused.
He never hid it before.
Yet, there was no time to wonder—
No time to remember who he is, or was—
The air seemed to shudder with a weight so imposing.
Diluc's body reacted before his mind did.
He threw himself to the side with a rough somersault.
A screech of a metal axe echoed as it ripped the ground.
His side flared in agony, and his stomach rolled.
But his Vision screamed for him to move.
A wretched growl twisted with a terrible squeal.
Rattled through his bones and reverberated in his heart.
Diluc looked up.
He could've sworn that it was a Mitachurl.
But it was all wrong—
As if it had taken too much of something that it twisted into the terror before him.
The axe ripped out of the starlit ground.
The Mitachurl took one groundbreaking step closer.
Diluc's Vision flickered in the darkness.
Begging him to get up.
Through the fear that crawled up his throat, he scrambled to his feet with the claymore in hand.
His balance wobbled, horribly skewed with the pain that stabbed him and the weight of the blade.
He could barely move— barely understand—
As the Mitachurl came closer and closer, hefting the axe higher and higher—
Diluc desperately gripped his Vision, glancing up at the night sky.
Briefly, he wondered if his Archon could see him.
A fire seeped out of his Vision.
And a phoenix burned through the air.
Engulfing the danger with a halting flame.
Just enough to make an escape.
With his chest heaving.
His legs aching.
Mind racing.
Diluc ran.
._._._._._.
He was terrified.
He knew that wherever he was did not welcome him.
The Vision under his tattered uniform did not belong in here.
It was a beacon for trouble in the land shrouded in endless night.
He had lost count of how many times he had stumbled upon enemies.
Mitachurls, hilichurls, samachurls, Abyss mages— even slimes of all elements were on his tail.
His own flames danced and his claymore sang almost endlessly.
All of his training had saved him by the skin of his teeth.
But he could only last for so long without rest.
His only saving grace was the abandoned camp he stumbled upon.
It was mostly hidden.
He wouldn't have found it if he didn't trip over his feet and fall down a weird outcrop.
Diluc finally stopped to breathe.
To rest his weary body and close his eyes.
He had camped before, during the blissful childhood days.
On the surrounding cliffs to gaze up at the starry night of Mondstadt.
Kaeya was always there at his side.
Pointing at the stars with him with awe and wonder.
Whispering the names of the constellations they just studied hours before.
Diluc's heart ached as he thought of home.
Opening his eyes, he gazed at the stars above him.
He pretended that Kaeya was there at his side.
Pointing at the stars, whispering their names.
Diluc pointed at the stars with his eyes.
And found not a name to place.
._._._._._.
The memories came slowly.
He finally remembered the last time he was home.
Kaeya wasn't there to say goodbye when he left the manor that morning.
He was given a simple mission.
One that would only last for an entire day.
From Mondstadt to Starsnatch Cliff, and back again.
It was just a simple task of reconnaissance.
He was accompanied with only one other.
The name of the knight escaped him.
It was their very first day on duty.
Diluc had nearly four years.
An odd pair to be sent.
Any unease that Diluc had should've been his sign.
Something went wrong.
Of course, it went downhill.
Framed to be a complete and utter accident.
Diluc's memory of what happened was still a mess.
The roar of the Ursa rang endlessly.
The monster that terrorized Mondstadt for so long hunted them down.
Nearly ripping a hole into him.
He could've sworn he saw a strange metal bird flying around.
He had to cover for the big mistakes the rookie caused.
He was just a Calvary Captain, not a one man army.
And Diluc's heart was too kind, too trusting.
Someone had come to his aid.
The nameless knight in his memory.
Only to find a blade ripping through his side.
He remembered vividly of falling.
Of how the air rushed passed him.
Of how the red bled from his skin to the gales.
And the rocks below becoming bigger and bigger.
He remembered falling.
But he never remembered hitting the ground.
._._._._._.
The night seemed so endless.
So deep that it swallowed everything like a hungry beast.
Diluc wondered once or twice if it would swallow him whole, too.
._._._._._.
He wandered for days, maybe months.
Diluc lost track of time since he had awakened in this place.
The endless night kept expanding before him.
He had tried to look for a way back home.
Any sign that he could take to get out of this place.
But he found none.
So he did nothing but wander.
His already perfect skills had honed into something dangerous.
Deadly and lethal.
His father might be proud of his growth.
Crepus might even give that smile that always tugged at Diluc's heart.
A smile that Diluc had learned was full of melancholy.
He picked up a bow when his claymore wore out from the overuse.
His aim sucked.
Kaeya would've laughed and tease him endlessly if he was here.
The brothers would've made it a friendly competition between each other.
But time grew longer and he got the basics.
It was enough to survive.
._._._._._.
Not once did Diluc wonder why he never thirst of hungered for anything.
No— he just never dared to dwell on it.
It was so strange how he felt as if time refused to move for him.
The only thing he dared to trust in was the fire that burned within his Vision.
And the hope to return home.
He missed his father.
He missed his brother.
He missed the manor, the winery.
He so dearly missed home.
And Diluc couldn't let his family—
Couldn't let his father break again.
Couldn't let Kaeya to ever feel that pain once more.
Of being left behind.
If Diluc cried, only the dead of night was his witness.
._._._._._.
The injury had healed.
It scarred over and marred his skin.
It added to the minor scars from his blissful childhood.
Diluc never thought of it as a victory scar.
It reminded him of his failure.
His heart trusted too much.
He wanted to believe that it was just an accident.
That ending up in a place like this was just an accident.
Unintended.
Maybe it was.
Maybe someone wanted him dead.
Maybe the fall was supposed to end him.
But here, in this endless night, he could meet his end.
More scars added to his skin.
Some too deep that he thought he'd die from it.
But to his own shock— he always woke up.
Alive and breathing.
Still struggling to cling on to hope.
._._._._._.
Diluc cursed an ugly word.
His father would've been very cross if he heard it.
Kaeya would've laughed it off.
But Diluc had a very good reason.
In all the time that he had been here—
In this endless, endless darkness—
He messed up.
Badly.
Sure, he knew that he should've laid low as he passed by another group of Abyss Mages.
But he really should've paid more attention to his surroundings more.
Now, he had an axe that ate at the distance he placed for himself.
Shards of Cryo and bubbles of Hydro snapped at his heels.
Pyro singed his clothes every misstep he took.
And Diluc knew not where to run.
He needed shelter.
But there was none.
He had fought many Abyss Mages before.
But this many at once?
Not ever.
And a lawachurl with its small tribe added?
Diluc needed a miracle to survive.
A miracle that came in dark trees.
Where the grassy ground gave way to crisp snow.
In the cover of trees, Diluc spun on his heel.
He nearly choked at the literal army that chased him down.
This endless night had hated him with a passion.
Diluc found it almost hilarious how it finally decided to end him now.
But he was a Child of Mondstadt.
A Child of Freedom that sang with its sweetness.
A Child of Freedom that bore the most passionate fires.
But he wouldn't dare to give up now.
He survived this long.
And he would defy his fate the endless night wanted.
With one last act, stirring deep in his weary bones and roaring blood—
A phoenix erupted so beautifully in the air, tearing down the trees and burning everything in its way.
Diluc didn't realize where he stood.
He was thrown off his feet from the pure force of his own flames.
The air rushing past him felt uncomfortably familiar.
The blood bleeding into the gales was ever painful.
He only saw the end of his attack flooding the night in a light as bright as day.
Diluc's feet never touched the ground.
Instead, he could only watch as his fire disappeared.
Over the edge of a cliff he once stood.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
And plummeted.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
._._._._._.
When he opened his eyes, he stared up at night sky.
It was full of smoke, and white flakes fluttering down.
His back was so damn cold.
Yet fire danced at the edge of his sight.
His own Vision laid by him, gleaming in the night.
His dull claymore sprawled beside him, gone of its might.
Diluc Ragnvindr never saw the day of his eighteenth birthday.
Diluc greeted his eighteenth in the dead of the night.
Surrounded by snow, and drowning in flames.
._._._._._.
He didn't know how long he laid there.
He watched the night bled into dawn.
Someone yelled.
Crying for help, probably.
Diluc could only glance to the side.
Watching as his flames were doused with Hydro.
He willed his body to move.
To get up and properly introduce himself.
He was a noble's son after all.
But his body refused his demands.
He barely felt anything.
His sight blurred too much.
All the voices were slowly drifting.
Fading.
Was he fading?
He didn't know anymore.
When he closed his eyes, he felt someone pick him up.
Cradled him close that it felt so jarring.
When?
When was the last time someone held him this way?
He reached out without thinking, gripping whoever held him like a lifeline.
Diluc took a single breath, and croaked a single name as he fell into a painful darkness.
.
"Kaeya?"
._._._._._.
Ajax stared at the sleeping figure on the bed.
It was almost endearing to see how peacefully he slept.
The amount of fire that burned around him had almost seared Ajax's skin into severe burns.
As if to protect this person.
To very honest, Ajax thought that he found something dead burning in a bout of flames.
So, to say that he was amazed to find someone alive amidst the heat was an understatement.
He was in awe.
This person was older than him.
Maybe by just a year or a little more.
His skin was so pale, too easy to bruise.
The fiery red had matched this person so well.
The way the long, almost wild curls of red seemed to caress him kindly.
The Pyro Vision on the nightstand was almost too perfect for him.
Was it strange to consider the marred scars that littered his body to add to the beauty?
It spoke of the hundreds of battles this person had faced, conquered, lived.
Battles that Ajax was almost too eager to hear.
He sat at the young man's side, waiting impatiently for those eyes to open.
Were his eyes also a ruby red, full of a passion his Vision so dearly held?
The odd excitement that hummed in Ajax's blood made him restless.
This person he found was a fighter.
It was so obvious.
But it Ajax was also anxious.
From the way he found this person, he was almost didn't want him to wake up.
He remembered how dark, almost viciously consuming that night could be.
At the same time, he wanted this person to sleep, rest.
Because he knew.
The Abyss was a terrifying place to be.
The horrors were engraved in his bones.
Forever rooted into his memory.
It let his blood thirst thrive.
He wondered if it was the same for the other.
He wondered if it was different for the other.
Ajax smiled.
He couldn't wait for those eyes to open.
.
.
.
.
.
.