FebuWhump: Day 3 ALT

by Addict of Animation

It’s been years since the end of the war and Diluc doesn’t know what to do. Aether and Lumine had been reunited and had set off to travel across all of Teyvat together, the knights were as busy as ever and the winery was doing better than it ever had. But Diluc couldn’t bring himself to find any joy in it. Not while his brother lay unconscious in his childhood bed.

Cross-posted on AO3

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Day 3 ALT: Coma

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It's been over five years since the war ended.

The world was still rebuilding in some places while others were pretty much completely recovered. Like Mondstadt. The City of Freedom was holding an annual festival to celebrate the aversion of the end of the world.

But a distance from the city, in a nice sized manor, things weren't so merry.

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Diluc sat quietly as he signed paper after paper, trying desperately to redirect his attention from the dilemma right behind him.

He didn't know why he kept coming to this room. Adelinde had told him that she would inform if anything were to change and yet here he was again. Sighing in defeat, Diluc put his pen down as he turned to the bed just beside the desk.

Where the still form of his younger brother laid.

The man was as still as ever as he slumbered peacefully. If Diluc didn't know any better, he

would think –

He cuts the thought off abruptly, knowing he wouldn't be able to stomach the thought. A quick glance at the still gleaming Vision resting on the top corner of the desk was enough to tell him that Kaeya was still alive. Shuffling awkwardly, the master of the house moved from his seat as he sat on the edge of the bed, careful not to jostle the body laying on it.

Not that it would wake him up.

Hesitantly, he reached out and grasped one of the hands that were resting above the blankets and gave it a gentle squeeze. The hand didn't even twitch, as still and cold as it was every day. His gripped tightened and he wondered – briefly – if Kaeya could feel it, if it hurt.

He quickly loosened his grip again, but lifted the hand, raising it to his forehead as he prayed that Kaeya would jump up and say gotcha. That he would open his eyes and say that the past five years had been a joke.

That fate hadn't been so cruel as for them to make up and then to be separated in such a cruel way.

He just wanted his brother back.

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A/N: The draft was originally written on the 27th of January. I just felt like writing some good old fashion heartbreak. What could be worse than your estranged sibling falling into a coma after the two of you had just made up?