Cross-posted on AO3

Day 12: "Who Are You?"

Diluc looked around the tavern as he looked over the night's pull.

There were a lot of customers tonight, but the one that was missing was the one that he told himself he hadn't wanted around. Kaeya hadn't shown his face tonight and while he had initially been happy about it, he found himself growing restless. One of the things he could always count on was Kaeya coming in, sitting at the counter for a while, and harassing him for a while before either a target of his walked in, decided to intimidate some newer recruits for giggles like the sadist he was or when he simply had a summons by Jean and left with a quick-witted joke, walking out the door before Diluc could respond.

He had tried to distract himself by watching the customers, but it didn't help from the unease that was slowly building in his stomach. Like something inside of him was telling him that something was wrong. He couldn't just up and leave, seeing that he had given Charles the night off. Against his better judgment, he resolved to stop by Kaeya's house after he got off work.

Surely, the man had a reason for not coming tonight and he was just being paranoid.

At least, he hoped so.

After the customers had filed out and he had wiped down all the tabletops and cleaned messes from the floors, Diluc finally left for the night. He heaved a sigh as he closed the door and turned to the quiet streets of the city. Most had settled in for bed, but there were still some hagglers as well as some knights on their nightly patrol.

With a tired huff, he set off towards his destination.

The trip itself didn't take too long, living on the lower grounds of the city. Diluc honestly didn't understand why Kaeya chose to live there and not closer to the knights' headquarters. It only made the trip longer for himself.

By the time he reached Kaeya's home, he could tell something was off. He could see the faint glow of candlelight from the window, but it was suspiciously silent inside. Not the scratching of pen on paper, the sound of a guest being over, nothing.

And yet, he felt a very strong presence behind the front door.

Summoning his claymore, he pushed the door open and entered his estranged brother's house. The inside was still very dim and he could see the dying candle on the table by the couch.

Who he saw on the couch had him freezing in the doorway.

A strangely familiar girl was sitting on the far corner in a white dress that reached just above her knees. Her blonde hair was short and her bangs framed her face and reached past her shoulders and a white flower on the right side of her head. Her golden eyes stared right at him, not looking the least bit surprised that he had shown up.

And she was the source of the power he felt outside.

But what really made him nervous was that Kaeya lay unconscious next to her. His head was laying on her thigh and he truly appeared to be asleep if it wasn't for his face being scrunched up in pain. He was still in his uniform without the cape, but his boots were still on like he had been planning to go somewhere.

Diluc felt resentment rise inside him when he belatedly noticed that the young girl was running her fingers through Kaeya's hair. She didn't look the least bit bothered by their proximity, just annoyed at Diluc's interruption.

"Who are you?" he demanded. Everything about this situation was setting off every trigger in his brain that something was clearly wrong here and that this girl had something to do with it.

She didn't look very impressed.

"I'm the ruler of the Abyss Order, " she started calmly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "I've merely come to take back what belongs to us."

"Then how about you take your hands off of him?" he growled threateningly. "Just take whatever you're looking for and go."

This finally got a smile out of her, though it looked far too sweet.

"I think not. I'll be taking him to the Abyss with me," she simpered. "It's about time he came home anyway. He's been gone for far too long already." Her expression changed, becoming somber The curse is already taking hold of him. He won't last much longer unless he returns."

"Wha-!" he started, before he suddenly felt like gravity had suddenly begun pushing down on his shoulders until he finally buckled down to his knees. He was barely able to raise his head to glare at the young woman. While she didn't look smug, he could practically feel how pleased she was.

"You-!"

He was cut off by the feeling only getting stronger, causing him to grit his teeth as he fought the urge to pass out. However, it wasn't long until his vision began to blur and go dark. He tried to glare at the girl, but he finally caved to the pressure and passed out.

Lumine stared at the fallen man before turning back to Kaeya's troubled face. While she knew he wouldn't be happy about this when he woke up, she knew that she has done the right thing. It was true that Kaeya needed to go back to Khaenri'ah unless he wanted the curse to consume him. Sadly, she also knew that he wouldn't go willingly.

While she had hoped to get in, get Kaeya, and get out, she hadn't quite counted on Diluc showing up. He had quite the protective streak and knew that he wasn't going to let this go, but she would cross that bridge when she came to it.

Getting Kaeya out of here and avoiding her own brother were her main concern at the moment.

A/N: This story was written without a draft and was started and finished on the 16th of February. I just wanted to write Diluc trying to face down Lumine and her using whatever powers her and her brother had that we probably don't know about to incapacitate him and leave with Kaeya.