Chapter 6: Out of the Darkness

The wings. The wings were the way to get into whatever darker realm it was that Kaeya's consciousness was residing in. They were the power leaking out from the divide between their world and the next. Had anyone thought of ever using them as a doorway, it was never recorded.

Then again, as much as he had looked into it, no one recorded much of the fallen kingdom except for the war that it started.

While unsure if doing such a thing would work, Diluc was left with no other choice. Kaeya was distracted but not enough so that the red-head running at him didn't catch his attention. Dainsleif took advantage of that distraction and wounded Kaeya, badly, blood flowing across his chest and the inside of one of his arms.

"Don't kill him you bastard or I'm coming for you next," were his last words to the outside as he felt the slip in reality and fell through the darkness.

It was cold, a chill in the air stronger even what the Abyss normally felt like. He could swear he saw ice particles floating in the air instead of falling, the snowflakes beautiful as if time had stopped. Within the darkness they sparkled, bright and stunning.

Kind of like Kaeya.

Diluc shook his head at the thought. Kaeya had surpassed him, even when they were young, in so many classes and skills that it had made him jealous. He had been stronger but Kaeya had been precise. He found the latter took far too much concentration to ever match and had since stopped trying. It didn't mean it wasn't something he had admired greatly in the other when they had been younger.

Now he detested the man and all he stood for with his horribly easy way of manipulating people and events to suit his own needs.

"Kaeya." He called into the darkness, seeing fallen buildings around him. He frowned at the thought that passed his mind, really looking at them now. They all had symbols of writing and the architecture was very similar to images he had seen in books. Was the Abyss… his home? Was that possible? Had this been part of the land before it had fallen and were these the remains?

He had no more time to think as he heard the sound of something shifting behind him. It was hard to make out things in the dark and he started his sword on fire to act as a torch.

Standing off to the side of him was some sort of elegant bird with tail feathers too long to be any common, made out of shadow with red, cutting eyes, that reflected the flame.

It flew off somewhere above him, into the blackness there, calling out in some strange voice that was similar to a song birds in everything but volume. There were other calls that met it, flapping noises above him before it all faded away.

There was an auditory sensation of ice cracking followed by a startled voice as Diluc turned to the new sound, a new enemy standing before him.

Only.. they looked wrong. It was clearly a human but they were wearing a blue and white cloak that went past their hands, the length running down to their feet where they must have been wearing black shoes that blended well with the floor. There was a familiar looking pattern of ice along the cloak, and a fur collar similar to Kaeya's that hung about their neck. Their skin was dark, as dark as Kaeya's had been on the mountain, and like back then, their visual eye was almost glowing light blue. The difference was the hair, while white like before, had a completely different style than Kaeya's and ran long and straight down their back whereas Kaeya had always kept it tied.

"What are you doing here?"

"Where's Kaeya?" Diluc moved his sword to stand in defense against what could only be an enemy. In the Abyss, everything was.

The too human looking creature let out a sigh. "Gone. He was gone the moment he lost his ties to the world. Congratulations, you killed us."

Diluc winced. "Us?"

"In a way." The creature turned to look behind himself. "I was going to fade away in any case. I'm what happened when Albedo's blood came into contact with ours. I'm neither one nor the other. I would have died off once the bloodstream had refreshed itself. I suppose you could call me some disease that has no power over its host."

"So you won't stop me?"

The thing smiled, his hand reaching out as some sort of weapon. "When did I say that? I have no power over us or what happens any longer. That does not mean I have no power to hurt you."

Diluc braced himself but, instead of attacking, the creature laughed. It lowered it's hand. "No need to fear me so much, young mortal. Albedo cut off any power of his own that was fueling mine and we currently are powerless ourselves. I suppose I could try to fist fight you again, but that turned out poorly the first time and I don't see the results changing." A frown crossed it's face. "It made sure we were powerless the first chance it got. You have no hope of freeing us. It is best to let that man put us down like the rabid dog we've become."

"You keep saying 'us', but you're not Kaeya."

"I'm not? Last I checked I was. I have all his memories, I have his personality, I have his want to speak with you… I believe that you have the wrong impression of me. Part of me is Albedo, sure, but that part is his power alone. In here," the creature pointed to his chest. "I'm Kaeya, and nothing more."

Diluc was confused. He half wished someone who understood more of what was going on had been the one allowed in. "I don't understand."

"Of course you don't. That's alright. I've always had to work around the things you don't understand so they wouldn't backfire." The creature shrugged, acting like Kaeya and he had the same, annoying smirk on his face. "I can get you a way out just this once. I have no power but I am also not entirely Kaeya. Using what part of me is Albedo, even if I cannot go against myself, I can at least free you."

"I came here to get Kaeya. I'm not leaving until I do and stop all this."

"You do not even know just how much pain you have caused us." There sounded like there wanted to be anger in those words but instead they came out defeated. "Listen, that thing that is also not us but not a separate being either, made sure we could not fight back." He closed his hand out in front of him in a grabbing gesture. "We lost our power when he destroyed it. The heart of us is in nothing but darkness and pain and cannot fight back without it. We are only human, or mostly human. That thing that shares our body is so much more and there is no way to get around that. This is not a game of words I'm trying to state to you. This is simply fact and the fact of the matter is that, with no weapon, we cannot stand up against a creature that can bypass even the archons. You, equally, have no shot at it. I do not want to care for you, I truly don't, but I can't help the fact that we do. I can let you out and simply only urge you not to come back."

"If this… thing inside of you guys, or whatever all of this means, is that strong, then Dainsleif can't fight-"

The creature waved it's hand in a silencing gesture. "First off, do not speak that name here. You will be attacked by the darkness even as I try to hold it back. Second, that man is on a higher level than even the part of us that isn't us. He will be able to succeed. You, and I wish it weren't true, cannot."

Diluc tried to think. There had to be a way. The words sounded truthful but, if what this thing was saying was true, he also was Kaeya. And Kaeya never simply spoke the truth.

"There's a way. What is it?"

The creature looked as if it were in pain for a moment. "Not one I could recommend. In the end, we will still die. The only difference is we would bring you with us."

"But there's a chance Kaeya will live." He made it a statement because that's what it sounded like he was trying to draw him away from. He had said the opposite but it was such a Kaeya thing to say that he could only take it to mean it was a lie. "But… I'll die."

"Yes," the creature spoke quietly, turning a bit as it folded its arms, its sleeves draping like a blanket over its frame. "But you will surely die. What I said though is no less true. If we find out we were responsible for your death..."

"Why is that damned idiot so damned stubborn!" Diluc stomped his foot, thinking more. There had to be something because this time he was not considering he was being tricked. Kaeya was weak in certain ways that were not combat related. He couldn't imagine the guy would have stood there and been able to do what he had done to their father, let alone the fact that this would truly fall squarely on his shoulders, so Kaeya's death following his own was something he had an easier time accepting. "Something. There has to be something."

They stood with one another for a while until the creature shrugged. "You being here is a surprise. We had thought you would be the one to kill us. We tried to give you the option before that monster woke up. Maybe you can surprise it too. What that moment will give you though is only an opportunity in the world that is ours for our enemy to strike us down."

Diluc frowned. "The world that is yours?"

The creature let out an airy laugh. "Yes. This world is one that was built into our body at birth, but it was never ours. We have no control over it, nor did we want it. We're trapped in it. It is not that way with that man." The creature looked over it's dark colored hand. "He is different. He is of that world as much as he is of our world. That fine line will be crossed at some point. That is why he is here. From what I know of half of myself, he is not interested in petty wars or squabbles such as this. He can only be here to stop the alchemist from losing what small control he has. I'm sure our monster is making that difficult."

Diluc grew slightly more worried, and with the mountain he already had to deal with, that was saying something. "Albedo is far more powerful than Kaeya. If he loses control..."

"I doubt that man will be enough to stop him, even if the man thinks he is. Mondstadt will be lost and I'm sure much of the world will go along with it."

There was a decision to be made then that he had left to the man outside. He had told him not to kill Kaeya. If having one alive with his power unhindered was effecting a much more viable threat though, and time became an issue…

"He knows what he's doing. If we are enough of a threat to warrant it, he will kill us with no regrets, taking you with us. I offer the way out for you once more, before it's too late."

"No." Diluc took a few steps forward, his sword lighting his way. "I'm going to find Kaeya and make that idiot understand a few things. Then, if he won't listen, fine, let me out."

The creature waited before sighing, looking as if he was hurt as the thing walked into the light he was shedding, grabbing Diluc by the shoulder to stop him.

"I told you I'm-"

"You're going the wrong way." The creature turned to his left and started walking. "Follow me and try not to die along the way."

…

Diluc had thought it a joke but, as they traveled, several things jumped out of the darkness to fight them. Most of these creatures were covered in ice and shadow, something his newly formed comrade could not fight against. In fact, the creature or person or whatever he was, was all but useless, claiming once more he had lost his powers when the cryo vision had been broken.

The frozen quality the air possessed started getting to him as the fire coming off his sword started to fade. He could cut through ice easily but all the creatures here kept throwing it at him and he was more wet than he was cold before he started to freeze.

The creature at his side watched wordlessly before taking off his robe and handing it over. "It is of the abyss and I'm sure you will not like to wear it, but it seems better you live to make your useless argument than die in the darkness. I can take your coat but you will get it back cold. I never claimed to be the same warm heart that Kaeya is."

"Hardly a warm heart," Diluc murmured, watching his breath frost and keeping his coat on. He couldn't help shivering.

The creature smiled, going beside him and tugging on the nape of the coat. "You're one to talk. You both take the same actions, protecting what you hold dear in ways that no one sees, and yet neither of you notice how similar you are to one another. Blindness can be a gift I suppose. It has stopped you both from fighting before I became involved. Now, there is nothing here to burn and my coat will fade away even if I would allow you to use it in such a manner. Please at least listen to some sense for a bit before you die."

He stopped hard in his tracks, glaring at the thing. "Don't speak as if you know me."

"Even if I do? Even if I can see all that Kaeya has seen and more, through the knowledge of how to see and read things that Albedo kindly provided? Even if I can read you better than you can read yourself?" There was a mocking tone there. "Fine, freeze to death while I laugh at your folly and join you shortly after."

Diluc stopped, debating with himself a second before shrugging off the wet material.

It was hard, both parting with the jacket again and accepting something from one of those creatures. After he put on the robe he started to warm up, the cloth itself chilled as if the one wearing it had ice for skin before his own body heat was able to warm it far easier than his soaked jacket. He watched the thing putting it on, ice crystals forming on it.

"Kaeya… do you look like an ice mage from the Abyss because of him?"

The thing frowned before facing him. "I suppose. I'm not sure if that is what we felt like before the ice chose us or not. All mortal beings change with time and, should we change again, we will have little knowledge of what we had been before. We do not care. The darkness only knows what it is when it is. Memories are something it doesn't care for. I doubt the heart of us even knows what his father looked like any longer."

Diluc looked to the side. "What was Kaeya's father like?"

The creature did not care to try and catch his eye, though it did take a few moments to think. "I believe he had your hair, did he not? I also believe he liked to bake something… something warm that went with wine. I can only imagine it had to be some kind of bread, though what kind we no longer know."

Diluc shook his head. "No, not my father. His."

The creature seemed to shift, looking around a bit before it answered. "I do not understand. When I think of things we know, I only see that man and our memories. He is our father. The man who left us is family, but he does not come to mind when we think of 'father'. If you mean him," the creature shrugged. "We recall nothing. All we know is he wanted us to help him or possibly the others of our home. How he believed we could do such a thing, I am unsure."

"Kaeya doesn't remember him?"

The creature shook its head. "As I said, the darkness makes it hard to hold onto things as silly as memories. Cherished ones that make us who we are are a bit different." The thing laughed out a sigh. "We have not forgotten a thing about you. We even remember the way you liked to take the green paint from us when you always ran out of your own."

Diluc didn't know how to take that. His father had always been 'his father'. He had never once heard Kaeya address him as his own. The idiot was already ready to betray Mondstadt itself if it would help his own cause. How could he forget what that cause was and who he was fighting it for?

Did it hurt… to forget your own father?

"Shuuu." the creature beside him put it's arm up. "We are close. They are together. I think that we are in pain, but it's hard to tell. I am not wholly a part of us any longer. The monster will kill you if it sees you..." The creature tipped it's head. "I can… provide you a distraction I suppose. If I knew my death would be staved off I wouldn't offer so much but it's pointless now. Nothing can save me but if you can save us from that thing, I will still live on, will I not?" It nodded to him. "Be ready. We are somewhere below. Find an opening. Use your fire."

"Won't it see me immediately then?" Diluc was questioning this plan already.

"Yes, but I will wear your coat. You can get another easily, if we were right in where you had it made. We will even pay for it. We can trick the thing. You will only have a second or two to look, will that be enough?"

"Yes." Diluc didn't question it. If it was all he had, he'd make it work.

He strode forward on his own. If they were going to do this, he'd have to be in the front and be seen before he put the fire out. The light should make the trick possible.

There was a room like so many of the rooms he had been through, stone under his feet doing little to muffle the sound of his boots hitting it. He was used to being quiet but even so, it was difficult.

In the center of the room he could barely make out was a large black something. He could see a shifting of shadows and a darkness there that his eyes could not see through. There was a fuzz in his vision as he watched it move and shift before two very large red eyes opened, staring down at him.

"Diluc, I've been waiting for you. I've been watching you. I've been ready." Even in the shadows he saw and felt and heard the extending of large wings, the shifting of feet and the feeling the creature gave off of a very large avian beast.

He wasted no more time before he lit his sword, staring at the monster before him. It looked like nothing more than a strange swan, thought its size would threaten Stormterror himself if they met. "You want me! Come get me!" He switched his stance, drawing back before slashing his sword in an arching manner as the flames he created jumped at the monster in the darkness, the sound of it's startled cry ringing out as the bird made of fire came at it.

They both used birds- he'd think on all this later as he threw his sword on his back, having seen what he was looking for. He heard the footsteps of the creature from before slamming into the stone. It occurred to him then too that he had never once heard the thing make noise. Now, it was doing so on purpose.

There was a grating on the floor that he did his best not to screech open, 'delicate' a word not suited to his style of fighting. Painstakingly slowly he lifted it, put it to the side, and slid into the darkness beyond.

He landed in something wet that reached up past his ankles, causing him to shiver.

If it weren't for the shift in the water and the clang of metal he wasn't sure his own eyes would have adjusted well enough to lead him. He felt his hands going for his sword but remembered what that thing had said. "Kaeya?"

There was no answer. A minute dragged on slowly as he heard noise from above, most of it the sound of stone breaking.

A quiet whisper made it to him. "Diluc?"

Diluc let out a breath, relaxing. He slowly made his way over to the noise. As he moved he noticed he didn't plan much out at all. He had simply jumped at the chance to do something. How was talking to Kaeya going to get them out of here?

"Ah… are you alright?" It was the first and only thing that came to him as he reached out, touching a stone wall. "What is this stuff?"

Kaeya must have been near something metal because he heard it clang again and it sounded like chains. "My… my blood. Don't touch it."

"Lot of good that'll do me when I'm already ankle deep in it." Diluc moved towards the noise. "I can't pick a lock in the dark. How restrained are you?"

"Please… please leave." The words were met with hitched breathing, as if he had been crying. Kaeya didn't cry.

"Also not something I can do when I'm already stuck here." Diluc followed the wall and the voice until he found Kaeya and what was likely his arm, held above his head. His fingers trailed the cool skin beneath his as Kaeya clanged the chains once again in retreat before Diluc could touch the cold steel of the shackles holding him up.

He let out a breath. "That thing better be able to distract it from the light or we're going to be screwed." He'd have to start his sword on fire again, aim carefully, and swing hard enough to shatter them.

"Stop. Don't. Wait." Kaeya sounded like he was struggling even harder against the restraints and Diluc had to wince, reaching up to stop him from making enough noise to get that thing's attention with the echoing underground room they seemed to be in.

"What?!" Diluc spat, heart racing.

"Don't… don't. Just don't. Leave. Please." Kaeya sounded like he was near hyperventilating and that made him frown, his idea of freeing him when he was like this fading. He'd get far more attention freed than not.

Holding to the chains and reaching down for his vision, Diluc put some energy into it. He had been holding on to a bit of his power still, in case it was necessary on the way out, and it lit the crystal from inside like a match. The light wasn't very strong or very widespread, but it was enough to see Kaeya.

And the sorry state he was in.

His coat was gone as was his shirt. There were wounds across his chest, his pants the only thing keeping any further injuries from sight, and not well at that. They were bled through and adorned with large cuts. His hair was more purple than it was blue and it looked like his other eye had been removed as well. With force.

Kaeya couldn't see him.

A breath hitched in his chest before Diluc got himself under control. He let go of the chains, letting the light of his vision fade away. He didn't want to see anyway. "Kaeya…." Where the other words were, he didn't know. He didn't want to know. Any fighting resolve he had was fading away.

"Please. Please just leave." Kaeya begged again in the darkness. "Please."

Diluc placed a hand to his head and swallowed. It took a few seconds but he got his breath back if not his composure. "I didn't mean for it to come across the way it must have. I don't play with words like children's toys the way you can. I don't know what you do that I can't see, but I know you help me far more than you should. I know you help the city far more than they let on, which was made all the more obvious that day I saw you with the mages. We both have enough on our plates. I was getting tired of you adding to yours with my troubles. I hate you and the way you act and how you do things so selfishly yet act as if it were nothing when I'd like to do something as thank you for it, even if I have trouble thanking you in ways that I hope you understand but you never do because I still have no idea how to treat you or how you feel or what you'd do and I'm confused and have so much going on that you don't know about, even if you think you do because you don't. I'm… I'm not making sense any more."

They stood in silence for a while before Kaeya let out a breath, shaking as much as his body seemed with what traveled to the chains he still held in his hands. "No, you're not making sense at all."

Diluc found the corner of his mouth almost form a smile. "I don't think we make sense to each other. I think we're both the reason for that. I- … I don't know how to fix that. I don't want to fix that. There are things I don't like to think about and, like it or not, you're tied up to a bunch of them. Every time I see you I'm reminded of things that I don't like, all the more so seeing you with the knights. I can't control my feelings. I don't want to see you hurt though. I don't know how I could have ever given you the impression that I did, I don't want to see anyone in Mondstadt hurt. You… you are still of Mondstadt. You are still someone I would protect, even if you rub me the wrong way and spin me in circles and remind me of things I don't want to remember." Even as the words came out they felt all wrong. That hadn't been what he wanted to say, though his words had been the truth. They'd been the darker part of what he had meant and they were likely only going to add to the misunderstandings.

More silence followed before a small hitched breath of crying escaped Kaeya. More weight was put on the chains and Diluc had to let go as he slumped down, letting himself hang. "I just want to go home."

"Well," Diluc had to think on that. "I don't know the way or how to get-"

"No," Kaeya's weak voice interrupted. "I want to go home."

"I heard you. I'm trying to think of-"

"Home," Kaeya almost begged. His words slowly trailed off into silence as he continued. "I want to go home."

The silence dragged on a little longer before Diluc realized what he had been misunderstanding... and both hated the fact that he had not understood as well as dreaded what giving in would mean. "I..." Was there even a choice anymore? "Yeah, sure. We'll go home. I have to get you out to get you there now, don't I?" He drew his sword back, feeling the metal first. He wouldn't risk the fire. "Don't move now."

If Kaeya was still there at all, he wouldn't have known. He couldn't see and he wasn't great at being precise. He could, however, be sure and keep one hand on the side of the chain while he drew the other back, to lower the risk of missing even if it meant losing some force.

The clang rang out enough to hurt his ears as he struck the restraints a few times, hearing Kaeya cry out once before the one holding the wrist closest to him opened. He swore under his breath, looking back and listening.

"You really have no concept of silence, do you?"

Diluc jumped back as that creature's voice was in his ear, between Kaeya and him. He waited but no noise came and he risked his vision's light again

The creature stood before him as before, only his coat clashed horribly with his coloring. The thing smiled at him before looking between the two of them. "Ah, I had a feeling we weren't doing well. As you are the heart and I am not whole, it was only a faint inkling. Be grateful, of all the responses that could have come from this, Albedo's talents were still implanted in me. I do not have his power, but I am his power." The thing reached up, digging it's fingers into its own eye that left both Diluc's sight and hearing wanting a scrub. Without any noise of the pain the thing had to be in by doing so, he was able to hear only the process. Once out it took it's eye and, somehow, found Kaeya's face with ease. It forced the forgien object in, Kaeya wincing and turning against the pain.

Once placed, Kaeya blinked a few times before looking between the two of them, as if he could see. "Diluc… what in the world are you wearing?"

Fine, that made him smile. "Garbage. Remind me to burn it later."

There was a screeching call above them, the bird or something of equal mass stomping on the ground and making parts of the ceiling fall on them.

"I believe this is where I tag out." The thing, now with no eyes, reached out and touched the metal of the remaining cuff. "Do you wish to be free?"

Kaeya looked like a confused child in the red light of his vision, hurt and bleeding still but managing to nod. "Yes?"

Just like that the lock on the remaining cuff clicked open and Kaeya fell to the ground with a splash.

"It was that easy?" Diluc looked back and forth between the restraints and the now blinded creature. The thing smiled at him.

"It was that easy. Do remember, this is us. We hold no power here yet all the power in the world." Then, as if he had blinked when he knew he hadn't, the creature was gone.

There was another stomp and Diluc grabbed Kaeya, moving him away from where they were and where most of the ceiling was giving. "Come on. Can you stand?"

"Yes." He was shaking but Kaeya got himself to his feet, slowly looking more and more like his usual self. Composure was easiest to get in battle. "What's going on?"

"There's some big black bird up there that's some monster from you and if you expect me to understand all this you're going to have to give me several references books and about two years."

Kaeya laughed. It almost seemed to make some of the shadows around them fade, but that had to be his imagination. "I suppose then that I could do it in one if given the time."

Another stomp and the mortar failed, stone and debris falling down as Diluc grabbed Kaeya, pulling him in as protective a stance as he could with his sword still in his other hand. He waited but nothing stuck him more than a stone or two. He looked around the dust filled darkness. "There's a door leading up. Best to fight it when we're not below it."

Kaeya nodded. "Lead the way. I don't know where you came from."

So Diluc did, going back to the opening, the inner fire in the stone burning. The creature, when he reached the top, saw him in an instant and he ran.

Claws and screeching followed him but Diluc needed to keep the light on. Kaeya might be closer to himself again but he was hurt and without a weapon. This would have to be his fight and he had to make sure that the idiot didn't die right after he had just saved him.

Taking his sword and getting into as best a stance he was going to, he turned it to fire and in an instance released it towards the creature once more. It cried out again, the fire digging through the shadows for a moment before it reformed like ash, no visible damage left behind.

With his sword still aflame he charged the creature, hacking and trying his best to dodge with what little room he had and movement his heavier weapon provided. The thing stomped and pecked at him, missing for the most part and bruising at the worst. All he could do was swing at it longer, getting his energy back and feeling the fire rise up inside him as he unleashed it at the monster again.

Again, it did little or no damage.

"Damn it, Kaeya, what's your weakness?" He had no idea what to do but, with everything he had been hearing, if this thing was and wasn't Kaeya, maybe it would have a weakness only Kaeya knew. With all the ice creatures he had been facing, he would have thought fire would have worked.

"Ah, what?!" He heard Kaeya call out from somewhere in the darkness, far closer than he would have liked him to be with while unarmed.

"Everyone has been confusing the hell out of me but I keep hearing this thing is and isn't you and if part of it is you, it's got your weakness, right? What's that?" He dodged the beak once more before the movement of one of its wings lifted him off his feet. He landed well and got back up before a taloned claw almost got him. The force of it was great as he kept it at bay with his sword before throwing it off. The ordeal left him panting for breath and wishing his sword were lighter.

"I ah, I don't know? Fire?"

"I tried that! Name another!" Diluc slashed at its feet, doing his best not to lose his own again as it flapped around him.

He fought for what felt like forever but couldn't have been more than a minute before Kaeya answered. "I don't know, Diluc. You?"

Me? Diluc thought on that for a second, almost getting blindsided by a sweeping motion of the thing's large foot. He still didn't have time or the understanding to get a hold of most of what he'd been learning today but it was clear there was something wrong with Kaeya that had to do with him that he'd have to figure out. Right now, in the darkness and the light of the flame, Diluc understood enough that he was smirking.

"Hey, monster!" He called up at the thing, his sword pointed towards it. "You are weak and you know why? You are not Kaeya. While the guy can be a complete asshole some of the time, he doesn't play dirty when he faces me. He doesn't start a battle that's not on equal terms with us. He doesn't try to kill me, because killing me would be easy. No, he knows how to make a battle honorable. You are not him, and you are not strong enough to face me on equal terms. You are nothing but a coward."

The bird screeched, flapping it's wings out and kicking up enough air that Diluc lost all contact with the ground, thrown hard into a stone wall beside him. He groaned, his head hurting as he fell.

"Diluc! Hey, are you alright?!" Kaeya was there, helping him sit up, and he could feel blood trailing down his head again, only in the back this time. The world swayed but he kept up the smile.

"Fine." His eyes met the bird's, still in it's frenzied state. "See. You're weak. Not a thing like Kaeya."

"Hah. Ah, Diluc, did that thing just knock your brains around? It almost sounds like you were complimenting me."

"I am." Diluc turned to him and had to laugh. It felt nice, for a bit at least, at how ironic and stupid this whole situation was. "And you are so blind. Do you really think you lost your power?" He waved a hand at the room. "It's freaking cold in here and the ice keeps sticking to me because I keep making it melt and I'm cold and that thing over there isn't weak at all or cold at all, and you know why? It's not you. It's power isn't yours. That's why it made such a show of breaking that stupid thing, to make you think you were powerless. Nothing could make that thing get rid of all the damn ice you're always covered in. You wouldn't compliment me so well if you lost it."

Kaeya braced the both of them as the thing flapped its wings again and called out.

"Ah, what?"

"You're power is there. Use it. Stop being an idiot and thinking that thing broke your vision." Diluc grabbed at where the one hanging at Kaeya's side was, seeing it whole and intact. "Help me fight."

Kaeya sounded like he almost choked. "Sorry again but, did you just ask me to help you?"

Diluc shifted and would have answered but the monster came at them, talons out, and he had to shift to push Kaeya out of the way. Holding his hand out to the side, he slid the blade across the creature before staring down at where Kaeya had fallen at the sudden movement.

"I said help me fight. Will you?"

"Ah, yeah." Kaeya stood, lightly touching the vision. "How? I don't have a sword."

Diluc laughed before charging at the bird. "Then make one!"

It didn't take Kaeya long to figure out what to do, a sword of ice appearing in his hand. He had used this ability a great many times in his presence, but Diluc knew how weak the sword was and how easy to shatter it was.

So, best to use it as a one time stab.

Kaeya danced around the creature far easier than Diluc could manage, distracting it, while he had at the body and feet of the thing. He could see now and then where Kaeya stumbled, the wounds on his body causing him to get hit or not turn the right way.

They had to be quick about this. He was too slow and Kaeya too hurt to keep up any decent form of attack that would wear the monster down.

A wing got Kaeya in the side at one point, tossing him to the corner of the room while the thing's talons clawed the ground around Diluc, trapping him before he was shoved to the side as well. Scraping across the floor like that hurt and he had to keep his arm close as Kaeya ran up to him, out of breath. "This isn't working."

Diluc was equally exhausted. It seemed all he was doing was fighting, and he was getting so tired of the cold. "Can you freeze it?"

Kaeya shook his head. "Not wet enough. Even with the ice you're melting, it's not staying on the thing long enough or getting it wet enough to freeze it up. I can maybe get a small portion of it, if we focus on it, but that's it."

"Ah, I hate this. None of it makes sense anyway. Hasn't this monster just been inside of you all along anyway? Do we have to beat it?" A wing came at him again and Diluc barely avoided it, tripping on his feet and falling to the other side of Kaeya.

"Hey, I have no idea what's going on. You've been talking to the others, not me. Don't you think if I had ever been to a place like this I would have said something to someone?" Kaeya waved his hand around. "I don't even understand where we are."

"Inside of you I suppose? I'm just as confused," but he did understand that there was a blackness that had taken over whatever was controlling Kaeya. "I could feel the tear in reality. You've somehow made your own abyss layer."

Kaeya snorted, laughing to himself and trying hard not to. Diluc frowned as they ran the other way, Kaeya following, to avoid the bird's attack. "Please don't say it that way again. You'll make all the girls in town jealous."

Diluc frowned before going to punch him, Kaeya moving out of the way. "This is serious."

"I know. I know." Kaeya let his laughter go, watching the bird as it pursued them. "So I suppose that's the part of me that I can't get rid of. You got into this room and it was here, right? Can't we just leave the way you came and go out the same opening you entered?"

"Fell. I fell into the opening. From what that thing said there's no way back out of it. Don't you think I thought of that?"

"Alright, alright. Calm down." Kaeya tipped his head. "You have more information than I do, remember? I didn't know that we couldn't go back that way. If the entrance is closed… we've never encountered something like that before."

They had not. In all the times he had gone into the abyss, with and without help, there had always been an exit. It was how they existed in reality. For this bird or whatever it was that was currently moving and breathing for Kaeya, that had to mean there was still a connection.

"Oh no." Diluc breathed out, staring back at the bird. "I have an idea."

"Doesn't sound promising. Who's going first?"

"You. Wait, me." If Kaeya left and regained control, the opening may vanish. He didn't feel like getting stuck here. "Me. It's wings, do you see how the creature is hard to look at? What if they're doorways like yours were."

"Mine? I have wings?"

"Currently. I'm looking to detach them though." Diluc stopped, swiveling to start running in the opposite direction, towards the monster.

It was large and it took a running jump to even make it to where there were shadows above the things feet. His sword was stowed on his back as he climbed, the thing trying to shake him off as it took to the air. There must not have been much space for it to move since it didn't seem to get very far up.

Diluc would have had it easier if the thing had stayed on the ground. Though it couldn't reach him, it could blow him around and shift the feathers he was trying to grab on to. When most of them were shadows that feat was hard enough to accomplish. It was arduous and his limbs were aching as he got to the things back, no purchase there to swing his sword. He made his way to where one of the wings were, feeling something holding it there, making it move, underneath all the shadowy feathers. The thing had to have bones or it would have fallen apart.

Landing hard, the thing turned and rolled over, Diluc losing his air as he refused to let go. He was on it's back as it continued to thrash, getting to it's feet and attempting to hit him into the wall.

Kaeya was there beside him, grabbing onto his belt. "Go. I'll keep you grounded."

Diluc would have argued, Kaeya being the smaller between them, that he had no chance of hanging onto him if that thing rolled over again. He wasn't going to waste the time he had though, and Kaeya wasn't strong enough. Lighting the sword on fire, he swung it down at the wing. He heard the bird cry out at a snapping sound.

It was still there though, still attached, and he swung a few more times before it hung loosely at the monster's side, falling to the ground as the shadow's couldn't keep it in place.

"I hate guesswork." Diluc grabbed Kaeya's hand from where he was holding him, doing his best not to simply fall off the creature as it writhed in pain. He fell hard and hurt something in his leg but it wasn't enough to stop him. Running for the downed wing he reached out, feeling air there even as it was no longer part of the bird and flapping.

He smiled before stepping onto it.

…

Jean held Albedo close to her side as the man started gasping. This was no hangover and he was not injured seriously so she had nothing to do but to hold him and run a hand through his hair, trying to get him to calm down.

Diluc had vanished and Kaeya was still fighting with the man she had seen a few times, briefly, in Mondstadt. It looked as if his attacks had changed up, going to delay instead of injure. There was less blood being spilt but, every second, Kaeya's attacks grew stronger, faster, and Albedo looked more and more ill.

Then, something happened.

It was as if someone had snapped their fingers and, for a moment, the world had gone dark.

In the next second Diluc was laying on the ground beside Kaeya and Kaeya himself lost his wings, falling to the ground as well. Dainsleif stood above them, watching them, before the man walked towards her. He only seemed to have eyes for Albedo. "How is he?"

"I'm fine." The reply was weak and Albedo was sweating, but when he looked up his eyes were back to their normal color. "Forgive me. I had not meant to set all this in motion."

The man nodded. "I know. I was watching. Remember, I will always be watching. Next time you may not be so lucky."

Jean wanted to interrupt but Dainsleif walked off, not looking back. She let out a breath and looked down at Albedo. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Fine." Albedo looked up at the other two. "They seem to be injured. Go to them. We all are in terrible need of rest, or at the very least I am. May I rest now?"

"Of course." Jean slowly helped Albedo until he was laying down on his side, his breathing calming as his eyes closed and he seemed to go to sleep right then and there. She got up, trying not to wake him, before running to the other two.

Diluc's appearance threw her off right away, slowing her. He was wearing something foreign and white, both a color he never wore and a coat she'd never seen. He was still the one she went to first, partially closing her eyes as the wind picked up around them, her heart speeding up. She was getting to the edge of her limit and it would make her pass out to use her powers much longer without rest.

Groaning and touching the back of his head, Diluc seemed normal enough as he got to his hands and knees, sitting up and looking around, eyes shaded against the sun. "What happened?"

"I don't know. The fight is over, I think. You and Kaeya both passed out and the wings he had vanished. Albedo and that other man didn't seem worried so I figured… I figured whatever happened had happened." She saw blood on his hands after Diluc took his hand away, her own fingers going for his hair. "Are you still bleeding?"

"I don't think so. It just hurts a bit."

Jean looked over at where Kaeya still lay. There were wounds though none of them looked to be deadly. Diluc, being face down, she had been more worried about.

Diluc looked up to meet her glance and pushed her shoulder. "He's hurt pretty bad. Go help him. He's fine… I think." Diluc rubbed his head again. "Better be. I'm not doing that again."

Jean nodded before going over to Kaeya as well and watching his wounds close as she put out her last bit of healing. His missing eye would still get infected so, after she was sure the bleeding at least was stopped, she ripped a part of her coat and tied it around his head.

Kaeya blinked up at her while she was doing this and it startled her. She got to her feet within the same second, sword drawn.

"What's the matter?" Kaeya stared at her, looking around. Diluc had gotten to his feet and was turning his head to get a better look at Kaeya.

"You're going to have to live with that, it seems. I hope you weren't too fond of your eye color before."

Kaeya raised a hand to his only eye. "What… what do you mean?"

"You have that creature's eye instead of your own. it's more or less the same." Diluc straightened, going to put his hands in his pockets when he noticed the cloak and sighed, pushing it aside anyway. "It's simply more of a light blue now than it had been."

Kaeya snorted out a breath when he watched that before running a hand over his closed eyelid. "I don't remember much but… I suppose having a different eye is better than having none. It's not fun to be blind."

"I'd imagine not." Diluc looked at her before Jean lowered her sword when he nodded.

"So, you're both alright?" Jean knew nothing of what went on after Diluc had vanished and what could have happened to the two of them.

"More or less," Kaeya spoke as he got to his feet. He was fixing what was left of his coat when he looked over and the two injured parties shared some sort of questioning glance that left Jean confused.

"What?"

"Well, I'm not too sure if that might not happen again. It shouldn't." Kaeya shrugged one shoulder, looking injured still. "But if it does I suppose Diluc here knows what to do to stop it."

"I have to watch out for two idiots now with powers that can threaten not only Mondstadt but, apparently, everyone." Diluc sighed. "Not like I wasn't already doing that anyway."

Kaeya laughed. It was something that Jean hadn't heard in a while. He chuckled now and then when something amused him or some dark humor came about him, but never laughed. It made her smile.

"You two look terrible. Wash up and we can all go back. Albedo is asleep but I'm sure I could carry him this time. We all need the rest. We'll talk about anything we need to talk about in the morning, how does that sound?"

Maybe it was the way she worded it but Kaeya looked like he had tensed his shoulders before he relaxed them. "That sounds lovely."

Diluc took off the coat, leaving more of his clothing and it's condition visible. "I was going to burn this but now I think it might prove useful. It's not from our world, after all."

"I'll take it." Jean walked forward and snatched the cloak before Kaeya could claim it. Something was up and this was a way she'd hold more cards to be able to question them with when the time came. "Go wash up now."

Neither of them went far or took long, though both were lacking coats and Kaeya's undershirt was damaged badly. He didn't take it off, most likely because he'd catch more attention with it off than with it torn. She nodded in acceptance before going to Albedo and getting him on her back with the help of the other two and the partially-woken alchemist.

When they arrived at the main dividing road that separated the city, Diluc took the road to the left, going towards the winery. Jean would have liked him to stay with them but he had his own home and his own bed, away from the knights.

She took a few steps forward, noticing Kaeya didn't follow. She looked back at him and he met her eye, a smile coming to his face.

"Sorry, I must have been dreaming there." He walked with her a few feet, Diluc clearing his throat, stopping where he was as well, though he was a good several yards off now. Jean stopped, waiting to see if he wanted something from her.

"So, I'm going home." Diluc's words held something to them that sounded like uncertainty.

"Have a good night. If there's anything wrong, send for me."

"Right." Diluc took a step to move and stopped once more. He didn't face her. "We're all going home."

"I have to stop by headquarters for a moment but yes, we are."

Kaeya walked away from her, waving over his shoulder with a smile. "I'll see you in the morning, acting grand master. If you need me, you know where I'll be."

Jean relaxed, feeling a tear want to come to her eye before she turned and headed back to the city. Yes, they were all going home.

…

Diluc grumbled as Kaeya walked beside him. "I hate spelling things out for you."

Kaeya only smiled in response. That asshole was just waiting for him to come out and ask if he wanted to go home, wasn't he? Kaeya was the one that had asked him, he-

"Thank you."

Diluc turned to him. "For what?"

"For letting me come with."

Diluc let out a breath. "It's your home too, right? I know it's not the mansion." That was something he didn't regret parting with. It had been his home- their home, but with all the time father had spent at the winery, he had no issue calling both places as such. Having two reminders of his pain had been unnecessary. "I don't know why you left in the first place."

"You left. When you were gone, it wasn't really 'home' anymore."

Diluc shook his head, speeding up his pace. What was he supposed to say to that? He found himself smiling, though he didn't know why, happy his longer hair hid it from Kaeya.

Maybe it wasn't home for either of them without the other when dad was gone. Maybe that had been why it had been so easy for him to leave.

This time, he didn't think he could say the same.