Episode 5: Vengeance
"Time… what can be said of it? Even the gods are caught within its all-encompassing flow. At least, that was what we had always believed. As millennia passed in the blink of an eye, so many things changed, yet the nature of our souls remained the same. It was as if we were caught within a snare, unable to ever ascend past it. Back then, none of us were fully aware of our plight, but now I'm certain that at least one man had already understood the nature of that world…"
Another peaceful sunrise graced the docks of Liyue Harbor. Workers were already buzzing about, moving cargo from ships that came from afar. Things were getting back to normal after the end of the Lantern Rite Festival. Just like every festival's end, this one left a bittersweet feeling in the hearts of those who had experienced it. That special time was over, leaving only memories that would fade with time.
Spring had almost arrived.
Opening Theme: FELT - START
In the meantime, Diluc Ragnvindr had been making his final preparations to exact his revenge. His training had become even more rigorous, and his mind was sharpened to a point, fully prepared for what he had to do. One day before the alleged Fatui meeting, as the sun began to set, his help arrived, with a knock at the door of his room.
"Yeah, who is it?" he asked, already suspecting who it was.
"Oh, no one special. Just a long-lost friend, come to save you from the depths of despair!"
"Not interested," Diluc flatly replied, locking the door.
"Hey, is that any way to treat someone who traveled all this way? Shouldn't you be welcoming us in with open arms?!" The sugary voice continued.
"Maybe you should get a little more serious about it, then I'll consider it."
A deep sigh was heard from the other side of the door, followed by exasperated, indecipherable muttering.
"Fine then, have it your way. Your backup is here."
Diluc finally opened the door, instantly seeing a very flashy man with blue hair standing outside. It was the person standing beside Kaeya that he was surprised by. He raised an eyebrow before speaking up.
"Her? Didn't expect that. You sure about this?"
Kaeya smiled at the nervous young woman beside him, then replied: "I wouldn't underestimate her if I were you."
"Alright then. I look forward to working with you, Sucrose."
"Y-Yes! I'll do my best, Master Diluc!" she stuttered in reply.
Master…? he thought with a sigh.
The three stepped inside the inn room, after checking to make sure no one was eavesdropping nearby.
"Now that we have our greetings out of the way, what's your plan?" Kaeya spoke, looking to Diluc.
"I already know the location, and I've scoped it out thoroughly. Entering shouldn't be too much of a problem, and once we're inside the ruins, there aren't too many places they can hide. The best course of action would be a stealthy entrance, then a direct attack once we find them, using the element of surprise. You and I will attack, and Sucrose will support us."
"A sound enough plan… but you almost make it sound too easy. Surely things won't go that smoothly? These men wiped Springvale off the map, after all," Kaeya replied, a hard look in his eyes.
"…Springvale was too peaceful for their own good. They had no defense against the weapons of the Fatui. We're different. Or are you saying you can't handle this?" Diluc spoke pointedly.
The room was silent for a few seconds. The flickering light of a lantern on the nearby desk illuminated the tight faces of the three makeshift comrades. Then Kaeya spoke up.
"I'm more than prepared," he said, placing his hand significantly on the hilt of his sword.
Sheathed at his side was the legendary Skyward Blade.
"I see… it seems you are," Diluc replied, cocking one eyebrow. "I won't ask how you got that."
"A wise decision, my friend," Kaeya said in a whimsical voice.
As the night drifted on, the three discussed the finer details of their plan, pouring over maps of the ruins area and planning their route inside. After several hours of this, Kaeya was the first to tap out.
"Ahhhh, that's enough for now. I'm itching to try out the baths here. Anyone else care to join me?" he ended his sentence flirtatiously, leering at Sucrose.
"N-No, I think I'll go later, Master Kaeya," she said, blushing and looking away.
"Hey now. Is that how you treat your comrades these days?" Diluc retorted in a low voice.
"It's just a bit of team building, team building I say!"
Diluc scowled at Kaeya in pity before turning to Sucrose.
"You should be careful around this guy. He's questionable at best."
"No, Master Kaeya isn't a bad person. I think he just gets a little lonely sometimes."
This time it was Diluc choking back a snicker. He couldn't believe that Kaeya got burned by the docile Sucrose of all people.
Meanwhile, Kaeya withered like a neglected plant, standing up shakily.
"Fine then, a bath alone sounds very nice all of a sudden."
With that, the clown left the room. Sucrose followed, heading for the room that she would be staying in.
The next day, the same three gathered together at the base of the mountain path near Bubu Pharmacy. They were anxiously waiting for the cover of total darkness before setting off.
"Ten more minutes and we should be good." Diluc muttered quietly as he surveyed his surroundings.
People were milling around the nearby pond, taking in its beauty as they enjoyed the fresh evening air. None of them had any inkling of what the three were up to, or so Diluc hoped.
"We stand out too much," Kaeya whispered, his keen eyes watching every little movement nearby.
Just then, he caught sight of someone descending the other nearby staircase, heading towards them in a hurry. He started to reach for the hilt of his sword by reflex, before noticing the appearance of that person.
"A woman?" he spoke quietly, drawing Diluc's attention towards her.
What he saw nearly made him have a heart attack.
"K-Keqing?!" he spit out.
He turned to leave, but it was too late. She was surprisingly quick. She rushed up to Diluc and stopped directly in front of him.
"I… finally… gasp… found you!" she forced out her words, bending over and grabbing her knees in a very unladylike manner.
"Found him?" Kaeya queried, a look of suspicion drawn on his face.
"Don't worry about it, let's just go," Diluc said shortly, then turned to leave.
"Y… You're not leaving!" Keqing said, still gasping for air. "Not without me!"
"…Huh?" three voices spoke in near unison.
Farther up the mountain, four figures now stood side by side in the darkness. For a while, sharp, argumentative voices had disturbed the peace of the little canyon. Now, though, it was much more quiet.
Diluc looked like a dishrag that had been wrung out a few too many times. He made one more effort to change the stubborn young woman's mind.
"Keqing, I really mean it. If you come with us and end up getting hurt, my neck will be on the chopping block."
"Perfect, then. I won't be getting hurt."
Diluc finally gave up on his futile efforts. Kaeya stood nearby, pinching his nose with two fingers. This show had gone on for over twenty minutes now.
"Promise me," Diluc said, looking sternly from one of her eyes to the other.
"I promise. From the bottom of my heart," Keqing said, glancing to the side, then back to him.
"Alright. Kaeya, you got that in writing?"
Kaeya smirked, shrugging his shoulders sheepishly.
At last, the group set off into the night, now a quartet. Diluc wasn't sure how Keqing had found out about their plan, but an image of a certain scary white-haired woman flashed through the back of his mind, and he felt a chill.
After a thirty-minute's walk, they arrived at the valley where Qingxu Pool resided. They descended into absolute silence, preparing as best they could for what lay ahead of them. At last, Diluc raised his hand, then gestured, marking the beginning of their mission.
Four shadows raced through the night, hiding behind ruin walls, darting into alcoves. They started and stopped in unison, making their way ever closer to the interior of the Qingxu Pool ruins. The only thing remaining was to cross the open gap to the ruins themselves. They leapt out of hiding, flashing across the open space, and made it to the entrance of the ruins without incident.
Things were going swimmingly up until now. It was almost unnerving. But now, from within, low voices could be heard.
Diluc looked at his teammates, judging their readiness. He saw stone cold expressions on each face, even Sucrose's. It was time.
"Go," he whispered.
In that same instant, he burst through the ancient stone archway. Three more shadows followed, hot on his heels. It was only seconds until they spotted their target: a handful of Fatui Skirmishers gathered around a small fire.
With weapons drawn, they prepared to attack, when suddenly, without warning, one of the Fatui turned around.
"INTRUDERS!" he shouted, gathering his weapon and assuming a battle stance.
But the quartet couldn't retreat now. Instead, they threw themselves at the enemies, desperate to prevent the Fatui from gathering their wits.
"AHHHH!" Diluc let out a battle cry, then kicked off of his left foot, propelling himself at the first Skirmisher at terrifying speeds.
The Fatui tried to block, but Diluc's unpredictable stance left the enemy unable to discern where the attack would come from. Without the slightest chance to stop it, a vicious swing came from below, severing the Skirmisher's legs. Blood stained the ground as he roared in pain, falling helplessly on his back.
In the instant of an opening created by this, Diluc rared back and swung his sword in a wide arc, sending a crescent of flames at the entire group before him. Pure, scorching fire slammed into the bodies of half a dozen Fatui, setting the whole room ablaze with light. Screams of pain filled the ruins.
Sucrose stood in awe as the flames reflected in her eyes. She knew this was her chance. She conjured a fierce wind in the midst of the group of blazing Fatui, swirling the flames into a consuming inferno. The immense heat caused Diluc to turn away, covering his face. In mere seconds, the only thing left of their enemies was smoldering, foul-smelling ashes.
That wasn't the last of them, though. Another seven or eight men came running from another path on the other side of the ruins, and several shouts of anger were heard from above. The place was crawling with Fatui. Diluc looked above just in time to see four men looming, one with a gun. But in the short moment the Fatui Bracer took to aim his rifle, the tide of battle changed in an instant.
A thunderous crack echoed off the stone walls, and in the blink of an eye, the Bracer fell to the floor. Or rather, his top half did. Standing where he once stood was Keqing, sparking with electricity. She quickly turned her attention to the other three men who were behind the Bracer on the ledge. Rubble on the ground nearby began to levitate due to the incredible amount of static electricity charging the air. Suddenly, Keqing disappeared again, and a fierce bolt of lightning seemed to strike the ruins. Once she reappeared, the three Fatui had been cleanly decapitated by her razor-sharp blade.
Only a half-dozen or so Fatui remained, all crowding through a nearby hole in the rocks to enter the large room where the carnage had taken place. Kaeya saw his opportunity, and didn't fail to take it. He ran forward to meet the group, then slammed his sword into the ground. Sub-zero ice spread out at an alarming rate from the impact, engulfing the feet of the men before him, and freezing them solid up to their necks.
Diluc saw red. His prey lay helpless before him, ensnared by Kaeya's ice. Feeling his chest burn with rage and the desire for vengeance, he rushed forward before Kaeya could do anything else.
With menace and hatred practically flowing from him, Diluc began enacting his justice. He beheaded the first man, who was pleading for mercy. The next three had their legs taken out from under them in one swing of the fearsome Wolf's Gravestone. He crushed the face of the first man under his boot, until it resembled a deflated red toy ball. Then, he made quick work of the other two as well.
Only two men remained now. The first was cleaved in half from bottom to top, Diluc's smoldering sword evaporating the blood before it could even fall. The second had an even more unfortunate fate in store.
"Where's the girl you kidnapped?!"
But Diluc's query was met with silence.
"Who ordered you to attack Springvale?! Or did you vermin just come up with this on your own?!" Diluc roared in fury.
"Ha… Haha… Hahahahahahahah!" the Fatui agent burst into hysterics.
"You know nothing of the loyalty of the Fatui," he continued, without a trace of mirth remaining on his face. "The girl still lives, but I will never tell you… a single thing."
A frightening look overwrote Diluc's face as the man finished his spiel. Keqing looked down from above with concern, afraid of what Diluc would do next.
He drew closer to the Fatui, then flipped his sword around in his hand. He raised it high, and drove it into the man's foot like a wedge. The Fatui agent screamed in pain, but didn't crack.
"Fucking SCUM!" Diluc let loose an animalistic roar as the balance of his mental scales was sent askew.
His brutal interrogation continued, like a snuff film that no one wanted to see. He set his sword ablaze, then placed it directly against the man's face.
"AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The man screeched like a dying animal as the flames melted away the fragile skin of his cheek. In seconds, teeth were visible out in the open… but still, the man spoke not a single meaningful word.
Diluc lost himself to the rage. He could no longer think thoughts. All he knew now was killing and destruction. He had become the living personification of twisted justice. That is, until a hand grabbed his shoulder roughly.
"ENOUGH!" Kaeya yelled in Diluc's ear. "The hell are you doing?!"
Diluc slowly turned towards Kaeya, his eyes blazing like a demon's. As he stared daggers at Kaeya, Keqing jumped down from above, with tears in her eyes.
"Please stop, Diluc… he's already dead…" she whispered quietly.
Suddenly Diluc's eyes widened, and he sucked in a deep breath for what felt like the first time in hours. His chest burned, and his mouth was so dry it felt like his tongue was made of sandpaper. He turned around slowly to look at the scene of carnage he had inflicted. The stone walls were painted crimson. Intestines and organs were spilled across the floor, and the final man only had a blackened nub where his head had once been. His pitiful body still stood in place, frozen and charred.
"Ah… Damn it all." Diluc mumbled in regret.
No one spoke for an awkwardly long time. Sucrose stood with her hand over her mouth, looking away from her comrades. Kaeya looked down at his feet, a complicated expression on his face.
Keqing was the first one to speak up. Her voice cracked as she uttered two short words:
"Let's go."
Meanwhile, on a hill nearby, a Fatui Bracer pulled back his scope, throwing his gun over his shoulder. He quickly turned from the scene below and dashed off into the night.
The makeshift group made their way back to Liyue Harbor just before midnight. No more words were exchanged on the way back, as the group savored the bitter aftertaste of their battle. As they neared the inn, Keqing stopped walking.
"I… can't forget about what I saw back there… I'm sorry, I need some time to think. Please don't follow me any further."
The purple-haired girl spoke without turning around, her fingers balled into tight fists. She didn't address anyone, but it was clear to everyone who she was talking to. After saying her piece, she walked away, her shoes clacking sharply on the stone pavement.
To Diluc, every "clack" was a gavel striking, proclaiming his guilt.
Once the three remaining comrades made it back to the inn, they went to their separate rooms immediately. Hours passed, but Diluc couldn't sleep a wink. He couldn't escape from the grotesque memory filling his mind: a scene of blood, fire, and uncontrollable rage.
Around 3 a.m., he finally decided to get up from his face-down position on the bed. He left his room, heading to the inn's bath, hoping it would relax him somehow. The halls of the inn were as quiet as death as he made his way there.
Sinking into the hot water up to his chin, he tried to empty his head of the thoughts plaguing him. The image of Keqing's tear-streaked face just wouldn't stop haunting him.
"Haaaa…" he sighed in frustration at himself.
Why did I have to lose it then, of all times?
While he desperately sought an answer, the door to the bath creaked, and footsteps sounded behind him.
"So that's where you went. I didn't even get an invite?" an annoyingly-silky voice broke the quietude.
"Shut the fuck up. I'm not in the mood," Diluc responded with more venom than he had intended.
Kaeya was silent as he stepped into the spacious bath, covering himself with a towel. He spoke up again after a short delay. This time, the joking tone was gone.
"I don't know what happened back there, but I'd prefer not to see anything like it again. What the hell was that?"
Diluc hung his head. He had no retort for the man, for he was only speaking the truth. Diluc had gone so far overboard, showing cruelty that was unlike him in every way. His sense of justice had always been spotless - at least in the public eye - but this… this was something altogether different. The monster inside him had shown a sliver of its face, and it was truly revolting.
"What are you fighting for, Diluc? Is it truly justice? Or are you just running from something?" Kaeya continued, with a hard look in his eye.
"Don't go there," the crimson-haired man growled in reply.
"Why not, so you can bury it again? If that's how you're gonna handle it, make sure to bury it deeper next time."
"You think I haven't already figured that out? Dammit, Kaeya, don't fuck with me right now!"
Diluc's eyes burned as he glared at the man who had once been his "brother".
"I didn't intend to. For once, I thought you should hear something honest from me. All of this hatred and cruelty won't bring our father back. It only brings shame to his name."
Kaeya cut directly to the heart of the matter, striking Diluc with a perfectly-aimed shot that went right through him. Diluc's rage was immediately kindled against the blue-haired man. He sprang up from his reclined position, grabbing Kaeya around the neck with one hand.
"Don't pretend like you understand me, you fucking bastard." he snarled in a low tone.
In response, Kaeya spoke in a level, but hoarse voice.
"Can't you see yourself right now? Would Crepus be proud of this?"
Diluc's eyes widened at his father's name. He looked down to see his right hand clutching Kaeya's neck, and a wave of guilt washed over him, as if his father's eyes were watching him even now. He released his grip on Kaeya, his hand dropping slowly to his side.
"I… I'm sorry Kaeya… And I'm sorry… father."
He spoke softly, staring off into space as if his mind was drifting far away.
Kaeya rubbed his reddened neck, preparing to speak again.
"It isn't too late to right your wrongs. You can't let hatred and revenge consume you. If you do, you might lose the few precious things you have left. Take it from someone who knows."
Diluc looked back at Kaeya, much more calmly this time.
"I understand. But it probably won't be that easy."
"Then it's a good thing you have someone to help you get there." Kaeya said with a half smile.
"Huh?"
"That girl was looking at you quite fondly earlier. That is, before your little outburst."
Diluc looked down, his eyes hidden behind his bangs.
"I don't deserve her affection, anyway."
"Whether or not you deserve it, it seems inevitable that you will have to face it. You should apologize and explain things to her. If she truly cares about you, she'll understand."
"You're right. I'll settle things one way or another."
With the tension now drained from the room, Kaeya sat back in the bath with a sigh.
"Ahhh, how am I going to explain this to Jean?"
Diluc glowered at him again, then stood up abruptly.
"I'm leaving."
Left alone, Kaeya put his hands behind his head, reclining as if he didn't have a care in the world. With no one else around, he verbalized his thoughts:
"Looks like things are about to get interesting."
Ending Theme: FELT - you
Next:
Episode 6: Coalescence
