AYO I'm back with another chapter, let's watch this amazing team go off and solve all of Mondstadt's problems!
Diluc glanced between Jean, Kaeya, and his stack of papers, raising his eyebrow judgmentally before drily commenting, "Knights of Favonius so inefficient."
Kaeya looked at Jean in horror, she was not making him work with Diluc surely.
Jean simply smiled innocently at both of them as if she had nothing to do with this, "Sir-" started Jean before quickly correcting herself, Kaeya could relate, "Master Diluc, Sir Kaeya will be working with you to keep your winery safe from the nearby leylines."
Master Diluc sighed tiredly looking at Kaeya, "I don't need the knight's help. When I alerted you to this situation, I figured you guys needed to start actually doing your job, not asking for the resident slacking Ordo Favonius mascot." He jabbed a finger at Kaeya.
Kaeya rolled his eyes at Diluc's title for him, it was true that he had gardened up quite the reputation among his peers, he was only a pretty face though, the mascot was reserved for the one and only Klee.
Jean cut in swiftly, "And we didn't ask for a guy with a bird mask to beat up Abyss Mages at night, but we still have to deal with it. "
She had figured it out ages ago, Jean wasn't stupid afterall he was No. 1 on their suspect list before their accusations and evidence mysteriously faded away in a way only Kaeya could make happen.
It was always good leverage, besides Jean knows that Master Diluc would do everything to help the city.
Master Diluc scoffed under his breath, "Fine. One afternoon, that's it. One afternoon."
Why couldn't Diluc just reject him like usual?
Despite what most of Monstadt thought, and even Kaeya, Diluc did not in fact hate Kaeya, Diluc didn't know what to think of his estranged brother but his fury had died down long ago burnt out by the heavy rain of that night and endless roads he traveled.
That did not mean he was pleased with the new situation, after a short, blissful silence, Kaeya began talking to him, and didn't stop even as he gathered a carriage to take them back to Dawn Winery.
His head was pounding from the fact that he hadn't slept in a few nights, he rarely slept nowadays, only when it was absolutely necessary, the quiet had always made him antsy and when we went looking for trouble he usually found it. So with his headache soon becoming a migraine he really wished that Kaeya would just be quiet, no matter how many times he tried to shut up that annoying little bastard though he'd just laugh and move onto a different subject.
It vaguely resembled when they were younger, except it always used to be Diluc talking Kaeya's ear off about all the sights he saw, how the tables had turned.
Some days Diluc just wished he could catch a glimpse of the brother he had grown up with, his quiet shy little brother who just wanted to make him and father happy, rather than this flirtatious foregin imposter, then he could feel like something about Kaeya was real.
"Diona is quite the bartender, don't you think? I think she will soon get Cat Tail in a position to rival your business, even with her temper and tendency to bite people. Although you always had a temper when you were younger didn't you, and you bit." continued Kaeya rambling at this point since Diluc was hardly listening.
Diluc scoffed, not even knowing why he bothered to point out, "That was on rare occasions, it only happened three times." Diluc already knew Kaeya was going to mention the mysterious 4th time he didn't remember because he was a delirious with a fever, he shouldn't be held accountable for that.
"Uh uh uh." said Kaeya wagging his finger, "Four times, you bit me."
Diluc decided to not even entertain that with a response, still a traitorous tiny bit of him couldn't help but think: "This feels familiar doesn't it? Chatting with Kaeya, returning home to Dawn Winery?"
The carriage skidded to a halt, they had arrived, just in time for Diluc to stop questioning things and remind himself that Kaeya was here for business only, not to repair their fractured family even if he knew that Jean purposely decided that out of all the knights Kaeya would be the one to help him, and nobody else.
Jean wasn't too subtle was the point.
Kaeya hopped out examining the place, keen blue eye taking in everything just like how he did so many years ago, he always had a knack for memorization and knowing exactly what was wrong.
His eye lingered on something in the distance, "Master Diluc, the reports said that the leylines were in Wolvendom, correct?"
Diluc gave a small noise of confirmation never missing a chance to insult the knights, "Yes, Sir Kaeya, that's what they said if you Knights bothered to read them. Your helping me clear out the monsters spawning from them and then you can go home, and if it's just as well with you I'd prefer we keep the meaningless chit chat to a minimum."
It came out a bit harsher than intended but Kaeya fell silent for a good two seconds.
Kaeya walked over jerking Diluc's head from the cargo he was unloading onto the horizon,"Then I guess you wouldn't be interested in the storm coming our way." The storm in question was not actually a storm, it seemed to be made by the dust ley lines always had swirling around them, except this time it blotted out their view of Wolvendom, swirling blue clouds of dust was racing towards Dawn Winery at an alarming rate.
If they could find the source maybe they could stop this thing before it expanded further, Diluc had never seen anything like this but with his years on the run when faced with the unknown it was better to eliminate it than wait around.
His elemental sight allowed him to see past the normal swirls and distracting leaves and rubble blown into the mix painting them glassy dull colors, beyond the mixture of elements caught in the leyline to the heart of the problem. A giant incredibly dark green whirlwind pushing the storm towards Dawn Winery.
He opened his mouth to alert Kaeya when he saw Kaeya was no longer by his side and heading straight for the whirlwind. Internally Diluc scolded himself for forgetting Kaeya also had a vision meaning he could access it the same as he could, chalk that up as another thing he'd have to get used to.
He followed Kaeya to the center where if this was like most leylines the center would activate it, except this time it only got larger and more powerful. Maybe they should have come up with a better plan, but Diluc was always fond of charging in headfirst as Kaeya would always say.
No monsters spawned and the black hole only grew in size causing the storm to grow and gain in speed, without much choice they ran but it was pointless and they were thrown into the torrential torrent and thrown into blackness.
When Diluc woke up with groggily with a stiff neck and sunlight on his face, he honestly didn't even expect to wake up at all, still whatever he was lying on was soft and there was a warm blanket on him that could only feel so soft if it came from Dawn Winery which meant one of the maids probably found them and brought them in.
He settled himself in again trying to remember exactly what happened, he knew something happened, everything was foggy though, did something go wrong when he was on one of his late night escapes.
When he eventually opened his eyes he definitely didn't expect to see a certain bluentte curled up beside him in a chair, head resting on his shoulder, normally he'd scream in shock probably sounding like a girl in the process and then Kaeya would tease him endlessly but the Kaeya that was curled up against him snuggling in the crook of his arm definitely wasn't his Kaeya, the Kaeya who his arms were wrapped around features were soft and boyish and he was much smaller and skinnier than Diluc.
Although Kaeya had never gotten the same bulk as Diluc even as they aged, he had grown taller than Diluc, although Diluc if you asked him would just discreetly put on a bit higher boots.
"I must be dreaming." thought Diluc looking back down at a younger brother he could recognize.
Yeah he must be, because he was back in the manor, maybe that leyline had knocked him out and he was dreaming. Still there had never been quite so much detail in his dreams, generally everything was just images and chunks of memories, he hadn't lucid dreamed in ages, and everything felt oddly real. Then again everything seems real in dreams until you wake up… and to top all of this madness off a much taller redhead man than himself appeared sporting his signature stubble and jovial grin, despite being relatively young he had wrinkles caused by smiles etched into his skin, the Ragnvindr family had always been energetic and happy until that day.
Before Diluc could react though to his sudden appearance and well everything else his father walked across the room to ruffle Diluc's hair with a quiet laugh, "How was your sleep, my boy?"
What was this madness?
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