Chapter 9: Kaeya

Kaeya trudged along the dirt road, passing through the northernmost parts of Mondstadt. This land was considered a neutral zone between Mond and Snezhnaya's borders, where neither the Knights of Favonius nor the Fatui patrolled regularly.

It was hard to digest everything that Quinn had told him. Kaeya would be lying if he said that he never worried about Diluc, but whenever the two were face-to-face, they never seemed to be able to have a civil conversation.

He was no stranger to heavy drinking himself. The only person in Mondstadt who could hold their liquor better than Kaeya was Sister Rosaria, who was often the one to help him stumble back home after a long night at the tavern.

The concept of Diluc drinking was almost impossible for the Khaenr'iahn to imagine. Sure, Diluc had always been a model knight before their father's death, but even after returning three years later, he was always meticulously behaved, never making a false step in front of the people of Mond.

It was always so bothersome that after the wine tycoon's unceremonious return, whether the barkeeper was Charles or Diluc himself, Kaeya would always get cut off after having a certain amount of drinks.

He originally would just head over to the Cat's Tail once Angel's Share stopped serving him, but eventually the two establishments seemed to coordinate and keep track of how much he drank at both bars.

Kaeya had always assumed that Diluc did this to spite him, what with all the red head's snide remarks about his drinking habits.

So the thought of the illustrious Diluc Ragnvindr being drunk out of his mind, slaughtering Fatui, was one that Kaeya simply couldn't fathom.

He paused at the fork in the road. To be completely honest, all Kaeya wanted was to turn back. As much as he tried to be a part of Diluc's life, his older brother only ever seemed to make things harder for him, which in turn only encouraged the blue haired knight to drink even more.

Kaeya took a deep breath before turning right and starting down the path once again. If anything, he wanted to at least apologize. No matter how much Diluc continued to hurt him, Kaeya couldn't forgive himself for bringing their late father into the mix.

A few more minutes up the road and he could finally see a small wooden building. It was very run down, with clear evidence of leaks in the roof and missing wood siding, but it seemed to be busy nonetheless.

Kaeya made his way up the uneven stone steps and opened the door to the tavern. He instantly scrunched his nose at the awful smell of cheap alcohol mixed with bad pipe weed. The air inside was hazy, and the clientele seemed to fit the same description of the bar itself.

Making a quick scan, he noticed a red haired man hunched over a table in the corner. Kaeya sighed before heading over and taking a seat across from his brother.

A stack of empty ale mugs had already accumulated on the table, while Diluc sat hunched with his head resting on his left arm, his right holding the handle of a half empty cup.

He didn't even look up when Kaeya sat down, staying completely still. The knight was wholly unsure of how to even approach this conversation.

"Go away," Diluc finally mumbled, still not lifting his head.

Kaeya sighed dramatically. "I didn't come all this way just to head back now."

Diluc's head finally shot up, making it clear that Kaeya was not the person he was expecting. He frowned, his eyes hazy and unfocused.

"I'm not drunk enough for this," Diluc muttered, downing the rest of his ale before standing up and stumbling over to the bar.

Kaeya stayed seated, shocked at his brother's mannerisms. Diluc slammed the mug on the filthy wooden bar, gaining the attention of the barkeeper.

"Give me a bottle of your strongest." His speech was slightly slurred as he leaned on the bar for support.

"I think you've had enough for tonight, buddy," the scraggly bartender said tentatively.

Diluc sighed and pulled out a large pouch of mora, dropping it on the bar.

The barkeeper's eyes widened. "On second though, one more bottle can't hurt…" He handed him a large, obviously repurposed glass bottle before excitedly counting the mora in the bag.

Diluc grabbed the stem of the bottle and shuffled out of the tavern. Kaeya hurriedly got up and followed him out into the night.

The red head stumbled down the steps, struggling to pull the cork out of the bottle.

"Diluc–" Kaeya started.

The cork finally came out with a loud pop, and Diluc took a long swig of the ale.

"We need to talk," Kaeya tried again.

Wiping his mouth, Diluc started down the path, ignoring that anything had been said to him at all.

Sighing, Kaeya could tell that this wasn't going to be easy. He hurried to catch up to the drunken wine tycoon, who could still walk remarkably fast given his current state.

"Diluc, I came to say I'm sorry. Will you please just stop and at least try to listen to me?"

Once again, Kaeya was ignored.

Already getting frustrated, he decided to try a different tactic to get Diluc's attention. Kaeya strode up to him and snatched the bottle, taking a drink for himself. Although, he didn't actually manage to swallow before promptly spitting out the foul liquid.

"Gods, that's awful!" Kaeya retched as he tried to wipe the foul taste from his mouth. "You own half the wine industry, and you choose to drink this shit?!"

Diluc snatched back the bottle, glaring at Kaeya. "I don't care what it tastes like, as long as it's cheap."

Watching his brother turn around and continue walking clumsily down the rutted path, Kaeya was almost completely baffled.

Sure, he no stranger to spending long nights at the tavern, drinking away his worries. Kaeya loved to savour the sweet taste of Death After Noon, enjoying every last drop as it slowly dulled his senses and chased away his dark and painful memories.

Diluc, on the other hand, seemed to be the complete opposite. He seemed to just drink whatever he could get his hands on in order to get drunk as quickly as possible.

Kaeya now regretted finishing his flask of wine earlier. This was going to be a long night.

He took a few long strides to catch up to the drunken wine tycoon. To his surprise, Diluc had already somehow managed to drink half the bottle.

Kaeya grabbed the ale once again, this time smashing the glass on a rock and watching in satisfaction as the disgusting beverage trickled down into the dirt.

"What the hell?!" Diluc cried, gripping his messy red hair."

"Come on, I'm taking you back to Mondstadt." Kaeya wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible.

Diluc spun around, glaring at his estranged brother. "What, so you can gloat? Tell everyone what a screw up I am?"

"What? No…" he trailed off.

Diluc spat angrily at the ground. "It's not enough for you to be a constant reminder of all my failures, is it?" His voice was pained, so unlike his usual apathetic self. "You always have be there, taunting me, spying on me."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Kaeya said firmly.

The red head let out a pained laugh. "Right. How could you? You never cared in the first place." He strode off, clearly being done with this conversation.

It felt like Kaeya had been punched in the gut. How dare Diluc think he didn't care?

He chased after him, putting a hand on Diluc's shoulder to forcefully turn him around.

"No. I don't care how drunk you are, I have tried. I've tried so hard to make things right, but all you ever do is push me away!" he shouted.

Diluc looked like he was on the verge of tears as he laughed again. "What do you want me to say, Kaeya?"

The blue haired knight clenched his fists in anger. "Say something, anything! I don't give a damn anymore, since its clear how much you hate me!" Kaeya shouted, finally losing his temper.

Diluc tried to walk away again, but clumsily tripped over a rock. Catching himself and putting his hands on his knees, he continued to laugh, which was almost the scariest thing he could do in that situation.

When he looked back up, there were tears streaming down his face. Diluc wore a drunken smile, though it was clear how much pain he was in by the look in his eyes.

"Nothing matters now. I tried so hard to hate you, but I couldn't. I couldn't even rat you out the the Knights, even though our entire childhood was nothing but a lie."

"What?" Kaeya breathed, not following.

Diluc tossed his arms in an exasperated gesture. "No matter how many times you taunt me, make me feel so damn horrible, I still can't do it. Not even now, in whatever drunken nightmare this is, I still can't tell you that I hate you."

Kaeya finally realized that Diluc thought he must be some sort of drunken hallucination.

The red head choked back a sob. "You know what Father's last words were?"

Kaeya stiffened. It was a question he'd often wondered about, but never actually wanted to know the answer.

Diluc squeezed his eyes shut, tossing his head back. "He said to me, 'take care of Kaeya, take care of him for me'. Then the blood filled his lungs and I had to–"

He cut himself off as he keeled over and threw up. Kaeya though he was going to be sick himself. Diluc never talked about that night, not to anyone.

The young wine tycoon laughed again as he wiped his mouth, although the laugh sounded more like sobs. He turned to look at Kaeya, head tilted lazily.

"Then I tried to kill you. How could I ever face you again, after I'd betrayed the only family I had left, betrayed Father's last wish."

Kaeya tried so hard to swallow his emotions. He wasn't ready for this.

"Not that you were ever actually my family. It was all an act, wasn't it?" Diluc let out another pained chuckle. "You signed away your inheritance of Father's will. You turned your back on everything he built. You turned your back on our family."

The drunken man shook his head, looking like he was on the verge of losing his balance.

"You were my brother, Kaeya. I loved you. And it was all just a lie."

Kaeya could hold back his own sobs no longer. He wanted to scream, wanted to tell Diluc that nothing he was saying was true. He wanted to take back every cruel comment he'd ever made at his brother's expense.

"You were always better off without me. You were everything Father ever wanted, a knight in shining armour. Everything I failed to be… even if it is all just a lie. I–"

Diluc finally fell over, retching as he threw up the rest of the contents of his stomach. He tried to pick himself up, only to fall back onto his hands and knees.

Kaeya finally broke down crying. Seeing his brother like this was too much to bear. Diluc was always his role model, everything he'd ever aspired to be as a child. And yet here he was, all the layers of his carefully constructed facade painfully stripped away.

He bent down to help Diluc to his feet, supporting the barely conscious man. Kaeya was determined to finally try to make things right.