Chapter 11: Kaeya

Kaeya spent the next couple days at Dawn Winery. This was a huge change for him, since he usually stayed at a firm distance from the family business, opting to be nothing more than customer instead.

All the Winery staff were rather shocked at his presence. Many of the daily activities were familiar from his childhood, although there were still some significant changes to the day-to-day business.

Kaeya had to admit, Diluc's improvements were impressive indeed. While helping Elzer with some of the paperwork, he couldn't help but notice how tactfully the Winery was run.

He learned much during his time working with Adelinde and Elzer. Given the situation, and Kaeya's shocking attempt at once again becoming involved, they somewhat reluctantly answered his questions.

Of course, there was the infamous Fire Water incident, where Diluc had a cup of the strong Snezhnayan drink during an important meeting with the delegation. The story went that just the single glass was enough to knock him out for three days.

As it turned out, the actual events occurred slightly differently, according to Adelinde. Diluc had been almost a year sober, but when push came to shove, he couldn't find a way to skip the ceremonial drinking without offending his Snezhnayan guests. After the one glass, he had apparently been sneaking more of the strong drinks throughout the night, until he finally collapsed of alcohol poisoning.

Spending this time at the Winery made Kaeya realize how much of the distance between him and his brother was really due to the knight's own actions. If he hadn't signed away his inheritance, if he'd stayed in touch with Adelinde and Elder rather than avoiding them as much as possible…. Maybe all of this wouldn't have been so surprising.

Still, he was far from being alone in the blame.

Diluc hadn't left his room in three days. As far as most of the staff were concerned, he was ill after a business trip. The only person who had seen him was Adelinde, who brought him meals regularly.

The red head was stubborn as ever. Kaeya lingered at the Winery for the purpose of hoping to talk, although it seemed very likely that Diluc's refusal to leave his room could be due to his brother's presence.

Still, Kaeya stayed, helping with various invoices and delivery notices. Normally he hated doing any sort of paperwork, but it was a surprisingly nice change of pace from his usual Favonius work.

He enjoyed working with numbers. It was far more amusing to him than approving patrol reports.

As far as the Acting Grandmaster was concerned, Kaeya was on a short leave of absence due to "family business". The letter had been delivered the morning he returned to the Winery, and it was almost comical how quickly he got a reply approving his leave.

It seemed Jean was almost as eager for the Ragnvindr brothers to reconcile as Adelinde, who penned the letter on Kaeya's behalf.

Still, even though he took advantage of this three day absence to remain at the Winery, Kaeya's patience was growing thin.

Finally, after satisfyingly setting aside the large stack of invoices he'd finished calculating, he went on the search for Adelinde.

The head maid was thrilled by Kaeya's company. When he left to live on his own in Mondstadt, he'd promised to visit her as often as possible, although after Crepus' death, that promise quickly fell through.

"Have you been working this whole time? I organized this leave of absence so you could rest, you know," Adelinde pouted, putting her hands on her hips in an effort of playful annoyance.

"As a matter of fact, I think I'm ready to take a break," Kaeya said with a sly smile. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't missed Adelinde all these years.

"Oh? Is there something you need?" Even though he was a grown adult, the maid still treated him as if he was her own son.

The smile quickly fell from his face, and Kaeya's stomach churned as he paused before replying.

"I want to talk to Diluc."

Adelinde's smile disappeared almost as quickly. "Kaeya, dear… I'm not so sure that's a good idea right now, for either of you," she said softly.

"I have to," Kaeya stated, firm in his decision. "I've… put this off for far too long already."

Adelinde closed her eyes, taking a deep breath before nodding in agreement.

She offered her keyring to the younger man, and he made his way over to the master bedroom. Adelinde hung back, giving him one final nod of reassurance before he unlocked the door.

Slowly turning the knob, Kaeya braced himself as he entered the room, closing the door carefully behind him.

The bedroom was an absolute mess. Papers were strewn across the floor, tacked on the walls, and crumpled into balls in one corner. The bed was a tangled mess of sheets, Diluc sat hunched at his desk, his back turned to the door. His hair was loose, a surprising sight ever since he returned from his three-year absence.

"Just leave the food by the door," Diluc mumbled, not even bothering to even turn around.

Kaeya carefully stepped over the mess on the floor, scrunching his nose at the smell of body odour. It seemed the red head hadn't even bathed in the last three days.

"You shouldn't treat Adelinde like your servant," Kaeya said pointedly.

Diluc's head whipped around, obviously shocked that it was his brother visiting and not Adelinde. The dark circles under his eyes were more pronounced than usual, and there was faint red stubble growing on his chin.

""Go away," Diluc muttered, turning back around and standing up to try to collect his mess of papers.

Kaeya let out a dark laugh, making his way over to stand at his brother's side, who promptly ignored him. "Sorry, I didn't realize how grateful you were that I dragged your drunken ass all the way back here," he replied sarcastically.

Diluc's grip tightened on the crumpled papers in his hands. "I'm not going to talk about this," he muttered through clenched teeth.

Kaeya slammed his hand down on the desk, which finally got the red head to look at him in surprise. "No, we are going to talk about this!" the Khaenri'ahn shouted, finally running out of patience.

Diluc stared at him in disbelief, shocked at this sudden outburst. Kaeya pointed a finger at his face.

"You don't get to play the victim anymore, ignoring me, always telling to bugger off." Kaeya's voice dripped with malice. "You're going to sit down, and you're going to actually listen to what I actually have to say."

The red head collapsed into the chair, staring down at his scarred hands. Kaeya was honestly surprised at how easily Diluc had resigned to listening to him.

He took a deep breath, trying to reign his emotions before continuing.

"How much do you actually remember from that night?"

The disheveled man in the chair said nothing.

"Diluc." Kaeya insisted.

"Not much," the red head finally admitted quietly.

Kaeya sighed impatiently. "All those times I woke up drunk after closing at Angel's Share, when you would lecture me about the dangers of alcohol… Were you really talking to me, or yourself?" he accused.

Diluc stayed silent, still staring at his hands.

"The day you came back to Mondstadt, do you remember what you said to me?" Kaeya continued. "You disappeared, for three years, and the first thing you said when you got back was that I didn't care."

The angry knight leaned forward on the desk. "I spent almost a decade living with you and Crepus. I grew up with you. Do you have any idea how hard it was for me, to live with a family who loved me, when I was nothing but a spy?!"

Angry tears started to form in Kaeya's eyes. "I loved you, Diluc. And you tried to kill me."

Diluc winced, turning away, but still said nothing.

"You can hate me all you want. Honestly, you'd be justified in that. But don't you dare think for one second that I never cared." Kaeya now had to try to blink away his tears to prevent them from spilling over.

"I held onto your Vision, held onto the guilt of hurting you every single day of those three years. I wished you had killed me, as punishment for betraying the only family who ever truly loved me."

Kaeya finally let out a sob, all his pent up pain and emotions finally coming to the surface.

"You were never planning on coming back, were you?" Kaeya asked quietly, unsure of whether he really wanted to know the answer.

"No," Diluc finally whispered, still facing away from his brother.

Kaeya let out another heavy sob. "Why? Did I really hurt you that much?"

Diluc finally turned to look in Kaeya's eyes. He looked so lost and broken.

"What did I have to come back to?" he replied quietly. "Father was dead. The Knights betrayed me. I had nothing."

The two brothers stared at each other in silence.

"You had me," Kaeya whispered.

Diluc closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "How could I ever face you after what I did? How could I face you, or Adelinde, when I betrayed everything Father ever taught us?" he asked, staring at his hands once again.

"I never blamed you," Kaeya said earnestly, but got no response.

"Aren't you glad you came back?" he asked hopefully. "You helped save Mondstadt from Stormterror, you're the Darknight Hero. There are people here who need you.''

"I need you."

Diluc still said nothing. Kaeya could feel his eyepatch growing wet from tears once again, but he didn't care anymore.

"Was any of it real?" Diluc finally asked quietly.

"What?" Kaeya breathed, not following.

"Growing up together, being brothers… was it all just an act?" he asked again, still not looking up.

This question broke something deep inside of Kaeya.

"Of course not…" he started. "Diluc, you were my brother. You and Crepus… you loved me unconditionally. Some part of me will always miss my parents… but you, Father, Adelinde… You were my real family."

Diluc put his head in his hands, and started sobbing silently. Kaeya gently put a hand on his shoulder, expecting a similar reaction as last time.

This time, Diluc made no effort to push Kaeya away.

Kaeya kneeled down, tentatively wrapping his arms around Diluc, who continued to cry silently into his shoulder.

"I'm sorry," Diluc whispered.

Kaeya felt his own tears return as the two brothers finally shared a warm embrace.

"I know," Kaeya whispered back. "I'm sorry too."

Diluc wrapped his own arms around the Khaenri'ahn, who sobbed in relief.

They stayed like that for what felt like an eternity. For the first time in years, Kaeya felt like he'd finally gotten his brother back.

Eventually, they had to break their hug.

"Do you think… Do you think we can try being brothers again?" Kaeya asked.

Diluc turned away and squeezed his eyes shut. "Honestly... I don't know. I have a lot to atone for, and a lot to work out on my own."

Kaeya's heart ached, but deep down he understood. One hug couldn't solve all their problems, and despite everything, Kaeya was still Khaenr'iahn.

"I'll stop drinking," he offered desperately. "I'll do it, for you, and Adelinde–"

"No, Kaeya," Diluc interrupted, pinching the bridge of his nose. "That… that won't work. You can't stop for someone else, you have to do it for yourself, when you're ready… Believe me, I know."

Kaeya sighed in defeat. "Promise me. Promise me you'll at least try. Don't push me away anymore. I can't take it, and I doubt you can either."

Diluc was silent for a few moments as he mulled everything over.

"Ok, I'll try," he finally admitted.

That was enough for Kaeya, to know that Diluc would at least try to rekindle their relationship. He lunged forward, pulling Diluc into another tight hug.

"Thank you," he whispered.