Chapter VI

SewaTheOtaku: Thank you and don't worry, here you go!

I don't own Genshin Impact.

Kaeya groaned as he creaked his eyes open to find himself in his room in the Dawn Winery, with bright sunlight beaming in through the window. Confused, Kaeya looked around and quickly found that Diluc was sleeping beside him, his red strands all over his baby face as he kept a tight hold on Kaeya's smaller hand.

That's right, Kaeya had been sick with the flu. He vaguely remembered Dad ordering Diluc to stay away so he wouldn't get sick too but obviously, his big brother hadn't listened. Kaeya smiled, glad that Diluc was the big brother he had always wanted.

However, before he could squeeze Diluc's hand, he heard a loud voice.

"Uh oh? What do you mean, uh oh?! What else happened?"

Kaeya woke up with a gasp and saw that something was covering his face while lying on something uneven and hard. But Kaeya didn't care, because even in his foggy mind, he recognized the voice as Jean's.

And she sounded distraught.

"I'm awake, what's wrong?" Kaeya asked urgently as he sat up while throwing the covering off him, which took a lot more effort and strength than he would like to admit. But that didn't matter because standing there in front of the Mondstadt bridge in the pouring rain, was Jean with Lisa and Amber by her side.

Jean whipped her head towards him, her eyes wide as saucers. Lisa and Amber swiftly turned to him with similar expressions, though Lisa was covering her mouth with one hand. Kaeya blinked at them, feeling very confused as they continued to silently stare at him like he wasn't supposed to be there. Then he heard a strangled sound, prompting him to turn his head slightly to see Fynn, standing there with his trembling finger pointing straight at Kaeya.

When Fynn crumpled into a dead faint a mere second later, Kaeya finally put together what must have happened.

"Adler, when I asked you if everyone was okay, did you forget to mention that you sent Fynn ahead to tell Jean about my...uh...brief departure from this world?" Kaeya asked as he turned his steadfast attention to his second-in-command, who was standing between him and Jean.

"Yeah," Adler answered with a guilty expression. Before anything else could be said, Jean suddenly rushed forward.

"Kaeya!" she cried as she roughly pushed Adler aside and threw herself onto Kaeya. Right as Kaeya instinctively winced from the pain of Jean's tight hug, he felt a burst of healing Anemo energy surrounding him. He sighed in relief as he returned Jean's hug.

"You...I...I'm so glad you're alive," Jean sobbed into Kaeya's shoulder. "I...I wasn't sure what I was going to do without you…"

"Well, you don't have to wonder, I'm here," Kaeya assured her soothingly as he rubbed circles with one hand on her back. "It's okay, I'm okay."

They stayed like that for a few moments, before Jean finally seemed to calm down enough to end the hug, though she kept a hand on Kaeya's shoulder like he could disappear at any moment. Kaeya must have really scared the Acting-Grand Master if she was willing to act so vulnerably, especially around several of her knights.

"I am also glad to see that you're alright, Kaeya," Lisa said with a genuine smile as she walked up to them, Amber right behind her. "Though I must ask, Fynn said that you were electrocuted to the point that your Vision was blank. So how are you alive?"

"We had Razor hit him with his Electro!" Kaeya turned his head to see Klee, who had been standing by Kaeya's wooden stretcher (he remembered now that before he dozed off, Adler had ordered the other knights to make him one), along with Diona and Razor, this whole time. She looked much better than she did earlier, smiling widely with no trace of fear and sadness in her voice.

Good. Kaeya hated seeing her sad, even if it was for his sake.

"Yeah, I remembered Daddy telling me how one of his buddies got killed by an Electro potion only to be brought back by lightning," Diona added. Kaeya couldn't help but frown slightly, because while Diona seemed to be her usual proud self, there was an edge behind her eyes that he didn't like.

"Ah, I see," Lisa said with a snap of her fingers. "If lightning or Electro can stop hearts, then they should also have the power to restart hearts. Interesting…"

"Well, I guess you finally have a good reason to be lazy for a while, Captain Kaeya," Amber said with pure sincerity before she bent down and picked up Kaeya's covering, which turned out to be Razor's coat. "Though did you really have to cover your head too? It really did look like you were dead…"

"My decision," Razor quickly defended him as he reached over and grabbed his coat from Amber before gently laying it back over Kaeya (head excluded this time). "Wanted to give him cover from rain."

"Good idea Razor. We need to get out of this storm and take him straight to Barbara," Jean said with a tender smile directed at Kaeya. Then after giving his shoulder one last squeeze, she gently pushed him back down on the stretcher before turning to face Mondstadt. "Everyone, let's head back home!"

And with that, they started moving again. Before long, they were crossing the bridge and Kaeya had the feeling that he was forgetting something. But what? It was important, he could feel it, but what in the world could it be?

The look on his face must not have been pleasant because he suddenly felt a small hand clasped his own hand tightly. Kaeya looked over to see that the small hand did belong to Klee, and she was giving him a look that was both determined and caring.

"Don't worry, Kaeya," Klee said as they continued walking down the bridge. "I'm gonna take great care of you. So just get better, okay?"

Kaeya decided that he wasn't going to worry about it as he squeezed Klee's hand.

"Thank you, Klee," he said with an honest smile, feeling grateful that Klee was in his life. Klee beamed happily in return and then they reached the front gate of Mondstadt, causing Kaeya to look forward again.

Lawrence and Swan, vigilantly standing guard, saluted them and while they didn't say a word, Kaeya could easily read the relief on their features. Then they passed through the gate and the sight that laid before him made Kaeya's eye grow wide.

Even though it was still raining cats and dogs, there were many people standing in the streets, all of them waiting silently with faces of anxiety and apprehension. But despite all the people, Kaeya and the others had a clear path to the rest of the city, thanks to the few soldiers keeping the citizens in line.

And good thing too, because as soon as the people of Mondstadt saw them, or rather him, there was an immediate uproar.

"Oh thank Barbatos! He's alive!"

"I told you he wasn't dead!"

"But he still looks really hurt!"

"What happened? What happened to you Captain Kaeya?"

"Are you gonna be okay?"

As the people kept making similar comments, Kaeya surmised that word of what happened must have somehow spread, and fast. Or at least, the rumors of it did. In any case, while Kaeya was somewhat tempted to pull the cover back over his head due to embarrassment, he had to show his people that he was okay.

So he carefully sat up just high enough so that he was leaning on his left elbow and waved with a wide smile. The people of Mondstadt cheered as a result, their worries all but completely washing away with the rain. Even when Razor and Amber both gently push him back down onto the stretcher, the people's mood didn't dampen.

As they continued through Mondstadt, Kaeya couldn't help but recall his dream and wonder how Diluc would react to his near-death experience. Would he be worried? Would he be at least slightly concerned? Or would he just roll his eyes and mutter something about the Knights of Favonius being inefficient?

Kaeya didn't want to admit that the latter option was the most likely one.

Or that he hoped Diluc would check on him while he was recovering.

Kaeya shook his head as he pushed that deep desire away and out of his head before it could take root. Klee already said she was going to take great care of him, and Jean and everyone else already showed that they loved him too. He would be selfish if he asked for anything more.

He closed his eye, trying to see if he could go back to sleep. He felt weak and tired, and Kaeya didn't want to waste time on wishful thinking when he could be resting. Especially when Diluc was too busy fighting the Abyss Order, Fatui, or Treasure Hoarders to even be thinking about him today. Kaeya's name would probably only cross his mind when Diluc went home to find-

Kaeya's eye shot wide open.

He had forgotten all about Diluc's present.

And he doubt Barbara would clear him so he could go sneak into the Dawn Winery.

Kaeya bit the inside of his lip, as he tried to think of a solution. He had to deliver Diluc's present today, one did not just deliver a birthday present several days late. Unless they had a good excuse, and while Kaeya did have a very good one, Diluc was his brother. He had to celebrate his brother's birthday on time, even if he wasn't sure if Diluc actually appreciated the gifts. Kaeya certainly hadn't seen Diluc with the watch Kaeya gifted him last year.

But Kaeya was part of the reason why Diluc hated his birthday. He had to try to make it up to him, no matter what.

This was definitely easier said than done though. Kaeya doubted he had the strength or energy to successfully escape Barbara's care, let alone climb all the way up to Diluc's window.

What was he supposed to do?

"Big Brother Kaeya?" Klee asked, immediately snapping him out of his anxious train of thought. Kaeya turned to her and saw that her face was full of worry while she gripped his hand tightly. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, don't worry," Kaeya assured her as he quickly pasted on a smile. "I'm perfectly okay, thanks to you by my side."

"You don't have to lie you know." Kaeya turned his head to the other side to see Diona glaring at him as they continued to move through the city.

"Diona, I'm not-"

"Don't patronize me, you're hurting. Not just that, you died," Diona interrupted him, genuine anger underlying her words. "And none of this would have happened, if it wasn't for me making us go to Starfell Lake to catch more frogs to terrorize the Dawn Winery!"

"Diona…" Klee said softly as Kaeya watch tears form in Diona's eyes again. It was guilt. Guilt was what he saw in Diona's eyes earlier, even though if it wasn't for her idea, he would have stayed dead. Though Kaeya supposed that while Diona recognized that she helped save him, that knowledge didn't help relieve the guilt of 'causing' the incident in the first place.

He definitely couldn't tell her that thanks to the Dawn Winery being near a pond, the staff wouldn't have been fazed by frogs.

"Not Diona's fault," Razor said simply as he walked behind her. "Bad luck."

"Razor's right," Kaeya quickly added as he gently patted Diona's tuft of tied pink hair. "In the end, it was my choice to risk my life to save Klee, not yours. And I don't regret it for one second. It's my job as the Calvary Captain, and as a responsible big brother, to protect her, to protect all of you. Okay? Promise you won't blame yourself if I promise to try not to die next time?"

Unfortunately, while Diona did eventually nod, Kaeya could read a good bit of reluctance in it. She was going to feel guilty for a while yet. He needed to do something to cheer the young girl up, but what?

Then suddenly, he had an idea. A wonderful idea that could help them both out.

"Everyone, stop here for a second," Jean suddenly said. Everyone instantly followed her orders (well, Kaeya was technically forced to because of the soldiers holding his stretcher. He believed that those two soldiers have been carrying him this entire time, bless them), and before Kaeya could start to wonder why they were stopping, she continued. "I apologize, I should have asked this before but was there anyone else who got injured?"

"Just a few bruises along with a few scrapes here and there, Acting-Grand Master," Adler answered, causing Kaeya to be grateful again that he was the only one who had a brush with death.

"Good, though Barbara would say that even the smallest scrapes could cause the worst of infections. Everyone who is sporting a bloody scrape or a nasty bruise will come with us to the Cathedral. The rest will go to the Favonius headquarters, where you will all unwind for a bit before your next assignment."

There was no argument or murmuring as the knights split off into different sections. While Kaeya was sure there were some who would like to have the rest of the day off, they all knew that they still had a beloved city to defend.

Seeing that he only had a minute or so at most, Kaeya motioned Diona with his index finger to come closer. Diona, for her part, while she looked confused, stayed silent as she moved her head so that Kaeya could whisper into her ear.

"Do you want to do me a favor? Though, I should add that it just might annoy Master Diluc."

GI

The gossip was alive and well in the Angel's Share, even though there weren't many patrons at this hour and the topic was not a pleasant one. Well, to most people anyway. He was sure there were quite a few people on the wrong side of the law who would delight at the prospect of the Calvary Captain's death. But for himself, he would reign his emotions in until he heard solid proof on the matter.

Just as he took another sip of his drink, the door slammed open, revealing the perpetrator to be Six-Fingered José.

"He's alive! Captain Kaeya is injured, but alive!" Cheers and exclamations instantly filled the air as many of the few patrons peppered the bard with questions. He himself, stared at his drink for a long moment before a wide grin overtook his face.

He thought that he wouldn't care if the Captain had died, that it wouldn't matter either way. But now, he realized, that he did care.

Jurian smiled as he fingered the Delusion tied to his belt underneath his cloak.

He couldn't wait to see the light die in the Calvary Captain's eye tonight.

So...yeah, this story ain't over yet. Nope.

So what did you think? Were there any sentences that didn't make sense, did anything make you laugh or squeal with emotion, etc? In any case, please leave a review and I will update shortly! Until then, stay safe and have a good day/night!