Chapter III

I don't own Genshin Impact.

"Alright! We're here!" Diona cried as she ran towards the lake.

"Yay!" Klee said happily while following her older friend. She didn't get far, however, before she realized that Razor wasn't running with them. Klee stopped and turned around and saw that Razor was looking up at the sky with a worried expression. She looked up too and saw how dark the clouds were, making it seem like it was evening instead of late in the morning. Klee was certain in her little body that a big storm was coming. And soon.

And as if to agree with her, the sky rumbled loudly and deeply.

Admittedly a bit nervous now herself, Klee turned her attention back to Razor and after a moment, she ran back to him and gently took hold of his hand.

"Starfell Lake is pretty small, not like Cedar Lake," Klee said when Razor glanced down at her. "It won't take long to help our best friend Diona find a frog or two to put into the bucket."

This seemed to ease the worry on Razor's face as he looked at the lake behind Klee and after a moment, nodded.

"Okay," Razor said as he squeezed Klee's hand. Happy that she managed to appease Razor, Klee smiled as she tugged Razor towards the lake. When they reached Diona, the girl made no sign of acknowledgment, her eyes fixed on the water in front of her and her tail swishing back and forth against the ground. Klee opened her mouth but before she could say anything, Diona suddenly pounced straight into the lake.

"Aha!" Diona cried triumphantly as she stood up, the water only reaching her ankles as she proudly held up a green frog.

"Oh, good job, Diona!" Klee congratulated the cat girl, clapping her hands happily.

"I knew that coming here was a good idea," Diona said smugly as she walked forward and dumped the frog into the bucket. When Razor gave her a small smile, Klee beamed at her two best friends.

Diona had finally caught another frog and Razor wasn't so worried anymore. Klee really liked it when her friends were happy!

Razor suddenly whipped his head around and stared off into the distance with a deadly focus. Frowning, Klee turned around but tried as she might, she only saw grass, trees, bushes, and rocks.

"What is it Razor?" Klee asked.

"Yeah, I don't see any-oh!" Klee didn't have to ask Diona why she stopped talking because right at that moment, a hilichurl with a club walked through a small patch of trees slightly above them. Its unsteady gait seemed carefree as the hilichurl headed on its way, obviously oblivious to Klee and her friends. But then the hilichurl looked up and even though it was wearing a mask, Klee knew its eyes were locked on them.

"Ya!" the hilichurl yelled as it raised its club before running towards them. But before it could jump down the mountainous terrain, an arrow flew past Klee and struck the hilichurl right into its chest. As the hilichurl cried before falling backwards in pain, Klee turned around and saw Diona had her bow out, her green eyes angrily focused on the enemy.

"Wow, Diona! That was fast! I didn't even get my Jumpty Dumpty out!" Klee praised.

"Well, that's what it gets for trying to ruin our frog hunt," Diona grumbled as she lowered her bow. Klee turned back around and saw that the hilichurl wasn't getting up.

Diona was so cool, she finished the fight before it even started!

Razor suddenly drew his claymore.

"It's not over," he said. As soon as he said that, several hilichurls appeared out of the trees, and instantly saw their fallen friend, with Klee and her best friends not far away. When the hilichurls let out a furious war cry, Klee calmly took out Jumpty Dumpty.

They couldn't avoid a fight after all.

GI

When the sky thundered again, Kaeya found himself recalling how he could only stand in the pouring rain as Diluc mourned over their dead father. Knowing that there was nothing he could do about the past now, Kaeya abruptly shook his head clear of the memory and tried to think positive thoughts instead. Like, how rain would help him greatly in the upcoming raid, especially when it came to fighting the Pyro Abyss mage. The rain wouldn't even impede him from delivering Diluc's present via the window. While Kaeya preferred to climb to Diluc's bedroom with some help from the nearby green foliage, Kaeya knew where the ladder was so he could use that to avoid any chance of slipping and falling. And if the ladder wasn't available, he could use the front door. Though that meant talking with Adelinde and she would probably try to persuade him to stay and…

For obvious reasons, Kaeya didn't think that would be a good idea.

"Captain Kaeya?" The voice brought Kaeya out of his musings and saw Adler, who was walking beside him in the front of the company, looking at him.

"Yes, Adler? What is it?" Kaeya asked with his usual smile, even if it was a bit forced. As it usually was on April 30th.

"I know it might be a bit early to discuss this but me and some of the others were wondering what our plan of attack is going to be," asked Adler with some trepidation, as if he thought the question was presumptuous enough to offend Kaeya. Kaeya almost chuckled in amusement and thought of teasing Adler about it before he quickly decided not to.

His mood wasn't light-hearted enough for that.

"Oh, I was thinking of a good ole pincer attack," Kaeya answered him. "You will lead one half of our company while I lead the other."

"Really?" Adler asked, his face lighting up like it was the morning of the first day of the Windblume festival.

"Yes," Kaeya chuckled. "Though don't get your hopes up too high. When we find the enemy, we might see that the terrain would not allow us to perform such a maneuver."

"Understood," Adler said with a firm nod.

"Speaking of which, Ella," Kaeya continued, prompting his fellow knight on his left to pick up her head. "How close are we?"

Kaeya had been leading his small company of soldiers for over thirty minutes now, and if his memory is correct (and it should be, he has lived in Mondstadt for most of his life), they should be arriving at Starfell Lake within ten minutes.

But depending on where the Abyss Order was, their destination could be much closer than that.

"Unless they moved, we should be upon them in about five minutes," Ella said.

"Alright," Kaeya said with a nod. Then, with a slightly louder voice, he continued. "Everyone, stop for a moment."

His fellow soldiers immediately stopped and stood at attention. When the Calvary Captain saw that all of them had their eyes on him, he continued.

"We should be coming upon the enemy camp soon, but they might already be on the move, so stay on your guard."

"Yes sir," they all said quietly with a salute. Satisfied, Kaeya nodded and motioned silently for them to follow him. For the next few minutes, only the sound of feet treading on grass and stone and the occasional boom of thunder prevailed.

Though the thunder was quickly becoming more and more frequent.

Then Ella stopped Kaeya by lightly grabbing his shoulder before pointing to the left, away from Starfell Lake. Kaeya nodded and started leading his small army in that direction. As they continued in this new direction, Kaeya wondered how they were doing on time.

By his reckoning, it had only been about an hour since Kaeya had gotten the order from Jean since the troops had been mobilized rather quickly (thanks to Ella, Adler, and Fynn). And while they now had to be quiet, they were still moving at a reasonable pace.

Kaeya hoped that if his luck continued, they would reach the Abyss Order within the next few minutes and soundly defeat them within a couple of hours. Less than an hour if the storm finally broke. Then, after assuring that everyone else was alive and well, Kaeya could finally deliver Diluc's present. Kaeya then can go about the rest of his day in peace knowing that not only had he protected his home, but that he made his brother perhaps just a bit happier on this dismal day.

A far-off war cry broke him out of his wishful thinking.

"A hilichurl!" Fynn said as he took out his sword and looked around rapidly, even though not a single hilichurl was in sight.

"It came from the same direction as the lake!" Ella pointed as he looked to their right. "They must have moved!"

"And hilichurls only cry out when they are about to attack," Adler said with dawning horror, and Kaeya did not blame him.

The Abyss Order had found someone they wanted to kill. And it wasn't them.

"Everyone, follow me! Quickly!" Kaeya ordered as he broke out into a run. The sound of many running footsteps told him that his fellow soldiers were following him, not that he would have waited for them even if they weren't.

Someone's life was in danger. Maybe two people or even a whole unlucky family. When Kaeya became a knight, he had sworn to always protect Mondstadt and its people. And that was what he was going to do.

But as Kaeya ran, he couldn't help but wonder who the unlucky victims were. It was about to storm, who would be all the way out here, so far away from the safety and coziness of Mondstadt or Springvale? Was it some adventurer desperate to finish a commission? Some lost, traveling merchants?

Or...was it a reckless, grief-stricken vigilante who loved Mondstadt with all of his heart?

Well, at least Diluc could defend himself. Heck, if it were him, the upcoming fight would be even shorter than Kaeya had hoped it would be. That was if Diluc left any for them.

Kaeya didn't slow down though.

As they got closer, Kaeya not only could hear the tell-tale signs of a battle waging but also the sound of hilichurls screaming in fear and pain. Kaeya smiled in relief and hope. It looked like Diluc really was fighting them. Who else could make hilichurls scream like that?

"Jumpy Dumpty!" Kaeya's visible eye widened.

No. No way. He was hearing things. He had to be.

Even so, Kaeya pushed himself to a sprint and when he came to the top of a hill, he found himself looking down at Starfell Lake.

And at the Abyss Order surrounding Razor, Diona, and Klee, all of whom were fighting with everything they had.

They...were supposed to be at Cider Lake! What were they doing here?! What was he supposed to tell Jean?!

Then he heard someone gasp behind him.

"It's the Spark knight and-" Adler started to say as Kaeya drew his sword.

"Everyone, charge!" Kaeya ordered before he sprinted down the hill. In his rush, he stumbled a bit but he managed to regain his balance and kept on charging.

Kaeya knew that there was no need to worry. That as the Calvary Captain, he needed to keep his cool to lead a successful charge without any horrible incidents or casualties on their side. That Klee was the Spark knight for a reason, and that Razor and Diona were strong in their own right. That all three of them were still fighting strong and didn't seem to be suffering from any injuries (from what he could see from this distance anyway).

But they were still kids and they were surrounded. And Jean often charged him to babysit one of those kids, and Kaeya didn't think Jean would ever forgive him if he let Klee get hurt. Especially since he had eased Jean's worries about Klee earlier.

And April 30th had been the day he had been too slow to save his father. Sure, looking back, there might have not been much Kaeya could have done against a dragon of that caliber. Especially since he hadn't had his vision yet. He knew that. But that didn't stop him from wishing that he could have been faster.

So let the Archons forgive him if he is a bit irrational right now.

A hilichurl turned its head just in time to see Kaeya come up to him and slice his chest wide open. The hilichurl cried in pain, causing many other Abyss members to turn their attention away from the kids. Kaeya only smirked as some of the hilichurls raced towards him instead, their clubs raised high in anger while some of them directed their crossbows straight at him.

"Freeze!" he said as he directed his sword at them. Cryo instantly sprayed out from his weapon and struck some of the hilichurls. Before they could recover, Kaeya raced forward and made quick work out of them. The rest of the hilichurls that he didn't get hit with his Cryo were taken care of by the rest of his troops, who had finally caught up with him.

A familiar taunting sound made Kaeya turn around and saw that the Hydro Abyss mage had teleported right behind him. Kaeya quickly unleashed his elemental skill, Frostgnaw, effectively freezing the mage right in its bubble of protection. His fellow soldiers nearby quickly seized their chance by jumping on the Hydro mage. Believing that the Hydro mage was under control, Kaeya turned back around to check on the kids.

Vaguely noting a deep roll of thunder, Kaeya quickly noted that Razor going up against both the Pyro Abyss mage and a mitachurl. A further scan told him that Diona was trying to help Razor out with the Abyss mage but the hilichurls around her made it difficult for her. Klee was happily bombing some samachurls along with the hilichurls at some distance ahead of them. Deciding that helping Razor would be the best next course of action, Kaeya cut down a hilichurl charging towards him before going deeper into the battlefield. A few moments of dodging arrows and striking random hilichurls later, Kaeya reached Razor. The teenager was still alive and relatively unharmed, but the Pyro mage was seconds away from casting a fiery attack at Razor's back.

Diona couldn't help because she was too busy fighting off the hilichurls surrounding her.

And Razor couldn't defend himself because he was too busy blocking the mitachurl's ax away from his face.

"Cool it!" Kaeya cried, directing his sword at the Pyro mage. Frostgnaw struck it in full force, and while Cryo wasn't as effective as Hydro, it still melted the shield some. Furthermore, Kaeya's sudden attack made the Pryo mage turn its attention away from Razor and onto him.

"Kaeya," Razor grunted as he finally pushed the mitachurl's ax away with his claymore.

"Razor," Kaeya greeted Razor back right as the Pyro mage teleported out of sight.

"What took you so long?!" Diona yelled angrily, though Kaeya knew her enough to be able to read the relief in her voice. Then he heard a familiar voice taunting him nearby, causing him to twist and strike at the Pyro shield guarding the mage.

"Sorry, I was occupied," Kaeya said with a smirk before leaping back and using Frostgnaw again. As he expected, his burst of Cryo wasn't enough to dismantle the Pyro shield but the mage groaned in annoyance, which was enough to get Kaeya to smirk.

"Razor, Diona, just focus on the enemy in front of you. I'll handle the Pyro mage from here," Kaeya said before he charged at his target. Kaeya heard Razor and Diona answer in the affirmative as he put all of his focus on attacking the mage. The mage, while not nimble, made up for it as he launched a small, narrow wave of fire that would have badly burned Kaeya's feet if he hadn't dodged in time.

The sky let out a great roll of thunder again, but the clouds didn't seem fit to let loose the rain yet. Which was a pity, because the water would bring down the Pyro mage's shield in an instant.

Oh well, his Cryo would just have to be enough.

"Kaeya!" Kaeya risked a glance to the side and saw that Razor was running towards him, his claymore out and a dead mitachurl behind him. Kaeya smirked.

But then again, it didn't have to be.

Razor let out a battle cry as he jumped on the Pyro mage, his claymore sending waves of Electro across the shield upon impact. The abyss mage's shield overloaded significantly, judging by much the shield cracked. However, a second later, the cracks disappeared, causing Razor to grunt with frustrated disappointment as he landed on the ground in front of the Pyro Abyss mage. Kaeya wasn't disappointed though.

He had a feeling that one or two more hits should do the trick.

The Pyro abyss mage then put its hand to its mask as he recited a very familiar chant. It was about to teleport away. Razor raised his claymore, its blade coated with strings of Electro but Kaeya was faster.

"Oh, so sorry," Kaeya apologized with a proud smirk as he manifested four icicles that constantly circled him. The icicles hit the shield, stopping the Pyro mage from teleporting long enough for Razor to strike the shield one more time. The resulting multiple elemental reactions finally caused the Pyro shield to break, making its stunned caster fall to the ground.

Kaeya and Razor wordlessly seized their chance and attacked it in sync, both making sure that to not let up so that the Abyss mage wouldn't have a chance to recover. Within seconds, the Abyss mage finally collapsed to the ground and made no moves to get up ever again.

"Good job Razor," Kaeya said, causing Razor to beam slightly at the praise. Razor opened his mouth to reply when a war cry sounded off to their left. Kaeya turned his head and saw a small group of hilichurls heading towards them, their clubs raised high. Razor headed towards them and Kaeya was about to follow him when he heard the sound of an Abyss mage teleporting. Frowning, Kaeya turned his head in the direction of the noise, and what he saw made him stop with wide eyes.

Klee was still throwing bombs and didn't seem to be getting exhausted or overwhelmed at all. However, the Hydro Abyss mage, instead of being dead or getting attacked by his fellow knights, was now a few feet away from Klee and was sending large bubbles of water her way.

But this wasn't what froze Kaeya's blood with fear.

It was the ground starting to crackle with electricity right underneath Klee's feet.

"Klee!" Kaeya yelled as he raced towards her while memories of them together swarmed his brain. Memories of her smiling at him, of him carrying her on his shoulders, of her calling him the best, of them taking approved fish-blasting trips, of her giving him a drawing of them holding hands with the words, 'I love you Big Brother Kaeya' at the top...the memories went on.

At the sound of his voice, Klee paused in bombing the hilichurls and turned to look at him, her face away from the giant bubble heading right towards her.

He...he couldn't let her die. He couldn't fail, he couldn't afford to fail her, not like...

"Klee! Dodge!" Kaeya heard Razor yell behind him as the bubble grew ever closer to trapping Klee right above the increasingly crackling patch of earth.

Not like...

Klee, out of perhaps true trust in Razor, bent her knees to jump, but Kaeya knew with horrible certainty that she wouldn't avoid the bubble in time. It was much too large and close at this point.

Not like his dad!

With a strangled yell, he reached out and grabbed her arm. With a silent apology to the girl, he twisted around and threw her at Razor, who caught her safely in his arms. However, the maneuver caused him to stumble right into Klee's original position.

The next instant, the bubble enveloped him and he found himself instinctively fighting to escape his water prison as he saw the ground beneath him crackle ferociously. But despite literally struggling to breathe, despite Klee and Razor staring at him in horror, Kaeya felt pure relief.

He saved Klee.

Then a bright, white light overwhelmed his vision right as bright hot pain ran through his body. Before his mouth could even try to open to scream, Kaeya knew no more.

Well...I got nothing appropriate to follow that up. If you want to know what happens next, please leave a review (I will gladly take constructive criticism or just what you thought about the chapter, even if it's just a sentence) and I will update shortly!

Until then, have a good day/night!