Chapter IV
SewaTheOtaku: Why thank you so much! I hope you like this chapter as well!
I don't own Genshin Impact.
Diona had just finished off the last hilichurl near her when the lightning struck. She instinctively closed her eyes against the bright light as she covered her sensitive ears to soften its harsh clash. Diona felt the fur on her tail stand on end, both out of fear and the electricity in the air. At any other time, Diona would have felt angry and scared that the lightning had struck so close to her.
Instead, she was worried about Klee. When she heard Kaeya call out Klee's name, Diona turned her attention away from the hilichurls and saw with horror that Klee was about to get hit with both lightning and the Hydro Abyss mage's attack. However, before she could help Kaeya and Razor save Klee, a hilichurl attacked her. She managed to dodge in time, but she was forced to keep her eyes on the persistent hilichurl and its friends, and not on her friends.
Did they save Klee in time?
The bright light and the loud clash finally died down, prompting Diona to open her eyes and uncover her eyes. Then, with a fearful heart, she began to turn around.
If Klee got hurt, Diona would never forgive-
In the same place Klee had been, Kaeya lifelessly crashed into the ground, the water bubble surrounding him having burst into a thousand water droplets that rained down on the Calvary Captain. A little farther off, Diona saw Razor with Klee in his arms, both of them staring at Kaeya with terrified expressions.
Kaeya...he must have...
"Kaeya?" Klee whimpered.
The skies chose that moment to finally open up and let the rain fall upon them. Usually, Diona would react negatively to the heavy torrent of water but right now, she could only stare at Kaeya. Kaeya, someone who annoyed her because he was a disgusting booze hound. Kaeya, someone who always smiled at Diona despite her cold attitude towards him. Kaeya, someone who always treated Klee well.
Kaeya, someone who had yet to move since falling to the ground.
Then maniacal laughter broke Diona out of her shock. She turned her head slightly to see that the Hydro Abyss mage, the one who caused this, was laughing without a care in the world. Diona gritted her teeth as she nocked her bow.
"Think you can bully him?" Diona snarled as she infused her arrow with Cyro. As if it heard her, the Hydro mage turn to face her, but it was too late. She had already set the arrow loose. The arrow struck its intended target, causing the Hydro Abyss mage's shield to freeze. Diona was about to nock another arrow when Razor raced into the scene and with a roar full of rage, hit the frozen shield, his fingers covered with Electro.
Diona smiled when the Hydro Abyss mage's shield broke, causing it to scream as it fall to the ground. Razor immediately swung at it with his claymore while Diona shot another arrow infused with Cryo at its hand so it wouldn't be able to fight back. The arrow struck home but before the Hyrdro mage could cry in pain, Razor's claymore sliced straight through its neck.
With a couple of thumps, the Hydro Abyss mage crumpled to the ground.
Diona sighed as she looked back to Kaeya. Klee was kneeling over him, her hands shaking him slightly back and forth. The only movement Kaeya made was when Klee was shaking him. Then, as if she could sense Diona looking at them, Klee stopped shaking Kaeya and looked in Diona's direction.
"D-Diona...Razor…" Klee called out to them, and Diona could easily tell by her voice that she was crying. "H-He's...he's not…"
In an instant, Diona was by her and Kaeya's side, along with Razor. Luckily, there had been no hilichurls to stop them and after a brief look around, she realized that it was because they were all dead. The battle was finally over, they had won.
But at what cost?
"Kaeya!" Razor said as he gently turned Kaeya, who was lying on his side, over to his back. Kaeya didn't respond as his body lifelessly flopped over, his right hand plopping onto the fresh mud beside him. Despite the heavy rain, Diona could see how pale Kaeya's face was.
It was like Death had already claimed him.
Diona shook her head clear of the thought. Because the disgusting booze hound couldn't be dead. He just couldn't, he wouldn't dare to make Klee cry. Diona would never forgive him if he did.
"Captain Kaeya!" Diona looked up and almost growled when she saw the Knights of Favonius surrounding them. Where were they, when the Hydro Abyss mage was attacking Klee?
But then Diona remembered how she couldn't help Klee despite seeing her in danger and kept quiet.
"Oh, this is bad," Ella, Diona believed her name was, said worryingly. "We...we need to get him to Barbara!"
"Quick, everyone grab branches or anything that we can make a stretcher out of!" Adler commanded as he knelt by Kaeya, on the opposite side of Diona, Klee, and Razor. "I'm going to do what little treatment I can…oh no."
"What?" Fynn (Or was his name Flynn?) said as Adler kept looking down at Kaeya's waist. "What is it?"
"What does Kaeya need? I have wolfhooks," Razor offered only for Adler to shake his head as he reached down. Diona clenched her fists, her agitation, dread, and fear growing by the second. She opened her mouth to tell the knight to just tell them what was wrong already when Adler finally spoke.
"It's too late."
Adler then held out a Vision that Diona immediately recognized to be Kaeya's because it only had four wings at the bottom in sets of two, instead of six wings in sets of two like Diona's or Klee's.
And it was completely blank.
"No," Razor said softly with sorrowful red eyes as Diona stared at the blank Vision. It was as if Diona kept staring at the Vision, it will turn back to a light blue color with a snowflake symbol in the center. It was as if Diona kept staring, Kaeya will finally wake up and give them that annoying smile of his.
It was as if Diona could will him back to life.
"Kaeya...Big Brother Kaeya…" Klee said with a quivering voice, finally tearing Diona away from Kaeya's empty Vision. Klee's body was trembling, and Diona knew it wasn't because of the chill of the rain. Then Klee's face crumpled completely. "Big Brother Kaeya!"
Klee wailed as she threw herself on top of Kaeya, her hands clenching onto Kaeya's clothes tightly. Diona could only kneel there as Klee cried on top of Kaeya, her sobs loud enough to hear clearly despite the pounding of rain and the occasional boom of thunder. Diona knew she should comfort her friend but a memory stopped her.
A memory of her insisting that they go to Starfell Lake despite the clear signs of a storm brewing.
Diona gritted her teeth as she bent her head, her head in her hands. It was her fault, wasn't it? She was the one who forced them to come here, she was the one who ignored the skies, and she was the one who didn't listen to Razor. And all for what? A few more frogs to disrupt the Dawn Winery? All because she was frustrated that her drinks weren't hurting the alcohol industry at all? All because she refused to stop being so stubborn?
Well, because of her, Kaeya sacrificed himself for Klee. And if that wasn't bad enough, Razor was sad and Klee was crying over Kaeya's body.
Diona was the one who had hurt her friends.
"Adler...you're the next in command," Ella said solemnly. "What are your orders?"
Even though Diona knew that what Ella said was logical, she felt anger. Kaeya just died, how could she move on so quickly?!
Adler sighed heavily before he stood up.
"Let's still make a stretcher," Adler answered. "He...he deserves that much."
Diona looked back at Kaeya and suddenly recalled how when Diona admitted that she was the one who told Diluc about Kaeya being the one to have the TCG Diluc character card, Kaeya just smiled. He hadn't been angry or frustrated. Not even a little bit.
Kaeya did deserve better.
"But first, Fynn?" Adler said. "You're the fastest out of all of us. Would you be fine going on ahead to Mondstadt and telling Acting Grand-Master Jean about...what has occurred? She...could use the advance notice."
"Of course, I won't fail you," Fynn said with a salute full of conviction even though there was great sadness in his eyes. He then ran off while the other soldiers went in different directions to find materials for a stretcher. As they did so, lightning struck somewhere far off in the distance. Even though the lightning was gone in a flash, Diona still growled in the direction it had appeared.
Dumb...dumb lightning! What was the point of it? All lightning did was start fires, scare kids, and kill people! What good has it ever done? Had lightning ever saved a life?!
Diona's eyes widened. Wait...lightning had saved a life once. Daddy once told her that before Diona was born, he and his hunting party had been attacked by desperate treasure hoarders during a thunderstorm. Daddy and his friends fought back of course, but during the fight, one of the treasure hoarders threw an Electro potion at his buddy's heart, killing him instantly. Furious and wanting revenge, Daddy and the other hunters fought back and eventually won without any more casualties. But before they could leave, lightning struck their fallen friend. And then Daddy saw his dead friend move. The lightning had brought him back to life.
Diona didn't get how lightning could do that and since Daddy had been drunk when he told her that story, she easily dismissed the story as fiction or greatly exaggerated. But now…
"I...I go help," Razor offered in a broken voice to Adler as he stood up.
"Wait Razor!" Diona cried, causing Razor to look at her, concerned. Even Klee, who hadn't stopped sobbing on Kaeya's chest this whole time, looked up at Diona with red-rimmed eyes. Knowing that she was going to sound crazy, Diona took a deep breath before she continued.
"Hit Kaeya's chest with your Electro!"
After all, if lightning could bring Daddy's friend back to life, then surely Electro could too?
"What?!" Adler cried as confusion and shock warred on Razor's face. "What are you-"
"Just trust me!" Diona continued, knowing that there wasn't time to explain. "It might bring Kaeya back!"
For a brief moment, Razor just looked Diona straight in the eyes, with an expression Diona couldn't read. But even though she was asking for a lot, especially since she didn't listen to Razor earlier, Diona didn't dare look away. Because even though Diona still didn't understand how this could possibly work, even though Diona still wasn't sure if Daddy's story was true, they had to try.
Kaeya deserved that much.
"Look, I'm upset too, but-" Adler started to say before he got interrupted.
"Klee, back up," Razor said, his voice full of fierce determination as Electro covered his hand.
"Razor, don't!" Adler protested, his hands reaching out to stop him. However, he didn't get far before Klee suddenly leaped at him.
"Let him try!" Klee yelled as her sudden weight caused both of them to crash to the ground safely away from Kaeya. Diona stepped back too as Razor raised his hand over Kaeya. At the corner of her eye, Diona saw some of the other knights running back to them but she paid them no mind. Diona just clasped her hands in prayer, her heart in her throat.
Please...please let this work!
Then Razor yelled before bringing his hand down onto Kaeya's chest.
GI
Without thinking or any situational awareness, he breathed in deeply before coughing, like his body couldn't take the sudden influx of air. But his body still needed the air, so he ended up gasping for breath between coughs. Which was hard to do since his chest felt like it was burning. Nevertheless, after a few agonizing moments, he was able to breathe almost properly again.
It was then that Kaeya was aware enough to realize that he was being held against someone's chest out in the rain.
His brain still feeling somewhat foggy, Kaeya started to blink his eyes open. It took a few tries, since his eyelids felt like they were being weighted down, and the rain certainly didn't help. But when he finally creaked them open, he saw Razor, Diona, and Klee looking down at him.
And all three of them were clearly on the edge of breaking down.
"H-Hey, kids, what happened?" Kaeya gasped as he raised his trembling hand towards them, which took much more effort than he would like to admit. "Why...are you three upset? Who hurt you? I'll kill them."
"Kill them? H-how?" Diona said in shaky disbelief. "You...you were the one w-who...you idiot!"
Diona instantly started wailing as she covered her eyes with her hands. However, before Kaeya could try to comfort her, Klee quickly threw herself on him and began to bawl.
"Big Brother Kaeya...don't do that again!" Klee cried as she hugged him so tightly that Kaeya's chest felt a fresh burst of pain, though he didn't dare to pull the distressed child off of him. "Don't leave Klee again!"
"Leave?" Kaeya asked, still confused. "Why would I ever leave-"
Then, right as he saw lightning strike far off into the distance, he remembered.
"I died, didn't I?" Kaeya asked Razor, who still had him in his arms, as the girls continued to cry. Razor nodded as he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, even though the rain made it impossible for him to dry his face. But Kaeya knew that it wasn't raindrops that Razor was wiping away.
"We brought you back," Razor said emotionally as he brought his hand back down to squeeze Kaeya tightly yet gently against his chest. Then, like Kaeya was one of his precious wolves, Razor nuzzled Kaeya's forehead. "We brought Lupical back."
Kaeya could only lay in Razor's arms quietly as he gazed around him. His fellow soldiers stood around them, some of whom were purely relieved while others still looked shaken by Kaeya's temporary death. Poor Adler was on his knees, one hand on the ground while the other was covering his mouth while Ella rubbed his back in a comforting way.
Seeing everyone in this emotional state, for him, made Kaeya feel something that he hadn't felt in a while. Or rather, something that he wouldn't let himself feel, out of a deep fear that he was wrong. That, much like Diluc, they could suddenly hate him with just a few choice words. But now, seeing everyone like this, because of him, Kaeya couldn't deny the feeling anymore.
Loved. Kaeya felt loved.
Kaeya smiled, a genuine one, as he used a hand to pull Diona closer to them. Diona didn't protest at all as she promptly snuggled against Klee's side as she too gripped Kaeya's drenched clothes with her small hands. His arm now wrapped over his little girls, Kaeya then used his free hand to give Razor's arm an underhanded grip, since he didn't think he could reach the wolf boy's back from his position. Razor didn't seem to mind this small token of comfort and gratitude if Razor humming as he dug his head into the crook of Kaeya's neck meant anything.
Kaeya sighed as he closed his eyes while the rain continued to fall on them. Today definitely could have gone better, and he did feel bad for causing his kids and his soldiers' distress.
But Kaeya would also be lying if he said that he wasn't content right now.
And that's how Razor because Teyvat's natural defibrillator:)
In all seriousness though, I have no idea if the people of Teyvat are aware of CPR or bringing someone back from a lightning strike. I'm not even sure if a Vision would go blank if its holder's heart stops, or if it would only go completely blank if the holder was past the point of saving. But this is a fanfiction after all, so if I'm wrong, let's just say I took some creative liberties and leave it at that:)
So what did you think? Where Diona and the others in character? Did the flow of the story make sense? Please leave a review of your thoughts and I will update as soon as I can. Until then, see ya, and have a good day/night!