Growing up, Kaeya never really knew much about his blood family. It was strange knowing more about the family who picked him up and adopted him on a whim during a stormy day rather than the family he was born to. If he was given a choice to decide the family he wanted, he would have taken the streets because there was no way he was going to subject his brother to his mistakes a second time.

"It's not your fault," Aether said as his hands tightly gripped the glass of water he was holding. "You were young, too young to have that placed on your shoulders. Even then, you weren't given a choice."

"But I was the one who decided to tell the truth in the end. I knew how he would react and I still told him."

The Ragnvindr family was everything to Kaeya. He never told anyone but they were the family he loved most in the world and after Crepus' death, he regretted withholding the secrets from the man who was more of a father than his own. He regretted that his father died without ever knowing what Kaeya truly was.

(Was it what led to his death? Would anything have changed if he told him the truth?)

Despite the frosty relationship with his brother, Kaeya never once stayed away from Diluc in Mondstadt but he never tried to go back to the home that he was kicked out from. He knew that if he returned to the Dawn Winery and asked to stay, Diluc would let him but at the same time it would be too awkward for both of them to stay in each other's presence. Their relationship with each other was one that could never be repaired, not when their bonds were burned and charred like how his brother's flames seared a scar on his face.

(Kaeya had forgiven him, he deserved the punishment anyway. The better question was did Diluc forgive himself for hurting his brother?)

"If he doesn't know that you've forgiven him, I don't think he would so easily forgive himself."

Kaeya sighed as he swirled the drink in his hand. He looked down, watching Diluc dry an empty glass from the corner of his eye. "Siblings are dumb, aren't they?"

"...Yeah, they are but we can't help but love them anyway."

Sometimes, Kaeya would get jealous of other people's bonds with their siblings. He yearned to be able to talk to his brother without resorting to barbed words, without needing to put on a false smile in front of the person whom he once knew like the back of his hand, without needing to pretend that he was a stranger and not the one he used to call his brother. He yearned to go back to the old days when it was simple, back when Crepus was still alive, back when he could call out Diluc's name and his brother would return his call with a joyous call of his own.

(But that time has long passed even if the regrets remain.)

Jean and Barbara were torn apart by obligations to their family. Aether and Lumine were torn apart by a god's judgement. He and Diluc were torn apart because of him. They were not alike, not at all. Jean and Barbara did not have a choice. Aether and Lumine did not have a choice. He had a choice to tell the truth but he chose to hide it until it was too late to reveal it. He had a choice where others did not and he wondered if the rejection from his brother hurt more than the guilt from hurting his brother.

Diluc was always within arm's reach even if the words they exchanged were rarely ones that people would hear from a family member. And yet, Kaeya avoided his brother's touch like plague. He was afraid and at the same time, he was scared of losing the last remaining family he still knew. He wanted to let go but at the same time, he refused to sever the connection they still shared. He kept his brother in his sights but the smiles he showed were almost always fake.

(What kind of brother was scared of his only sibling?)

"He's right there! You can see him anytime you want! Do you know how much I wish I was you? Do you realise how much I'd give just to see my sister one more time? Do you!? But it doesn't matter in the end, it doesn't matter if I sacrifice everything I have left, because I'm blind and I can't see her again!"

The day he found Aether was the day he was avoiding Angel's Share. He gave that place a wide berth, taking the alleys and walking the long way around to get to anywhere in the city. As midnight was fast approaching, he wanted to head home but when he turned to look at the street that would lead him home, he turned away. He would pass by Angel's Share if he took the street and even if it would be closed by this time, he did not want to deal with the emotions that he would no doubt feel the moment his eyes lay upon that place. As such, it was only by chance that he stumbled upon the Traveller lying down on a stone bench looking pale and sick, while Paimon floated nervously above him.

Worried that something was wrong, he rushed over to the Traveller's side and fell down on one knee. He placed his hand over Aether's sweaty forehead, slightly alarmed to find it warmer than it should be. The man groaned and lightly smacked Kaeya's hand away before placing the back of his hand over his eyes. Kaeya took stock of the Traveller's condition, internally breathing a sigh of relief when he could not find any visible injury on him. Still, the fever was worrying and he could not help but wonder what exactly happened.

"Paimon, tell me what happened."

Paimon explained that a week after they went into Enkanomiya, he fell ill. Kokomi told them that it was due to the stress finally catching up to him and ordered him to rest. However, Aether woke up that night and tried to leave, mumbling about needing to get out of Inazuma. Kazuha and Paimon tried to stop him but he attacked them in his delirium and managed to escape. He touched the closest teleport point near the Sangonomiya Shrine where they were staying and she was lucky enough to grab hold of his scarf just before he teleported. However, Kazuha was not able to grab the Traveller in time and was left behind.

When they arrived in Mondstadt City, Aether immediately fell to the ground unconscious, leaving Paimon to worry and panic over her friend. Unfortunately for both of them, no one passed by the teleport point after half an hour despite Paimon shouting loudly for help so she had no choice but to try and wake Aether long enough to move to somewhere where he could properly rest instead of lying on the ground. After desperately shaking him and screaming his name, he finally opened his eyes and staggered into an alley where he collapsed onto a stone bench and was unable to move since. She was about to leave him behind to find help at the Church of Favonius until Kaeya found them.

"Why?" Kaeya asked and he could hear the way Aether's breath hitched at the question, the way it changed to an ugly sob as tears fell from the eyes covered by the back of his hand, the glistening trail a bright stain visible even under the cover of darkness. He could see the way his hand tightened its grip on the blanket covering his body, the whites so bright even when shrouded in the shadows.

"I-I couldn't take it anymore. I just want to get out of there. I'm so tired. I don't want to be reminded of what I've lost again."

From a single look, Kaeya could tell that the Traveller was breaking down. The once strong indomitable will that Aether had from when he took down Stormterror was no longer there. Just what happened in Inazuma that broke him? He wanted answers. He wanted to shake him and demand to know what happened. He wanted to interrogate him and find out every detail that transpired in the isolated nation of lightning and thunder.

But that was not what Aether needed right now.

What did Diluc used to do when they were young? What did he do when he suffered from night terrors and fears that kept him frozen to the spot, when he shivered under the blankets from fevers that threatened to burn him from within? Diluc knew what to do, he always does, but Kaeya was not his brother and Aether needed someone now… Even if it was someone like him.

He could treat Aether like how he treated Klee but Klee was young, so much younger and easier to manage while Aether was a lot more stubborn and much harder to handle as he quickly found out. That and Aether, unlike Klee, had no reason to trust him at all.

The first thing he had to do was to get Aether to someplace warm, somewhere that was not this cold dark alley. He tried to gently coax Aether to sit up so he could manoeuvre him onto his back but the man groaned and remained sprawled out on the bench. He then tried to carry him from the front, only to be shoved away by a surprising amount of force.

Kaeya was starting to get annoyed but at the sight of Aether pitifully shivering in the cold night air and a face flushed with a building fever, his annoyance crumbled away to guilt.

"Aether, come on, you don't want to sleep on this stone bench, that can't be comfortable. Let's go to my place."

"Yeah! Come on! Paimon wants to sleep on a bed tonight!"

"Mmm, go away, I'm tired."

This was not working. Aether remained steadfast in his attempt to melt into the stone bench and Paimon was getting hysterical by the minute as her friend's fever started to climb as midnight gave way to morning. Without any other options left, Kaeya grabbed hold of Aether's cold limbs, ignoring the way he whined at the rough actions. What he failed to ignore was the shock that ran through his body when the Traveller let loose a spark of Electro, making Kaeya drop him when his muscles seized up. He cursed loudly and Aether let out a painful gasp.

"Who?"

"Aether, it's me, Kaeya."

"Kaeya…?" Aether said, his glazed half-lidded unseeing eyes falling upon the figure of the cavalry captain.

"Aether, are you okay? We need to get you somewhere safe."

"Safe…? But there's nowhere safe," he mumbled before his eyes closed again.

On one hand, it was very alarming when Aether suddenly fell unconscious where he was once fighting tooth and nail against him. On the other hand, because he was unconscious, Kaeya can finally carry him without any trouble. He hefted the man up, pulling him closer to his chest and felt alarmed at how he could feel the cold body through the clothes. His house was close but it was through the street where it led to Angel's Share. He really did not walk down that street but was this really the time to avoid his personal demons when his friend needed his help?

As Kaeya jogged down the street with Aether in his hands and Paimon following closely behind him, he prayed to the Seven that Diluc would not be doing his vigilante work anywhere nearby. When he saw Diluc walking out of Angel's Share, he almost wanted to laugh hysterically in front of him because of course the one person he did not want to see today would appear right in front of him.

"Kaeya?"

"Diluc, I'd give you a proper greeting but as you can see, I am currently occupied right now."

"Is that…? Kaeya, what?"

"Not now Diluc, please."

Perhaps it was the way he pleaded to him, the way he emphasised on the word 'please', or maybe it was the face he made but Diluc remained silent even as his eyes were still drawn to the shivering Traveller in his arms.

"Get inside."

"What?"

"Get inside, Kaeya. Don't argue with me this time, just get inside."

It was dark inside, not surprising considering that it was way past the time the tavern closed. Diluc held a lantern up, leading the way up the wooden stairs while Kaeya and Paimon followed closely behind. Eventually, they reached the top floor of the tavern, the entire floor closed to the general public. There was only a single room filled to the brim with crates and a lonely unkempt bed sitting at the corner beside the only window in the room.

Diluc hung the lantern up while Kaeya placed Aether on the bed. He pulled the blankets around the man, frowning when he continued to shiver under the covers. Paimon flew down and settled herself beside Aether. She curled up beside his head beside the pillow and immediately fell asleep. Kaeya was almost jealous of the way she could easily fall asleep despite her friend's current condition.

"Kaeya."

And then he was reminded that Diluc was still here.

Kaeya turned around and walked away, passed his brother and out of the room, down the stairs and to the bar counter in the darkness of the empty tavern. It was a miracle he did not trip in the dark but Kaeya could care less about his meagre achievement right now. He settled down on the stool and laid his head on his hands before closing his eyes. He could hear his brother's footsteps approaching him, stopping just in front of him and he could almost see the look of disappointment.

(Of what? Of his past? Of how he handled Aether? Of how he had hurt his brother with his words?)

"Kaeya."

"Sorry Diluc, I wasn't ignoring you, I'm just… Sorry, I have a lot of things in my mind right now."

He could hear him sighing before he walked away, his footsteps loud on the floorboard in the silence of the empty tavern. He could hear the clinking of glasses, the pouring of liquid, and the knock of glass on wood.

Kaeya opened his eyes, his sight falling on a glass of grape juice in front of him, the purple barely lit up by the glow of the lantern sitting on the bar counter.

"Drink."

He almost asked for a glass of wine out of habit but he bit his tongue and pushed himself up. His hands wrapped around the cold glass and he lifted it up to his lips, taking in the delicious taste of grapes on his tongue.

"You know I don't like grape juice right?" he said as he placed the empty glass back down on the counter.

Diluc grunted as he grabbed the empty glass. "If you can complain like that then you're feeling better now. So explain, what happened?"

Ideally, Paimon or Aether should have been here to tell the story but this was not an ideal or perfect world. He would know, he knew of the past injustice his people suffered, he knew of a world where his fate was abandoned by the roadside and taken up by the hands of others. He would know of an ideal world once, before he tore it down by his own actions.

(Did Diluc still dream of the ideal world he once shared with him? Or did his dreams die the day father died in his hands?)

Kaeya told the same tale that Paimon told him from start to end, and Diluc listened in rapt attention. At the end of the story, he could see the obvious worry on his brother's face.

"...He's not going to last at this rate."

"What will you do then? I doubt he's the kind of person who would ask for help."

"Sounds like someone I know."

"Oh? That makes two of us."

(Siblings so alike and yet so different like the blood in their veins.)

In the end, they decided to wait until Aether recovered enough for them to stage an intervention. They had to make their friend understand that he needed to stop pushing himself to the brink of destruction.

"Kaeya, when's the last time you slept?" Diluc asked when he noticed his brother yawning, when he finally noticed the dark bag under his brother's eye.

When was the last time he slept? Rather, when was the last time he had a proper sleep where he was not haunted by the nightmares of his past?

"I slept plenty. Rather, what about you? It's almost dawn, way past your bedtime."

"...Kaeya, if you don't want to answer then don't. Stop lying to my face and stop changing the subject."

Diluc went around the bar counter and pulled Kaeya out of his seat. He protested against the action, only for his brother to ignore him as he dragged him up the stairs. He could easily break out of the hold but in doing so, it would break what fragile trust his brother still had left for him. So he let himself get dragged up the stairs, one step at a time, until they reached the room where Aether and Paimon were sleeping.

His brother sat him on a crate and released his arm before walking away to the back of the room, quietly shifting aside some crates to create a path. Kaeya waited patiently, forcing his eyes to remain open as he resisted the temptation of rest and the potential horrors his imagination would conjure.

The footsteps signalled Diluc's return and when Kaeya looked at his brother, he noticed that he was carrying something in his arms. Diluc placed the object onto the ground beside the bed and opened it up, revealing a bedroll.

"Go to sleep, Kaeya."

"But…"

"Kaeya, please. Go to sleep, I'll be here."

It was almost reminiscent of the old days when Kaeya was too scared to sleep alone. A child freshly abandoned by his father, too fearful to sleep in a new place, in an unknown world too big and too scary for a child. After almost falling asleep during lunch, Kaeya confessed to Diluc that he had trouble sleeping. That night, he was surprised when his brother went to his room with his blanket and pillow.

"Diluc?" Kaeya said, surprised when Diluc threw his blanket and pillow on top of the carpet.

"Go to sleep, Kaeya. I'll be here."

That night, Kaeya fell asleep without ever once waking up from his nightmares.

It was an almost familiar scene and one so nostalgic, one that Kaeya yearned for without realising it. He gave in easily, settling down on the bedroll to sleep, all while his brother stood guard over him, his very presence alone chasing away the haunting nightmares that terrorised his dreams.

"Don't leave me," Kaeya whispered, begging, as he lay down on the bedroll with his eyepatch placed beside it. His tired eyes fell upon the figure of his brother watching over him, guarding him.

"I'll be here," Diluc assured and Kaeya closed his eyes, allowing himself to succumb to darkness' embrace.