The Inner Soul

I don't own Genshin Impact.

Chapter 1

Kaeya hummed mindlessly as he knelt before some flowers, ready to be attacked at any moment. For the last week or so, people have been disappearing from Mondstadt. First, it was a couple of new adventurers, who Cyrus had originally thought were just ill until he went to check on them. Then it was Donna, who never returned with lamp grass for Flora. Timaeus was next, who never showed up to meet up with his girlfriend in Liyue.

Albedo, who had been leading the investigation since the beginning, really threw himself into the case as soon as Timaeus' girlfriend showed up looking for him two days ago. Kaeya was beginning to worry that Albedo was going to exhaust himself, but he couldn't say anything because he honestly understood. The only thing he could do was pour more of himself into the case as well.

However, despite their efforts, the missing civilians weren't any closer to being found. The four victims had barely any interactions with each other, let alone friends. After some investigation, none of them were in any serious disputes or had anyone who would want to kidnap them. The only lead the Knights of Favonius had was that the last known location of both Donna and Timaeus was Windwail Highland, near Wolvendom. The adventurers' last commissions were near the city but Cyrus said that both of them showed interest in exploring Wolvendom, despite the obvious risk.

It was why Kaeya was here, a few feet away from Wolvendom, wearing regular civilian clothes. Kaeya was hoping to appear as a careless man just enjoying a nice summer's day, literally begging to be kidnapped. Kaeya smiled as he imagined the look on the kidnapper's face when they realized that they had been tricked.

Now, if they could just come already-

Kaeya heard footsteps. The Calvary Captain stiffened, his hand ready to draw his sword at any second. After a slightly tense moment, Kaeya sighed and relaxed his hand.

He knew those footsteps.

"I was not aware that today was your day off." Despite his disappointment that it wasn't the kidnapper, Kaeya smiled and turned around to see Diluc coming to a stop a few feet away from him. Diluc's face was neutral as he crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow at Kaeya.

"It's not," Kaeya said as he stood up to face his brother. "I'm currently undercover. So-"

"Undercover? As what? I thought...," Diluc replied before he widened his eyes. "Wait. Are you trying to get kidnapped?"

"What? No, of course not. I'm trying to get ambushed by the kidnapper. There is a difference."

Diluc's mouth closely mimicked a fish above water for a moment and it took everything Kaeya had to not tease him about it.

"Not by much! We know barely anything about this kidnapper Kaeya!" Diluc protested. "What if there is more than one kidnapper? What if he, or they, have Visions? Or...Delusions? You could easily be outmatched Kaeya!"

After reconciling a few months ago, the brothers were closer than ever before and at times it seemed like they had never grown apart to begin with. However, as a result of their reconciliation (and the events that directly led up to it), Diluc had become overprotective of Kaeya and anxious over his safety and well-being. Not that Kaeya blamed him, nor could he complain, or else he might be called a hypocrite. But while Diluc was slowly but surely gaining control over his mother-hen tendencies, he still needed to calm down, at least in this circumstance.

Kaeya was the Calvary Captain for a reason.

"Relax, dear brother," Kaeya assured Diluc by placing a hand on his shoulder. "I never said that I was alone, did I?"

"Yo," Albedo said as he popped his head out of a bush on their right, a few green leaves littering his blond hair.

Kaeya uncontrollably snickered though whether it was because of Albedo's greeting or Diluc's surprised face, he wasn't sure.

Oh, who was he kidding. It was definitely both.

"You see?" Kaeya said as he turned his attention back to Diluc. "Now that we've explained what we're doing here, what about you? I thought you were taking over a shift for Charles this afternoon because his kid had some kind of rash."

"Charles got back earlier than expected. Barbara said that his kid was going to be fine and that the rash was actually a mild case of hives. Allergic to grass or something like that."

"Well, that's all well and good but that doesn't explain why you're here, in this exact spot, a good bit away from your usual route home?" Kaeya asked pointedly.

Diluc, to his credit, schooled his expression quickly, but not quickly enough for Kaeya.

"Am I not allowed to take a small detour on my way home?" Diluc asked innocently as if he wasn't planning on finding the kidnappers himself. "It is a beautiful day after all."

"Agreed, which is why we can't let it go to waste here," Albedo said as he stood up and stepped out of the bush, some of the leaves sticking to his clothes. "Kaeya, it was a good plan but no one is showing up so we simply have to go to plan b. I'm going to Wolvendom to ask Razor some new questions."

"Perfect, and I'll go head over to Brightcrown Canyon again and see if we missed anything," Kaeya said, though his expectations of actually finding anything were low.

"Well then, see you back at Mondstadt, Kaeya. If you excuse me, Master Diluc," Albedo said before he headed straight for Wolvendom, not bothering to brush off the leaves on his body.

"Oh, he is stressed. Not that I'm surprised," Diluc said, his tone sympathetic. "Though wouldn't it make more sense if we were the ones who talked to Razor? And why Brightcrown anyway? I thought-"

"We already scoured Wolvendom and Windwail Highland two times each, while we only searched Brightcrown Canyon once," Kaeya explained, not bothering to point out how Diluc just put himself into an official investigation. "And I already asked Razor quite a few questions but Albedo has some new ones that he wants to ask himself. Razor and Albedo are acquainted well enough thanks to Klee so Razor shouldn't be shy around him."

"And I guess the wolves probably aren't a problem for Albedo either," Diluc added. Then he began to walk away, towards Brightcrown Canyon and not the Dawn Winery. "Did I mess up your...trap?"

"No, we've been at that spot for a while," Kaeya assured him as he followed his brother. "I'm honestly surprised that Albedo hadn't tried to go to plan b earlier."

"Oh, okay," Diluc said with a nod, looking somewhat relieved. As they walked, Kaeya knew that he should tell Diluc to go back home, that this was an official Knights' investigation. But Diluc was one of the most stubborn people he knew, and even if he managed to convince him to stay behind, Diluc would just conduct his own search. At least this way, Kaeya would be with him and would hopefully be able to stop his brother from being completely reckless.

That and they work really well together. Maybe together, they can rescue the kidnapped civilians when alone they couldn't.

"Speaking of which, what was your plan before you saw me? I know that you don't have a lead or else you would have told me already. So either you were planning on wandering aimlessly or...wait. Were you trying to be a target?"

"Well…" Diluc said as he turned his head to the side. "I am the owner of the Dawn Winery. Chances are, I could be a target anyway..."

"You flaming hypocrite!"

GI

"Argh, we're getting nowhere like this!" Diluc exclaimed as he kicked a rock. "How is it that there are no leads at all?"

"I don't know," Kaeya groaned as he tiredly rubbed his eyes. He was honestly feeling frustrated too, they had been at this for hours (okay, more like one but it felt like hours, that was the important thing) and absolutely nothing had turned up. Kaeya would even accept a mysterious footprint that didn't lead anywhere, because at least that would be something.

"No ransoms have been made, right?" Diluc asked, probably not for the first time.

"Not that I'm aware of," Kaeya said. "Though none of them come from money so I doubt it. Well, I guess someone could have kidnapped Timaeus as a hostage for Albedo or something, but then, why kidnap the other three? It makes no sense."

"And I haven't seen or heard of anyone acting suspiciously in Mondstadt," Diluc added. "You?"

"Nada," Kaeya confirmed. "And Mondstadt hasn't had any new visitors recently either."

"So whoever is doing this, is either acting extremely well or doing a good job of staying hidden," Diluc said with a scowl. "And given that pretty much the only thing the victims have in common is being Mondstadters, it seems like the kidnapper is just picking people at random."

Kaeya stayed silent as he stared at the grass in front of him as if those few green strands could answer his questions and quell his anxiety. Because while the victims might have been just at the wrong place at the wrong time, or saw some kind of criminal activity, all four of them? At different times? No, all four victims were kidnapped deliberately and chances were, especially since there was no ransom, the worst fate had already befallen them.

As much as Kaeya didn't want to admit it.

He also didn't want to admit that it was likely that the kidnappings weren't going to stop anytime soon. The thought of Diluc somehow being the one who got kidnapped next made Kaeya sick to his stomach. He also didn't want to think about Addie, Elzer, Jean, or heaven forbid, any of their kids getting kidnapped.

They really needed to stop the kidnapper soon.

"Do you think we can convince Razor to stay with us at the Dawn Winery?" Diluc asked suddenly, his scowl having been replaced with a worried frown. "Just until this is over?"

Kaeya thought about it for a few seconds.

"He-"

"Aaah!" Kaeya stiffened at the terrified scream, his blood quickly freezing solid. He knew that voice.

"That sounded like it came from over-" Diluc started to say before Kaeya interrupted him.

"Bennett."

"Wha-"

"That was Bennett!" Before Kaeya knew it, he was racing towards the sound of Bennett's scream, desperately hoping that he would get there in time.

I'm back again! This story should be shorter than "This Storm Shall Pass" but hopefully it would still be good. I hope you like it!

Please leave a review on the way out and have a good day/night!