Whether or not they are directly linked, or the characters know each other, I think of my stories as all having happened within the same little world! In my stories. I frequently mention things that have happened in others I have written, but most of them should be able to be read stand alone without issues.

Also, while I try to keep it very close with Genshin lore, I don't know every single bit of lore, and can't remember it all. So, some things are slightly different, there are also some things that are only guessed. I'm just here to write stories for people to read, should they choose!

As for my version of travel time, everything is small, and close together in the game, so I spread it out a little. It should take time to get places! (More dramatic that way rofl)

Thank you to my husband for being my proofreader!

As always, thank you for reading, I hope everyone enjoys it!

Feel free to leave a comment :)

A Little Busy

When he'd agreed to go out on patrol with Kaeya, hanging off the edge of a cliff was not where he'd expected to end up. Diluc had then come to realize that he really should have, because this is how all of their adventures end up.

Jean and Adelinde were going to kill him. They were going to kill both of them.

Chapter One

"Please? I'm so tired, and bored with going on patrol by myself," Kaeya begged.

The bluenette was sitting at the bar, pouting like a child while drinking his wine. Diluc was glad to be immune to such things, because he already knew that this would ultimately get them into trouble.

"Why don't you ask Albedo? I'm sure he'd be happy to go with you."

Kaeya shook his head, "He's in Sumeru seeing to some special alchemical breakthrough. He won't be back until next week…"

If Diluc had thought the pouting couldn't get worse, he was wrong. At this point, he was trying not to look at his brother anymore, because when he looked like this, he looked like that kid Diluc had left in the rain. Kaeya looked so young.

"Diluc?"

He shook his head, back turned away so that Kaeya could only see his red hair swaying back and forth, because there was no way he was going to look his brother in the eyes and say no.

"Diluc…"

A slight shake of the head again, no other response.

"Diluc. Diluc. Hey Diluc, look. Diluc. Diluc. Diluc. Look, Diluc. Diluc. Diluc, look! DILUC."

"No!" Diluc swirled around to meet Kaeya's eyes with a glare.

Unfortunately, he was met with a single sad puppy dog eye, and a trembling lip. A terrible way to remember why he wasn't looking at his annoying, manipulative brother. Because it would work.

"Fine."

Kaeya's eye lit up to its usual vibrant self, "Really? Great, let's go!"

The bluenette sounded so excited, as if he hadn't known that was going to be the outcome. Diluc would find some way to pay him back for it later. There were bound to be some really stupid errands that needed to be done.

He looked to Charles, who was trying his best to hide the smirk he hadn't been able to keep down.

"Well, go on! I've got this," he said, pushing Diluc out from behind the bar.

As they stepped out the door he heard his bartender yell a sarcastic "You boys have fun!", and if he hadn't been yanked out the door by his brother, he would have had plenty to say to Charles.

"Oh, come now, Diluc. You don't have to look so grumpy to be spending time with your poor, lonely brother," Kaeya said as they wandered up the road.

"I'm not grumpy."

"Are too."

"Am not! Stop bothering me," Diluc crossed his arms.

Kaeya laughed, "If you're traveling with someone, how could it possibly be bothering them?"

Diluc didn't answer, so Kaeya continued.

"How are you and Jean doing?"

They had both been incredibly busy, but Jean had been even more so. It had been a week since they'd had the chance to see each other, not even finding the time for a quick meal. Diluc had tried one day, having taken a small picnic lunch to her office.

She was called away almost immediately, leaving Diluc alone with their food. He waited for a very long time, as long as he could spare, and then some, but he'd eventually needed to leave. Diluc left a note, and her food, hoping she'd have the chance to eat something, anything.

Later that evening, when he'd finally had five minutes to see how she was doing, he was met at the door by Barbara the moment he'd stepped inside. Jean had already gone to bed, having been exhausted, even with her sister visiting. Diluc left another note for her, and went out on his own patrol for the night.

He missed her. The way her hands wrapped around him, her warmth next to him while they slept, the feel of her lips, and softness of her hair. He missed hearing her voice, her laugh, and other noises.

"We're doing fine."

"Oh? From what I've seen, you've both been terribly busy. You have been going non-stop, if not at the winery, or the bar, then with meetings, or out doing your dangerous vigilante work with no sleep. In the few minutes I've seen her, she's seemed awfully stressed."

Ever observant Kaeya. The wine industry had been booming, with several different nations having various holidays, and festivals so close together. Diluc had been through so many meetings with buyers that they had all begun to blur together. At one point he'd become dizzy, and was sent away by Elzer. Adelinde, who had been waiting, pushed him into his room, and told him not to come out until dinner time.

"We've been… a little busy."

"Only you two would call this 'A little busy', you know, because for anyone else it would be insanity. Overkill. Exhausting. Overwhelming-"

"Fine," Diluc interrupted Kaeya's rant, "Things have been stressful."

Kaeya scoffed, "You don't say. You are each other's stress relief. It seems like it's terribly difficult to relieve stress if your relief is also a little busy."

Diluc huffed, annoyed by his brother's observations, "If I'm so busy, how would I have the time to come out here with you, then? Surely I could have had a meal with Jean instead."

"Wouldn't have worked. She's locked up in her office surrounded by stacks of paperwork. She'd never know you're even there."

Diluc's jaw clenched. He wanted to see Jean. No, that wasn't true. He needed to see her. He needed a hug, and to sleep without nightmares, or at least with someone by his side to help him through them. Diluc was tired, and he knew Jean was, too.

"You know," Kaeya said, "You could just go home, and get some rest. Have you even slept in the past week?"

He didn't care to grace that with an answer, it wouldn't be what Kaeya wanted to hear anyway. Unfortunately, his lack of an answer was as good as giving one, and his brother stopped Diluc with a tug on his coat sleeve.

"Diluc, you shouldn't be out here like this, or doing vigilante stuff, you shouldn't be meeting with people, and you shouldn't be working at the tavern. You and Jean are so stubborn. Neither of you will stop until you are passed out somewhere."

He was a little surprised by Kaeya's sudden lecture, and he found it amusing, as well, considering the man giving him said lecture would do exactly the same, and had many times when he was stressed. However, Diluc was not in the mood to fight back.

They wandered slowly, past the winery, and up into Wolvendom. When they were young, they had never been allowed to wander into this rough area of wilderness. Diluc would never admit that he'd been fascinated by the dark paths, and thick trees when he was young, his more adventurous side coming through.

Now, since his angry search for the truth, he had learned to be more weary about where he went, and strangers he might run into. In his search for answers, and those responsible for taking his father from him, things had gone horribly wrong. Diluc had paid such a high price, and more than one.

He'd lost his brother. He'd hurt him, punished him for something that wasn't his fault, and pushed him away. Next came his integrity. While he had been careful to make sure innocent civilians weren't caught in his path, he'd decimated numerous Fatui bases.

Diluc had aimed for the ones that had been hurting people. The scum who had been taking advantage of nearby towns, stealing from them, and causing disappearances. He had been a ball of rage, and even without the help of his Vision, he'd set those camps aflame, and watched them burn to the ground.

Last was his innocence. Not only had he found out where those people were disappearing to, but his decency was taken from him. There was never a point that he'd been allowed clothing. From the moment he'd woken up he was naked, and always cold in the purely white room.

He had seen other "subjects" as the disgusting doctor had called them, they were clothed, looking at him with pleading eyes as they were marched by his cell. When he couldn't move, muscles drugged to oblivion, which was ninety-nine percent of the time or more, he'd do his best to convey how sorry he was that he hadn't been able to save them, having only his eyes to speak for him.

Dottore never drugged Diluc in a way that allowed him to be unaware, or forget. He could remember every, single, thing, and it didn't take long for him to start praying that it was a day he'd only be experimented on.

A victim was what Jean had called him when he finally had the courage to tell her. He would have agreed for anyone else, and he would gladly do anything he could to bring that person justice, and peace. When it came to himself, however, while he couldn't get over what had happened, he couldn't see himself as a victim.

To him, there was no denying that he deserved it.

"Diluc?"

Diluc slowed down, and half turned to his brother.

"I can see you thinking… Are you okay?"

"I'm-"

"Don't say you're fine! I do have eyesight, Diluc."

Diluc rolled his eyes, "Well, if you already knew the answer, why did you bother to ask?"

Kaeya huffed, "I was hoping for the truth, I guess. They can probably sense your brooding all the way back in the city."

The bluenette then went on one of his long rants about Diluc's various types of brooding, and how it differed from his normal grumpiness. Kaeya's patrol had been exceptionally uneventful, which was a good thing, because Diluc was not in the mood to deal with random monsters. Or treasure hoarders.

"Could I ask you something?"

"... You just did."

It was Kaeya's turn to roll his eye, "Haha, very funny. I know you liked Jean all those years ago, when we were kids. Why didn't you ever ask her out? There's a small age difference, but a more than normal one…"

Diluc stopped completely. His first instinct was to be annoyed by the personal question, but this was Kaeya, and he absolutely did know when Diluc's feelings for Jean had moved from friendship to a crush, to love. He wanted to ask her so badly, but fate stepped in the way.

"I was going to… on my birthday."

Saying it out loud hurt more than he thought it would. He'd had it all planned out, a nice dinner with just the two of them, and a question. Their father knew his plans, part of the reason they were hurrying home.

Kaeya didn't say anything. What was there to say? It had always been out of their hands, never their choice. Their father was going to die that day, and Diluc would never get to have his dinner with Jean. Now, he could be grateful that he'd finally had the courage to give it another try.

At a sudden loud noise, the brothers spun around, swords drawn, only to find Bennett running towards them. Diluc would always give the kid credit for being brave, considering his penchant for finding any, and all bad luck, and didn't let it stop him.

"Run!" he yelped as he ran past them.

They didn't have time to ask Bennett why they should run, they only had time to watch the nine, ten, no, twelve ruin guards come plowing through the trees. Behind them, a streak of purple dashes in the shadows. Seconds later, Razor lunged at one of the ruin guards at the far side of the group.

Unfortunately, the attack didn't do much to help. Diluc summoned his energy, and sent his phoenix at the closest guards. It made three of them stop in their tracks, twitching with the sound of grinding gears.

"You two, get away!" Kaeya yelled at the boys as he sent a blast of ice across the closest machine.

It got too close, and sent Kaeya flying several feet away. Diluc sidestepped one, and wove between another two, slicing at their weak points, only to take a large mechanical hand to the face.

He stumbled back to his feet, and with much relief, can see that Kaeya had done the same. This also means that the machines are focused on him, completely ignoring the two boys who had stepped back into the fight.

Diluc quickly moved forward, using large sweeping, flame-imbued swings, until he was between the small group, and the ruin guards. Once more, he summoned his phoenix. Two of them finally fell to the ground, but considering the number, it didn't matter. There was no way their group would be able to bring down such a long number.

There was a second problem, behind them was only a high cliff, and they were cut off from escaping through the sides. Diluc chose one to the right that looked like it had taken a fair amount of damage, and started swinging while the other machines followed him as the largest threat.

"Ky, take them through while these things are distracted!"

Diluc led the ruin guards away from Kaeya, and the boys as best he could. If he ignored the angry look Kaeya sent him, he was happy to see them run past, and into the clear, but they didn't leave. Now, he just needed to get away so they could all run. It was too bad that there had only been one direction he could pull them.

Now, he was cornered, and completely surrounded with no gaps to squeeze through. Several arms swung at him, and he was able to manage some evasion. A jump here, and a flip there, but that could only last for so long.

The hit to his chest was much harder than the one he had taken to the face, and it knocked the air out of him. Not being able to breath while flying through the air towards a cliff was uncomfortable, and the ground was coming up to meet him fast.

As the edge of the cliff sailed by, he reached out a hand to grab at it. He was amazed when his hand caught solid stone, and he was no longer falling. Diluc grunted as the rest of his body hit the cliff face below.

To one side, he could see Kaeya, and the boys running away along the ledge, and he sighed with relief. They went unnoticed as the ruin guards focused on Diluc, but with him out of reach, the machines began to turn towards the others.

He had yet another problem. His hand was slipping. Diluc glanced down, from the height he was dangling, it would be a surprise if he didn't break something. A leg, arm or wrist… his neck. He tried his best to reach up, but couldn't get a grip with his other hand.

Jean, and Adelinde were going to kill him. No, not just him, but both of them.

Diluc couldn't hold on anymore. They say when your body receives a hard impact, it's much better for your muscles to be relaxed. It was human nature, however, to tense up when you could see it coming, and there wasn't exactly a lot of time to think about it.

Not that it mattered when you inevitably lose consciousness.

Chapter Two

Kaeya growled, annoyed by the persistence of the ruin guards, although it was almost certainly because of Bennett's luck. He didn't blame the poor kid, this was in no way his fault. Kaeya kept checking over his shoulder, and tried not to think about why these things were back to chasing them. It hadn't taken them long to be back on their tail.

Even knowing Diluc would kill him if he didn't help Bennett, and Razor first, Kaeya was so tempted to go back for his brother. The only reason they would have redirected their attention would have been if there was no reason to harass Diluc anymore.

Kaeya stamped down the nausea, and pulled Bennett behind a rock as an entire barrage of missiles flew at them. Pieces of broken rock pelted the three of them, leaving scratches in their wake. Something wet hit his cheek, and at first he thought one of the small cuts had drawn blood, but then more wetness hit his arms, and shoulders.

Rain. Kaeya's eyes lit up. They could use this to their advantage. There were still several ruin guards chasing them, but less than half of what there had been. Diluc had done a good number on them. With a little luck, he glanced at Bennett and grimaced, well, a lot of luck, they could work together to take them down, and get back to Diluc.

"Razor, Bennett, I'm going to come around from the left. You two will follow closely, once I freeze them, I want Razor to hit first, then you, Bennett. Got it?"

The boys barely got a nod out before Kaeya was on the move. He was thankful that these machines were much slower to turn than they had been for chasing them. Kaeya raced forward, and sent a blast of ice at the first in line, covering it with bright ice. He took a second to surround himself with some ice shards as a minor shield, knowing that if one got too close, they would be frozen.

As Razor, and Bennett hit the first, Kaeya moved on to the next, then rounded back to the first, and on to the third as the first fell. He continued to do this forward, then backward, like a dance, with the boys following suit.

It took time, and it was exhausting, but eventually, they had three of them down. It wasn't going to be enough. They were all out of energy, and it was becoming difficult to draw on their elemental powers as well.

Several times Kaeya had wondered how the giant robots had even managed to keep up with them, and why they never gave up, as was normal behavior. With it being early evening, and the heavy cloud cover, they had lost their light, relying on Bennett's short bursts of flame, and Razor's glowing lightning.

That was why a sudden giant flaming bird was a shock to their eyes, as welcome as it was. Kaeya had just froze them, so the flames hit hard, and tore through their frames with a force that pulled them apart.

Bennett, and Razor collapsed to their knees as Diluc hobbled out of the darkness. From what little Kaeya could see, the redhead was hurting, but didn't seem to be gravely injured. Of course, you never could count on simply what was visible with his brother.

"Are you guys alright?" Diluc asked, and Kaeya didn't miss the slurred speech.

Kaeya pulled his own Vision from its place, and held it up to the redhead's face.

"Diluc, what happened?"

His brother shook his head, and grimaced, "They were persistent…"

"That's not what I meant. What happened to you?"

Even through the rain, there was a streak of red flowing from Diluc's head, and soaking into his white vest. He could see the moment Diluc understood as it flashed through red irises, and Kaeya worried more just by that small, delayed reaction.

Bennett came running over, and held up a soaking wet blob of something.

"I've got bandages!" he said excitedly.

Kaeya glanced in the young adventurer's direction as the boy started trying to untangle them, only to watch them fall into the mud. Bennett hung his head, and Razor patted his shoulder.

"It's alright. I'm fine," said Diluc, "but… I would like to get out of the rain."

"Right," Kaeya nodded, "We're closest to the winery, if you don't mind."

Diluc shook his head again, with the same grimace as before, "Certainly."

With the slippery ground, their tired legs, and Diluc's slight instability, the walk took far longer than it should have. The downpour had stopped, making visibility a little better, but it was well into evening, and the cloud cover was still there, so all they had for light was Diluc's Vision.

Diluc had been even quieter than he had been on their way up, but with Bennett, and Razor nearby, he wasn't about to go asking questions. He was grateful his brother was even there, and the knot his stomach had tired itself into thinking that Diluc was dead, had loosened.

Adelinde was on them as soon as they stepped foot inside the door. Diluc had tried to linger just outside, but Kaeya dragged him in. Now that they were in the light, he could see just how covered all of them were, and it was making a sopping, muddy mess on the floor. He made a note to help clean it after he had a chance to clean himself.

Elzer took the boys away to help them get fixed up, and Adelinde turned to where he, and Diluc were standing. While Kaeya had been worried about the redhead, the fact that he was completely avoiding being noticed by Adelinde helped to quell that concern.

Of course, Adelinde knew exactly what Diluc was doing.

"You can either let me see, or we can stay here in the entryway all night," she said, with her hands on her hips, and tapping one foot.

With a sigh, Diluc turned around, and Kaeya got his first look at the head injury in the light. It didn't look good. In fact, it was gross. It had stopped bleeding, but was crusty, his hair was stuck to it, and blood had dried all the way down his face, and neck. The rain had washed enough of it down to stain the front of his vest a gross pink color.

Other than the cut, and some bruises across his neck, he looked, and acted okay. There was one thing that had bothered him, though.

"Hey, Luc. You were slurring earlier, and you haven't said anything sin-"

The door opening behind them cut him off, and Jean came rushing in. Adelinde gave a huge sigh of relief at her arrival as Jean glanced over Kaeya. He waved and gave a small smile, but she gave him the look that let him know he was going to get an earful, and she went straight for Diluc. Suddenly, there was only one thing in the world that had the redhead's attention.

Jean was gentle about looking at his injuries, but Diluc still winced with a few of the movements. He stared at Jean in adoration, and love. Kaeya could see how happy Diluc was to have her there, even if it meant he was going to be in trouble later.

"This is a deep cut, but only a cut, thank goodness. What happened out there?"

Since Diluc wasn't done staring at Jean dreamily, Kaeya answered, "Bennett, and Razor were attacked by… a dozen ruin guards. As they were… making their tactical retreat, they came across us. I tried to help the boys get far enough away for the guards to ignore them, and Diluc made an attempt at distracting them, but they were very focused on the kids."

Considering Bennett's involvement, everyone knew that focused on the kids meant the young blonde adventurer. That poor kid had such terrible luck. How does someone even end up making a dozen ruin guards mad?

"Are they injured?" she asked, the worry evident in her tone.

Kaeya nodded, "They're fine, just filthy."

"Did they say anything about how this happened?"

"No. By the time we were walking home, they were both too tired to chat, so I let them be," Kaeya said, and turned back to his brother, "Diluc, could you answer my question?"

Diluc finally tore his eyes from Jean, "I- ah… I fell off the cliff. When I came to, I could see them fighting in the distance. Those ruin guards, they were different."

His voice wasn't as slurred, he sounded more tired than anything. He had been carrying himself stiffly, which made sense now that Kaeya knew he'd fallen off a cliff. Diluc probably had bruises from head to toe. A shared glance with Jean let him know she'd already figured the same.

"Okay, we will look into the ruin guards tomorrow," she said softly, turning back to Diluc, "Tonight, we will get you cleaned up. Kaeya, are you certain you are uninjured?"

Kaeya nodded, "Just a few scrapes from flying debris. We were lucky," he gently ushered them towards the stairs, "Go, take care of him."

Adelinde had returned with some clean rags, bandages, and other supplies. She handed much of it to Jean, gave Diluc a soft pat on the arm, then closed in on Kaeya.

"It's your turn."

Chapter Three

Diluc's entire body hurt, almost like he was dropped off a cliff. Just from the feel of it, he already knew what the rest of his body must look like, and there was no way he'd be able to hide it from Jean. Not if their schedules returned to normal, anyway.

He'd felt the eyes of everyone in the room watching him slowly, and stiffly ascended the stairs to his room. It was like being a center display for Adelinde, Kaeya, Bennett, Razor, Elzer, and Jean, and it was embarrassing. Once again, he appreciated that his door was the first just off the stairs.

He always found Jean's attitude control amazing. Her version of a fiery attitude was quiet. Jean was far too eloquent to yell, demand, act aggressive, or any of the other things someone might expect, but you could still feel it.

She became stoic, but with something nobody would want released simmering just below the surface, that was the annoyance, and anger she expertly kept locked away. Even when it was aimed at him, it made his breath catch with the beauty that resonated from her in waves.

Jean, though, even through her annoyance, concern, and probable anger, was soft. Every touch was as gentle as the anemo powers she wielded. With a look, and a nod from him, his coat, and gloves were pulled off first. A small hiss escaped him as he moved his arms back to help with his coat's removal. It was certain that Jean didn't miss it, but she remained quiet.

Again, with his approval, she removed his shirt. Jean stopped, and remained completely quiet, as he looked in the mirror, taking in the condition of his own body. He could see her clenched jaw in the reflection as she looked over the forming bruises. He hadn't expected it to look good, but it was a bit worse than he thought.

When he fell, Diluc had apparently landed, not on his back, or stomach, but on his side. That was how he had woken up. Thankfully, it didn't seem like he'd been down for long, and was able to rejoin the fight. His distraction had ended up being for nothing, and for that he was thoroughly annoyed, but what really mattered was that everyone had made it through safely. While these bruises hurt, it could have been much worse.

Jean didn't seem to feel the same.

"This is… The two of you can not be trusted," she shook her head with a heavy sigh, "This is bad. You should be checked for internal bleeding, broken ribs..."

Probably, but he had no intention of going to Mondstadt, or sending out a message to drag someone out of their house at… he didn't even know what time it was.

"I'll be okay," he said. At her unimpressed look he added, "I don't have any broken ribs, and nothing more than a mild headache. I would tell you the moment I felt anything strange, how's that?"

Jean raised an eyebrow, "Are you assuming that I am staying here this evening?"

Perhaps not assuming, but very much so hoping, because he needed to feel her close, and smell her, and he needed to sleep with comfort when he had a nightmare. Diluc needed Jean, and he was trying to figure out how to say it, but it must have shown on his face.

"I will stay," she said softly.

She led Diluc to the bath, once he was in the warm, soothing water, she started to clean the head wound, and his hair, careful to touch any bruises as little as possible. She disappeared for a few minutes when there was a knock on his bedroom door.

Diluc, with some effort, managed to get himself out of the tub. Pain medication, and ice packs were waiting on the bed stand, and he shivered just looking at them.

"I would have helped you out of the tub," Jean said, slightly exasperated.

"I told you, I'm fine."

Regardless of his words, Jean guided him to the edge of the bed, but her touch was comforting to him, so he didn't complain. Though he wasn't dressed, Diluc started to lay back on the bed. He was stopped by warm hands.

"Your wound still needs to be bandaged, and you are not laying down with wet hair," she put an ice pack on the worst bruise she could find, "Hold this."

Jean got to work, ignoring his tired pout, and sharp intake of breath with the sudden cold against his sensitive skin.

If anyone were to ask him which he'd prefer, having his wet hair dried, and brushed, or having a head injury tended to, he'd choose the injury. Most of the time, Diluc's hair was fairly unruly, it was curly, and strands liked to go in every direction, but he could get away with tossing it into a ponytail.

Though his hair had been thoroughly washed by Jean, it was still a very tangled mess from the fall, fighting, and rain, and it needed taken care of, or it would dry much, much worse.

"How did you know that we were here?" he asked, recalling how quickly she had shown up.

"I was already out searching for Kaeya. I had stopped by the Angel's Share, and Charles told me that the two of you had gone on Kaeya's patrol together. When he was not back by the scheduled time… I immediately went in search. The two of you are trouble together."

Diluc laughed softly. Of course Jean had already been expecting trouble. He was thankful, since it meant he finally got to see her.

By the time she put the brush down, he had nearly begun to doze off. He laid down, and watched as Jean changed into the gown she now kept there. He had slowly begun to convince her to leave extra clothes, and other things she may want. Diluc didn't consider it his own room anymore, but theirs.

"You are staring," she said, her cheeks turning slightly red.

"I'm not," he smiled, "I'm watching you."

Jean's eyes narrowed at that, "That makes it sound creepy, Diluc. Why are you watching me, then?"

Diluc watched her gracefully slide under the covers next to him, "I could watch you for only a minute, and find a thousand things I love about you. Imagine what I might see in a lifetime."

Her breath caught, "For someone who does not like talking, you are very smooth."

"Only for you."

Diluc snuggled up to her the best he could, and wrapped an arm around her. It pulled at the bruises along his side, but he felt it was well worth it.

"Go to sleep," Jean sighed.

He smiled again. There was no doubt that she would have him up early to have a medical professional see about his wounds, or that she would be waking him several times through the night to make sure he was fine.

He didn't completely disagree with that course of action. That fall was from a height that he definitely shouldn't have walked away from, and he knew he should have already been checked.

Diluc had often wondered about the saying 'cats have nine lives'. He couldn't help it when the things followed him around everywhere, but he felt like he had used up a life that evening. He sighed, and closed his eyes. The last thing he saw before he slept was Jean's serene sleeping face.

Epilogue

Venti woke with a start, and groggily looked around.

There was a tall cliff on either side of him, and cold stone beneath him. When he turned his head to get his bearings, something tugged on one of his braids. He was stuck to a bush.

Venti let out a laugh, and pulled his hair away from the attacking branch, "Hehe. Pardon me, dear bush, but this is my braid. I'll take that back, thank you!"

He hopped to his feet, and stretched while taking a better look around. He could tell that he was definitely still in Mondstadt, at least. Neither Xiao nor that old blockhead appreciated when he wandered into Liyue while drunk.

He took a few steps forward, and stopped. By a small batch of rocks, some of the gray stone was a watery red color, and a small red object laid on the ground. Venti recognized it straight away, the pendant Master Diluc wore at his neck, and it quickly brought back a few memories of the night before.

Venti had been quite drunk, wandering around Wolvendom looking for his good friend Andruis to share a drink with. Unfortunately, he had been a little too drunk to make that happen, and ended up in this valley.

Besides that, there was only one other thing Venti remembered – Master Diluc falling from above. Venti had quickly tried to use the wind to stop his fall, but now remembered how it had only partially worked, and…

"Oh," he cringed as he remembered hearing the thud before he passed out, "I'll have to make sure to check on Master Diluc!" he said to a nearby chattering squirrel.

He'd perhaps gotten a little too drunk the night before…