Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Lumine is sitting in the living room with a bottle of gin and a burnt lollipop when Kaeya appears on the rug.

She wasn't quite expecting a ghost to pop up out of the slowly gathering mist, or rather, not one her age and exceeedingly beautiful.

"Good morning," she says, more as a greeting than a judgement on the time of day, which is in fact evening judging by how dark the curtains are.

"Why hello." The man crosses his arms, smirking down at her whilst licking the last of some crumbs from the corner of his lips. "Oh? You even brought me gin?"

Lumine glances sheepishly down at the bottle. "No, I…cut my foot." She shows him the wound, which is still bleeding, and the man immediately lets out a sigh that betrays his livelihood as being that of a caretaker of some sort.

"Oh, come here. You need to clean that." His shoulders lower, the surefire sign of a hefty bout of pouting beginning. He walks closer, kneeling besides her with his arms out near her feet. "May I?"

Lumine is just trying to wrap her head about the fact he's not entirely see-through. Only a little bit, around his shoulders perhaps. "Uh…sure."

Kaeya gets to work unwrapping her foot, curious to see what's wrong with her under the… "tissue bandage," he mutters under his breath, clearly judging her choices.

"Hmph."

When he looks up, Lumine is pouting, her arms crossed over her chest as she stares him down.

"Lot of judgment from a ghost," she says.

Kaeya's finger slips up in the air, as confident (in his correctness) as an albatross is in landing on a chunk of ice. "Au contraire, if laws are writ in blood, then the dead can judge how you take care of your injuries."

Lumine's jaw does a little fishy thing that has Kaeya smirking down at her.

"Hmph," she says, quieter this time, realizing he's right, to some respects.

"Anyways, didn't you ask me here to help you?"

"No, I asked you here to help you."

Kaeya's dabbing the blood on her foot, a welcome sight until they, simultaneously, appear to jump a little. A ghost is dabbing the blood on her foot. He's picked up the tissue, his fingers not wantonly blowing through the little pieces of cloth, and is now cleaning her, the blood blooming beneath his fingers, and even dripping onto his other hand, held steadily in place over her rug.

"Thoughtful-"

"-ghost?"

"-man," she had been saying, and speaks at the same time as Kaeya asks his question. They meet eyes.

"Well, I'm pleased to make your acquaintance," he says, grinning.

Lumine frowns a little, trying very hard to coalesce the image of the young man before her with any she might recognize. An old farmer's son who happened to get a good university job? A well-read merchant who came here and found misfortune?

"I only kicked the bucket a short time ago," Kaeya says. "Makes me probably a year older than you."

"How did you know-?"

Kaeya grins, absolutely devilishly. Lumine decides she wants to see more of that look, irregardless of how infuriating it may be.

"I see. You just guessed, and tricked me into saying it." She's crossing her arms again, narrowing her eyes to try and look more imposing.

It doesn't work, to say the least.

Kaeya smiles to himself. He reaches out, delicately sliding his fingers underneath her foot.

Lumine gasps in surprise. "Oh, you are not supposed to be able to do that."

Kaeya immediately lowers her foot again, quickly letting go and moving back. "I'm sorry." His eye is wide in concern, and he swallows fast, his throat suddenly dry with fear. "I didn't mean to hurt you. Have I?"

"No, no, you haven't." Lumine reaches haphazardly near him, or rather, her fingers jump up into the air like a spider feeling out the world, and then lower to the rug, disappointed in herself. "I'm sorry. You did nothing wrong, I was just surprised. I'm not used to being touched," she tries to explain, gesturing around the house they're in.

"It is rather empty," Kaeya says, smiling at her. "What did you eat your past house guests?"

"I'm not that type of witch. Have you ever pushed anyone down a set of stairs?"

"Only the ones who deserved it," Kaeya says with a wicked little grin. He kneels down before her again, resting his elbow there while he studies her expression. "Would you like help?"

"Yes."

He reaches once more for her foot, slipping his fingers along the archway. He makes quick work of cleaning her up, grabbing one of her discarded bandages on the floor, "Floral print, I like it," and then wrapping it around her foot.

"Thanks, I thought it was cute."

"Very. Makes me wish I could wear some."

Lumine reaches beside her for another bandage, holding out her hand to Kaeya. "Want to?"

He freezes a bit.

He's a ghost, he doesn't need one. He can't ever be fixed, can't ever be sent home again. He's doomed to wander or to wait or to seek revenge or to be consumed or to be sent somewhere else. He's no more important than the peasants from whence they came, who always seem to be dying, executed, tortured, and then passing through the phases of history with their names and marriages and joys as forgotten as dust motes in the setting sun. Never quite making it into cameras' pictures, never fully being recorded, always being left behind as something we've forgotten that we know how to love.

Lumine's heart breaks at the thought, but she watches Kaeya solemnly, still extending her hands towards him. He looks down.

Her fingers are woven with veins, filled with blood. Like a little leech, or some sort of walking plant, pumping her own energy into the world. Filling it with her carbon dioxide, stealing the oxygen from plants who are overwrought with it, who beg for someone to walk by who is breathing, who might sing or dance or step or crawl or cry. Who may live amongst them and not leave them lonely. Is that god?

Kaeya reaches for the witch's fingers, his grazing her own. His are cold, so cold, and brush along hers, and he feels a terrible crack within his heart.

It's said that when you're having heart pains, it's your stomach. Or the muscles in your shoulder. Or anything else, because humans cannot tell where their heart is.

But those who have laid in the grave with grief can tell intimately that their heart was buried with their loved ones, that the dirt they spit out on their climb out of the dark was laden with jeweled bugs stolen from a carcanet of peace, and now that adoration sits in their chest like a strained burden, forever weighing them and giving their head flights of fancy to other worlds where things were different.

Kaeya looks into Lumine's gaze, his soul held in awe.

She smiles gently, and he knows he's made the right decision.

Diluc is crawling out of a fucking grave. Of course.

He's on his hands and knees, throughly not enjoying the process of shoveling dirt from his head down to his toes, where he wriggles it into the cavity wrought by his body, within the coffin. He's already eaten the dates offered to him within, and now he's busy dragging his fingernails up through the soil. It's either better or worse that it's recently rained, that the dirt sloughs off of him. That he reaches a hand up and breaks through, from earth to the land of air and freedom. He closes his fist, pulling it back down and cupping what little precious air is there through his lips. Then he punches up, scattering soil. Again, and again, until there's a little hole and he can finally get some air.

From there, it's a matter of digging himself out. He has to get the weight off of his chest before he's crushed. He has to carefully shovel out his neck, his sternum, the side of his heart. It would suck if that lung collapsed first, being the smaller one. It would suck more if his heart did, finally succumbing to the stress of being utterly exhausted from life, and the tolling effects of the after version.

So far, the end credits have been a roiling version of irony and hatred. He bites hard to steady himself and to not panic, scared someone will come up behind him while he's doing this. He has a distinct thought of a man with a shovel, man with a shovel and a knife and an axe and-

Diluc crunches onto a pebble and nearly spits it back out. "Disgusting."

Sure, he has no air, but sometimes you need to talk yourself through the process.

He cups his hands in front of himself, and starts backwards swimming. He shoves the dirt up and away, as if he's trying to swim in on himself. And slowly, he's crawled out, until he can finally wriggle wriggle in the loosened soil around his legs. His elbows dig into the dirt, and he drags his lower half painfully from the soil. It collapses numerous times, onto the side of his knee, and then sending a rock onto his ankle. But he grits his teeth, grunting.

And once he's done that and is sure any potential killer could hear him, he roars for good measure, dragging himself out in one fell swoop.

Sure, it's not the most surefire way to survive what he's just endured.

But it does feel good, to come roaring out of the pit.

His legs are too shaky to properly stand, so he falls back to the ground.

There's a bit of gin on the ground, which Diluc swipes his finger through. "Eugh." Disconcerted, he makes a disgusted sound, wiping it onto a leaf rather than getting it onto his pants.

Then he sits, catching his breath for a good moment.

It takes a longer second for him to spot a lollipop, and begin to frown.

It takes another second for Diluc, struggling for air, to put a hand to his throat and feel the blood.

"So you're telling me some guy hit you with a car?"

"Yeah, I bet he was drunk."

Lumine frowns, glancing at the half-sloshing bottle of gin in her hand. "That explains it, then. I found this in the woods, and figured I'd see if I could figure who it belonged to."

"How come?"

"She turns the bottle upside down, so Kaeya can see the blood along the bottom."

"So you used your witchy powers in the hopes of finding a missing person?"

"I used it in hopes of finding whoever did this. With the amount of blood I found, I figured there's no victim to find. And it's not you?"

"No, it's not me. I told you, I was hit by a drunk driver when I was walking home."

"Why were you walking home?"

"I got in an argument, went for a drive, and broke down near here."

Lumine's brow furrows. Her boots ring out on the cement as they walk along the road. The woods on either side of them are filled with trees that seem to lean in, keen to hear this story.

Travelers are here, travelers with tales to hear.

Kaeya, for his part, makes little sound. He's definitely dressed in an old-timey outfit, except for the nail polish and the eyeliner.

Lumine squints at him, trying not to notice how his shoulder remains partially see-through. Her foot hurts, and it's a good distraction. "So, where's your car?'

"Sweetheart, this was a year ago. Last Halloween? Didn't you hear about it?"

He has a sad, hurt edge to his voice suddenly, the last wisps of a ghost asking if anyone remembers him. "It's been a long time, but I didn't think it had been that long. Only a year. Surely, someone, after a year, remembers me. Surely I haven't been completely lost to time, right?"

Lumine's heart aches for him. She reaches out on instinct, her hand settling on the fabric of his sleeve. "I only just moved here. I'm sorry. I don't know everyone who got hurt, it's on me."

Kaeya meets her gaze, more moved by her trying to make him better, than by the idea that perhaps no one in town speaks of him to newcomers anymore. That the old members have moved out, that his friends don't visit here ever year. He hasn't found a single-

"Are those flowers?" Kaeya spots them first, as he's meant to. Yellow, and beautiful, interspersed with lavender.

"Daisies?"

"Zinnia." Kaeya crouches beside the bouquet, reaching out tentatively. They're tied with red and blue ribbons, a clear indicator that someone remembers him. His fingers curl around the stems, lifting them up carefully into his arms. There's a small token dangling from the bouquet - a single golden Mora for him. It's obviously a replica.

"The flowers of remembrance," Kaeya says, in awe.

"Pretty. See? Someone remembers you." Lumine points to the coin. "Someone-"

"Diluc?!" Kaeya's scream is heart-rending. He rushes forwards fast, stopping to freeze, jittering, on the edge of the road.

Lumine follows, her breath puffing into the abnormally warm autumn air. She stops short, looking ahead of her and the lantern. There's a man standing there, dressed as a vampire, with a slit throat. He's sucking on her lollipop, dropped in the woods whilst she ran from finding the bottle, looking more annoyed by the noise than anything. And the light, but he doesn't squint, staring dead at where he thinks she is.

He's admittedly surprised when she steps out and isn't a grown man holding a shovel. Diluc's pinky twists in his ear, drawing dirt out, and he looks beside her, to Kaeya.

Kaeya is breathing hard.

"Another odd feature for a ghost to have," Lumine mutters.

"Fuck," Diluc says aloud.

"Diluc?" Kaeya's voice is absolutely distraught. Tears are already welling, as the shock gives way to wanton emotion.

Lumine quickly puts a hand up before the man is too beside himself to hear anyone. "Relax, I brought him back, he'll be okay."

"He will?!" Kaeya turns to her, then surges forwards, into Diluc's waiting arms. Or, rather, he knew Diluc would catch him, which Diluc does, wrapping his arms tightly around Kaeya in response.

Chapter Text

"He's not dead," Lumine tries, once everyone's calmed down.

She has the lamp sitting on the ground behind her.

Diluc has started a campfire with the lighter she carries. "Good." He sounds weary, perhaps from crawling out of a grave.

"He's not?!" Kaeya, who's currently sitting on Diluc's lap, dabs at the redhead's face for the tenth thousandth time.

"She says I'm not," Diluc says patiently, although his brand of patience is letting Kaeya pick at his skin, trying to clean the dirt and mud off.

"He's…well, he's not a zombie," Lumine amends, chewing on the end of her finger as she tries to think of how to explain.

"Good," Kaeya says, dabbing at the still-bleeding gash on Diluc's neck. It's not going to stop. Neither are the ghost's tears.

"Hey," Diluc says softly to Kaeya. "At least I'm dressed for the part of escaping from a coffin."

He's wearing a vampire outfit for Hallows' Eve. His answer, and little quirking grin, get Kaeya to laugh softly. Lumine grins back at Diluc.

Diluc looks to her, speaking politely. Lumine notices all of his fingernails are broken off. "What am I?"

"I necromanced you," Lumine explains, pointing to his fingers. "Does that hurt?"

"No. A little. It's fine," Diluc says, taking a deep breath, but clearly not getting enough air. He looks around the woods again, checking to see if they have any company. "Thank-"

"We'll get you fixed up soon," Lumine says, chewing her cheek. She watches Diluc with intense eyes. He's the kind of beautiful that's ethereal, especially in the woods at night at this. Between both men, she's a bit stunned.

"How?" Kaeya looks right to her, hope in his pretty gaze.

Lumine can't help but smile, supplying the information easily. "I have a list of bodies we could get him."

"Ew," both men say together.

"Not like that. It transforms - you know what? Let's not worry about it. What happened to you?"

"You revived me, I thought you knew," Diluc says, looking in surprise to Lumine. He's not being rude, he's simply stunned. Surely, someone who saved him knew who she was saving? Surely she has something to ask of him, some request to make. "I must thank you. What is it I could do for you? Money? Business?Connections? I can provide you with any of these."

"No, thank you." Lumine glances down at her thin clothes. "Well, maybe, the economy's really bad. But that's not the point, and I don't really care." She's not intending to hurt him or help him for the sake of money.

Her fingernails drum her shoe.

"So, why did you help us?" Kaeya looks with worry to Lumine, not trusting her intentions. After all, he only just got Diluc back. "It's been a whole year," he whispers, fresh tears wrought down to hell from an angel's eyes.

"I know," Diluc murmurs, wiping his cheeks with the delicacy of a man who spends his free time painting eyelashes. His thumbnail remains split open, blood trickling down all the way to his palm, and slipping over the tendons in his wrist, blessedly hidden by unflailed skin.

Lumine's gaze slips to his throat, which is tender and torn, jaggedly cut as he fought back.

"You cannot blame yourself, it's hard to fight, and being a target is nothing to be ashamed of," she says quietly.

Both men freeze. Kaeya shivers, drawing closer to Diluc, who wraps his arms protectively around the man.

"I found a bloody bottle of gin," Lumine says, lifting it up.

Diluc nods seriously. "He was drinking heavily. It's blood from when he cut my throat. He used a knife, don't worry."

Feeling only marginally better about where the blood came from, since he's here talking to her and not hurt worse, Lumine sighs. She's staring at an object that existed at the murder scene, that was made with love in mind by a couple who grew every component. Who waxed the seal themselves, laughing and dancing in the cellar. Who shipped it out, and then it was boxed. Sold to a man who smelled of booze and cigarettes. Who got into a truck drunk, drove drunk, slammed into a man drunk, kept driving drunk. Laughed about it when he got home, slammed the door, got inside and sat down.

And a year later, same bottle of gin was found in his house. The same bottle that had been drunk from and dropped into a portion of the living room he hadn't cleaned.

"I found the bottle," Diluc explains. "There had been gin found on Kaeya's body."

"Yeah, it spilled out of his passenger window when he hit me."

"On purpose?"

"If you're driving drunk, it's not really on accident."

"I knew if I could match the bottle, I could prove circumstantial evidence."

"You're breaking the chain of command," Kaeya reminds Diluc, spiraling a lock of the man's hair, miraculously clean thanks to a hat that had been thrown over his head earlier, around his finger.

"I do not care about the chain of command, I came for revenge," Diluc says, revealing his knife.

"That'll help us," Lumine says.

Lumine points ahead. "That's the house."

"How can you be sure?" Kaeya leans in, squinting. "Oh, yup, that's it."

"This is the one I broke into," Diluc is saying, checking his map. Then he sighs. "How do you know?"

"Cause that's the truck." Kaeya points half-heartedly at it, sitting in the drive like the dent near the driver's side wasn't from hitting a man.

Diluc's already striding across the yard.

"Wait! Leave one for me!" Kaeya and Lumine hiss at the same time, running to keep up.

Diluc slams the front door down as Lumine and Kaeya's boots smatter up the rickety front steps.

The men in the living room jump up a bit.

"You debt collectors?!" One calls. He's sitting on the couch with a plaid shirt on and a butt between his lips, gnawing away at the filter like it's full of god's grace and like he'd be granted any.

"Oh, shit," the other one says, recognizing Diluc's face. Standing by the entryway into the kitchen, he wavers a little, shivering. He looks a lot smaller now, shorter than the entry, and cowering, his arms stuck stiff at his sides. But his hands aren't so curled - he's faking it, and used to doing so. He's the one who slammed into his neck with a knife, and he takes off through the house.

Kaeya grabs Diluc's collar with more force than anyone in their party thought possible, pulling him back. He runs through the house, retrieving the stabber, and dragging him back. His ghostie muscles flex as he wrenches the man's arms behind his back.

The staircase on the left is blocked by years' worth of boxes and junk. The right side of the living room is as well, except for a door leading to a small half-bath. The couch is stained and ripped, the floorboards kick up dust, and the entryway leads down a short hall.

The man on the couch, in a half-drunken stupor, stands up. The cigarette in his mouth falls to the ground, and Lumine is quick to stomp it out.

Seeing a little rat moving through his apartment, rather than the ghost he's been haunted by for a damn year, the man tries to stomp on her foot.

Diluc grabs his throat and slams him to the ground.

Lumine tries not to feel too warm at seeing that, fails, accepts it, and looks between them, giddy with excitement.

Chapter Text

Back in the kitchen, Kaeya is choking on a cloud of dust. He kicks the man's legs out, shoving his goddamn face into it.

"Breathe in, dick!"

Definitely a line said in abrasive anger, as he sees both the smiling face of Diluc when they were younger, and the slit throat of Diluc now. He can imagine how much it hurt, imagine the chill of the, "cold steel slipping not only onto skin, but past it, where steel shan't be unless it's saving a life."

Lumine is chanting, turning from one man to the other. The digger wretches, his eyes beginning to bleed.

Kaeya swallows hard at the sight, then slams the man's head into the doorframe. He presses his own knee into the back of the man's, forcing it against the wall and dragging him down the length of it.

"For the crime of murdering Diluc, you will be sentenced to death," Lumine states, her hands outstretched to either man.

Diluc has his foot pressed on the neck of the man who murdered Kaeya. He tosses Kaeya the knife first.

The digger, his kneecap broken, is spewing profanities and screams. The house has gotten quite loud, Lumine supposes, but her blood is rushing from the magic and she's tuning them out.

She watches as Kaeya drags it out. He clutches the back of the man's neck, making her jaw drop.

"Pallad!" The Drunkard yells, and basically all mercy for the man is out the windows of the house, which smell as if they're only opened after a particularly bad booze night.

Kaeya's fingers dig into the sides of the man's neck. Pallad reaches up, trying desperately to claw his way out. Kaeya begins stabbing the knife into Pallad's fingertips, always missing his own skin. Evidently, he's figuring this ghost thing out fast. When one finger is ghosting, the others keep Pallad pinned. As does the knee pressing his broken one into the ground, as Pallad is held on his knees like a wartorn saint's abuser should have been.

"Albert," Pallad says through his sobs. "Albert, run."

"I can't," Albert says. Blood is running down his face from his broken nose, which has been flattened.

"Good," Kaeya says, in his anger at being run over. But he's more focused on the man who took Diluc from this world. "And fuck you. You had no right!"

He slashes Pallad's neck, but not nearly deep enough to kill. Deep enough to scare. Hysterical strength starts kicking in, and Pallad thrashes, beginning to lift off of the ground.

Lumine kicks him, hard, in the cheek, with a firm roundhouse.

Kaeya and Diluc laugh.

Diluc puts a hand out cautiously in front of Lumine, not to hold her back but to keep her out of harm's way should one of the men have an unexpected weapon.

"Guess it's probably better they cut a ghost than me, huh?" Lumine gives him a little half-grin.

Diluc looks up like he hadn't thought of it. "Huh? Yeah." He checks behind her, to make sure no one else is coming up the grassy drive, and then he focuses on the man under his boot.

Kaeya wrestles Pallad farther away, not wanting him to hurt her or anything else.

Lumine stares between the two of them, a slight warmth taking place within her chest, buried behind her ribs where she thought there was only a hole and some memories.

Kaeya slams Pallad down into the floorboards, and then begins sawing at his hands with the knife. "You want to cut his neck? Let's see you cut anything now."

Lumine stares down as Pallad writhes, and screams, and tries to get away.

She smiles.

Pallad is on his back, looking for all intensive purposes like a leaf pinned to the dirt, as the wind rips it to shreds.

Kaeya is a very pretty spirit, his shouts loud gusts. Lumine can smell the pleasant scent of the lollipop he had been eating earlier, as he screams gutterally.

"You took him! You did it! I hate you! You fucking cunt of a bitch! Your mother should have killed herself! Then I'd never have to see you!"

His voice breaks, the knife cracking. Not enough to be unusuable though. Pallad is clutching at his wrist, and as he tries to stop the attack, his finger breaks under the pressure of the blade, snapping back against his wrist.

He had held Diluc firm, slitting his throat over, and over, and over. Diluc described it on the way over, but it's nothing that needs to be writ. No, this one's for the pleasure of revenge.

So Kaeya starts cutting into Pallad's second wrist, which pinned his best friend, the man he has always loved. "Which stole him from this world, which took him from me! We could have lived forever, a ghost and him. I could have loved him!"

Every sentence is not punctuated with a sawing. No, no, these words are included as a poetic contribution to the sweet sound of flesh being maimed apart, as he separates skin from tissue from bone from marrow and back out again, as if digging through the earth until he finds the other side, as if dying until he finds a life.

"You will," Diluc promises, and only this draws Kaeya back. He stands up, crying profusely, and stumbles over. His knee is injured too, his feet stomped on by the desperate man, blood on his broken finger where the man got a good hit in.

Diluc embraces Kaeya, and behind the trembling back of the man he's searched a year for, Diluc shoots Pallad dead.

"It is a slow, nearly soundless death that Pallad dies, fitting for the voice he stole from the world," Kaeya says, clutching Diluc tight as he watches Pallad's soul be exorcised from his cask.

"Which Lumine hath returned," she says, enjoying the sight. She grins, looking over to Albert for his turn. She holds out her arms to Kaeya, eagerly.

Kaeya, who is a crying mess, stumbles over to Lumine and hugs her tight. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," he murmurs against her nearly bare shoulder, his breath shuddering inside of his lungs.

Lumine hugs him tightly, setting her cheek onto Kaeya's shoulder so she can watch Diluc's maneuvers. "You're okay. It's not your fault. He's safe now, he's safe."

"It is-"

"It is not," Diluc says, interrupting Kaeya's momentarily stream of guilt that never seems to stop flowing, but which occasionally winds out of his mouth when his insides flood with liquor or love.

"You're okay. Diluc was targeted because he was here. It could have been anyone."

"It should have been anyone else," Kaeya says, sounding just as angry and hurt as anyone does.

"I know," Lumine says. "I would have revived them too."

Kaeya looks to her, surprised. When he realizes she's truly there to save them, just trying to help, she hugs him to her again. "Thank you," he whispers his breath soft against her ear.

"Of course," Lumine whispers back, feeling a curious pounding as his lungs move.

Diluc takes his time. He stabs Albert's eyes first, taking away his ability to know what comes next. Corneal pain is next level, a type of searing that doesn't go away despite how long it goes on. And then Diluc stomps onto his beer gut, forcing the man to throw up whatever he's drunk that day.

Lumine and Kaeya stare at him, mildly concerned.

"What have you been doing while I was gone?" Kaeya asks.

Diluc turns back to them with a sour glance. "Oh, so you can cut a guy's hands off, but I can't stomp on one?"

"Well, I- the throw up was gross."

"He killed you because he was drunk."

"Honestly, think he woulda done it sober."

"He drinks a lot, might not have been drunk," Lumine says.

Both men turn to look at her. While Kaeya's head is turned, Diluc, without look, kicks Albert in the head again.

Unfortunately, the man flops back, very nearly dead from that. Diluc makes an aggravated sound, finishing off the job with the knife he brought. He stares down at Albert for a second.

"I'll slit his throat."

"Murder suicide?" Lumine asks.

"The gun can't be left here," Kaeya protests.

Diluc frowns, looking over his shoulder at them. "Why not?"

"It's yours," Kaeya says.

Lumine snorts, already having guessed.

Diluc just gives Kaeya a sly little grin that says he's the devil in the house. He keeps a knife pressing into Albert's throat. "No, it's not."

"So who's-"

Kaeya stumbles over his words, staring down at Diluc with a reproachful, shocked expression. "Untracable?"

"Probably used in a series of murders that need to be solved."

"What have you DONE while I was gone?!"

"I was very angry," Diluc explains. "Whilst trying to find the drunk driver who murdered you, I found several similar, unsavory figures. Abusive wives, murderous husbands, and I took care of them."

"And by took care, you mean…supplied bodies?"

"Why yes, I believe there's a child in the hospital now with a heart she needed," Diluc says.

Kaeya and Lumine share a glance.

"Stealing organs is generally not good, but in this case I think we can make an exception," Lumine whispers.

Diluc nods eagerly. He's been sinking his knife into Albert's throat throughout their conversation, and now draws it out. Unfortunately Albert had been throwing up, and bile comes out.

Diluc scowls, quickly standing. "That's not what I hoped to see."

"What did you expect?"

"Sometimes they bleed more," Lumine answers.

"How do you even know that?"

"University," Lumine says quickly, which both does and doesn't begin to answer the question.

Kaeya frowns. "Hope it's a weird video she came across."

"Praying she went to med school," Diluc mutters, joking.

Kaeya laughs, the intended effect, wiping away some of his tears. "Med school! No no no, mortician school!"

"I see. She would have access to an odd knowledge on human bodies. She could be a detective," Diluc tries.

"I'm not a detective," Lumine says. "I thought you were?"

"I own a bar," Diluc says deadpan, looking over at her. He's covered in a faint amount of blood now, the faint glow from the lamps on the walls illuminating his eyes.

"What the hell are you- ohh. But the bottle of gin was purchased from a liquor store?"

"I own that too."

"Monopolies are outlawed.."

Diluc shrugs. "I own the law."

Chapter Text

Lumine is staring down at the corpses with a dark tint in her eyes.

Diluc wonders if that's what god looks like before she begins to create.

Kaeya leans away slightly. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking those are two empty meatsacks," Lumine says.

"I am not possessing a dead body," Kaeya and Diluc say together. Diluc hopes his will won't be swayed. Kaeya is worried about how disgusting it'll be.

"No, it's not like that." Lumine begins hurriedly setting out the items she needs. Gin, water, grave soil from Diluc's, well, grave. Diluc's lit lighter. And her, breathing carefully.

"Matter cannot be created or destroyed. Two souls without a body are wandering endlessly. Either you need someone powerful enough to make them a body, or you need bodies to work from."

Lumine and Kaeya point at the bodies, though he does first. "You are Not making me into that."

"No, sweetheart. Think of it as a blood donation." Lumine's hand remains poised, waiting. "We turn that into the pieces needed for a body. And in a few months, all of the cells will be changed."

"The cells can be changed now, right?"

Lumine gives Kaeya a look, sighing. "I can try."

"Then I consent."

"Diluc?"

"Yes," he says, with a slight hint of annoyance, never one to be one-upped. He looks over to Kaeya sourly, so Lumine knows she's not the one at fault.

Her eyes widen a bit as she tries not to laugh at the two of them.

"Oookayyy." Lumine swishes her hands, and the two corpses turn into little more than bundles of blood. Then, they coalesce with the gin, becoming a beautiful maroon color.

Lumine asks them one more time. She explains the process in more detail, as well as exactly what the outcome will be.

"Yes," Kaeya says, bouncing up and down.

"Yes," Diluc says, quirking a little grin.

"See," Lumine says, "souls need a body. They require the protection, in order to properly run around. The shelter."

The floating blood approaches each man, working from his feet up to mimic his shade, until he's finally full of life. Lumine creates a layer of skin from moss and twigs, and from the leather coats (cowhide, don't get gross) hanging in the room.

"This was so fun," Kaeya says, stumbling forward. He has a grin, his eyes wide and playful, eyepatch dangling from his fingertips.

Diluc throws an arm around Lumine's shoulders, pulling her in with a bold, excited smile. "We've got to do this more often!"

Lumine laughs softly. "We will! Don't you two worry, we'll have plenty of time."

Kaeya looks over at Lumine, sliding an arm around her waist. He rests his head on her shoulder as they walk, smiling lovingly down at her. "Oh? Does that mean our little witch made us functionally immortal?"

Lumine giggles softly. "As a matter of fact."

Diluc grins as well, leaning in. "Oh? Well, we did agree. I have to say, the thought of drinking your blood is alluring."

Lumine presses a hand onto his forehead, grinning to herself. "You're drunk. We won't be doing anything until you're sober. With either of you," she clarifies, looking to Kaeya.

Kaeya keeps watching Lumine just as eagerly, smiling all the while. He's perfectly happy. "Okay."

"Okay," Lumine says, smiling as she looks ahead. "Oh hey look! The sunrise!"

She can't help but clutch her gut and laugh profusely, when both men, not yet knowing the full rules of being a vampire, dive into the bushes.

Lumine is still laughing as she tugs them by their collars, and walks them home.

"Come on silly men, we can go back now."

"How? I'm a dead man," Kaeya says, pulling at his fingers and earlobes as he feels his body is back. He frowns at her. "I look the same, right?"

"Even prettier," she says, making Kaeya smile (a bit) and look away.

"You too," she says, elbowing Diluc. Still drunk off of the blood of the men, he keeps a warm arm around her, pulling her close.

"You two have your own bodies, by the way. Just their blood, which will filter when we get you something new. And we can go to my home, and figure out a way to 'bring Kaeya back'. We can always say it was an elaborate plot to kidnap you, or that you lost your memory."

She's pretty smart. Kaeya is stunned for a moment, staring into the rising sunlight. "You're pretty smart, Lumine. But, what about my body?"

"Cremated," Diluc says. "Just the way you wanted." Even through the alcohol, his voice is instantly mellowed. He's clearly upset, just thinking about it. "I watched to make sure."

"Then you'll be questioned."

"A few thousand and I didn't watch."

"Geez, Diluc," Kaeya says, rubbing his temple.

Diluc peers intensely at Lumine as they walk. At first, she thinks he's just watching her for the sake of watching, trying to memorize the features of the witch who saved him.

Then he keeps staring, and she looks over to him nervously. "Hm?"

"You said the economy's bad for you?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's go to my house."

Lumine gives him a bit of a worried look. Sure, she saved him, but he's got his own body, not under her control.

"Ah, I see. Then I'll buy you your own," he says gently.

"You're drunk," Lumine and Kaeya say together.

Diluc eyes them. "Are you two always going to do that?"

"Probably," Kaeya says, before Lumine has a chance to, since she's swallowing.

Diluc quirks a little smile. His throat is healed, Kaeya reaching over to wipe off the blood. There's a thin line, and Kaeya laughs.

Lumine and Diluc look to him.

"Look, we match!" Kaeya pulls down his collar a little, revealing a thin line along his throat. A scar now, it's surely where he was injured when the car hit him.

Diluc, very drunk, bursts into tears at the sight. He crushes Kaeya and Lumine into a hug. Making Kaeya giggle profusely, and making Lumine stunned with the affection. She was nearly expecting they'd simply thank her and move on with their new lives.

"I'm so glad you're home," he says to Kaeya, kissing his forehead.

"Thank you for bringing him back to me," he says to Lumine, looking down at her. Diluc's eyes are big and watery, and he can't help but look affectionately at the woman who saved him and Kaeya.

"Go ahead," she says, sounding a bit like a flustered cat. She's unsure how to hug them back.

Diluc kisses her forehead warmly, and she decides she likes the feel. Her entire chest bursts with warmth and light, her cheeks reddening as she stares deadpan down the forested street. "May I hug you two?"

"Yes!"

Kaeya pulls her close, laughing profusely. "You little witch, you saved us both! Good work, Lumine."

"I did my best."

"May I?" His voice is giddy with giggles, and Lumine cracks a smile.

"Yes."

Kaeya leans over and kisses Lumine's cheek. She's starting to feel warm, and almost…cared for.

Normally, she travels alone. She helps out a ghost or three, and then waves goodbye to them. Maybe they move on, or maybe they gather strength and become something new.

"We have to take her to see the horses," Kaeya says.

"True. And I got a new boat," Diluc says.

"The weather's too cold."

"We'll show her next spring."

Lumine is absolutely dumbfounded, in the best of ways. She can feel the men both walking along with her, her arms around their sides able to feel the rising of their bodies as they breathe. Hell, she can still smell the lollipops on their breath, which apparently Kaeya used to eat like crazy and which Diluc keeps a stash of in his leather jacket.

"Come on, home now." Tired from the magic spells, and unused to such displays of affection, she starts to walk them along, an arm around each of them. She's smiling to herself. The three stumble a bit like this, with Diluc drunk and crying, and Kaeya crying because he's crying, and Lumine thinking about her snacks at home to distract herself from crying.

Diluc takes them to his home.

The sun rises, and goddamn, it's a beautiful sunrise.