Chapter Text
“One death in the afternoon please,” Kaeya asks nicely, batting his eyelashes at Diluc who barely looks at him before going to mix his drink. Kaeya smirks smugly as he watches Diluc work in silence, knowing the redhead couldn’t see him. Eyes flicker across the bar to distract himself. He didn’t feel like trying to force another bitter conversation with his ex-brother tonight. He was just too tired and worn down from his work recently. Too tired to bounce back when Diluc gives him the same cold shoulder when he bartends. It still hurts Kaeya every time, but in an endearing way, he supposes. He shouldn’t complain too much when Kaeya keeps coming back for more- asking for it.
But that didn’t matter right now. It had been a long, busy week, and this was the first night that he would be able to sleep in his own bed. Kaeya had been put in charge of scouting out a new domain that popped up near Dragonspine since he was one of the only cryo users in the Knights, which offered him a little more resistance to the cold. Due to the general nature of Dragonspine however, it took a few days of trekking up the mountains to get to the domain, explore it, and get back.
But it didn’t matter anymore because now he was back, Jean was satisfied with his work, he had Sunday off, and now he had alcohol too!
Diluc hands him his glass of wine instead of sliding it across the table. Kaeya goes to grab it, and when his fingers curl around the glass, that is when Diluc leans in to whisper in his ear:
“There’s a man that’s been coming in here every day for the past week.” Diluc starts, his tone a warning.” Sometimes he orders something and sometimes he just sits and watches the door. I’m 95% sure that he’s looking for you.”
Kaeya gives a confident smile, tilting his head to the side.” My, my, only 95% master Diluc?”
“He reeks of Abyss.” Diluc continues, pulling away from him. Kaeya’s smile turns into a frown, more serious now, taking a sip of his wine. The acidity dances on his tongue, before settling within his gums. The taste lingers, much like other unpleasant things in his life. He clears his throat before speaking again.
“I’ll take care of it.” He sighs, sliding his drink back to his estranged brother. A flash of something goes across Diluc’s eyes. Kaeya doesn’t allow himself to think about it, getting up without waiting for a response from Diluc. He looks around at all of the patrons, but nothing seems out of the ordinary. Therefore, it seems only reasonable to go to the top floor and see if there are any suspicious men up there. Kaeya ascends the spiral staircase quietly, just in case this situation turns into a fight. He hears the wood creak behind him and he spins around, coming face to face with a blond-headed man in what could best be described as some strange ‘space goth’ type of fashion.
“Dainsleif…” He stares down at the Khaenri'ahn, meeting those striking baby-blue eyes. He always wondered what sort of horrors Dainsleif had witnessed to make such clear eyes appear as if they were harder than any diamond.
“Kaeya Alberich…I need to talk to you about your father.”
Kaeya snaps, immediately losing his cool and calm composure. Shame floods his system at the sparse and hazy memories of what he knew of his heritage. His hands go to the man’s shoulders, who was shorter than him only because of their positions on the staircase, and grab him tightly.” No.”
His voice comes out quiet, subdued, and fearful. Nothing like how he wanted it to be. It makes Dainsleif’s eyebrows shift up, curious. It scares Kaeya, his mind starting to jump to the ‘what if’s’.
What if he’s here to hurt him?
What if he hurts the people of Mondstadt?
He looks across the room and sees that they have gained an audience from the other bar patrons. No one could’ve possibly heard what they’ve been talking about, but they were still causing a scene nevertheless.” Not here.” Kaeya urges, as his gaze meets Dainsleif’s again, sounding serious. Dainsleif luckily gets the message.
“Alright then. Please let us go somewhere else where we can discuss this.” Dainsleif steps aside for Kaeya to descend the stairs. He makes a beeline for the door, hyper-aware of the other patrons staring. News spreads fast in Mondstadt after all. The street outside appeared to be empty, as everyone was either at home resting or out at a tavern. Kaeya sighed, putting back on the mask of the cool Calvary Captain to hide his anxiety as he turned back around to face the other man, who seemed to be observing his body language.
“How long have you been in Mondstadt?” He demands. This was a safety threat after all. Dainsleif hasn’t been violent before, but he couldn’t trust the guy.
“Two weeks, I have been staying in the Goth Grand. It is a very quaint hotel.” That makes Kaeya tsk.” Of course, you would think it’s quaint when it’s probably the most carefully decorated building in the city… wait…but the entire hotel is reserved by the Fatui year-round, how did you manage to get a room?”
Dainsleif shifts on his feet, looking away.” You would probably view it as a few ‘unsavory’ favors that I did for the owner.”
“Archons,-“
He doesn’t miss the way the man’s eye seems to twitch at his exclamation.” -if it’s related to the Fatui in any way I don’t want to know about it. I can’t stand the thought of writing another report right now.” While Dainsleif’s face stays neutral, Kaeya doesn’t miss the way he seems tense. Kaeya looks past him, into the window of Angel’s Share, and sees Diluc is not behind the bar counter anymore.
Oh, Archons. Why him?
He didn’t doubt that Diluc was spying on them right now, when the abyss is involved Diluc can and WILL go crazy. Dainsleif isn’t safe right now, and he doesn’t want to contribute to the guy getting sneak attacked before Kaeya even knew why he was here. He thought about asking Dainsleif to take him back to his hotel, but that could be misinterpreted as something naughty (especially in Diluc’s eyes), and there would be Fatui hanging around. He also didn’t trust the man, or possibly Diluc to know where he lived just yet, so his apartment was not an option either. Instead, there was one place where Diluc refused to follow him: the Knight’s Headquarters.
“You seem nervous Kaeya, is my presence hitting too close to home? You did offer to buy me a drink next time we got together.”
“That’s not it.” He shakes his head.” Follow me, I have a better place for us to talk. No sneaky business.” He warns, before heading down the street.
“Sure.”
They arrive at Headquarters soon enough, with Kaeya making sure his door is locked behind him before going over to a fancy coffee maker and starting it. It was new, gifted to him by his friend, Agent Yelan, from Liyue. It was a thank-you gift after he helped to dismantle and arrest a group of treasure hoarders who were trying to establish a black market in Mondstadt.
“Would you like some coffee?” He asks.
“No, thank you,” Dainsleif replies in a colder voice than what he used in the tavern. It had a slight edge to it. It irks Kaeya a lot.
“Ah, at least take a seat somewhere then.” He says, pouring himself some coffee and leaning against the wall casually. Dainsleif goes and sits on the couch across the room, facing Kaeya. He could tell it was going to be a long night, and he had work in the morning, unfortunately.
“So…” he stares over at Dainsleif, who meets his eye contact almost humbly.
“I have come here to warn you of the potential danger that you are in, Kaeya.”
“Danger? From the abyss order?
“Yes and no.” Dainsleif crosses his arms before continuing.” Danger from your father, Ohthere Alberich.”
“What?” Flabbergasted was an understatement. He tries his best to forget about his father, and admittedly he even forgot his name until Dainsleilf brought it up. It brings credibility to what he’s saying at the very least.
“Why do you…how-“
“I have been tracking the Abyss Order closely for hundreds of years now, Kaeya. I am the only non-member in Teyvat who understands how they operate. Up until recently, Aether’s sister has led the Abyss Order.”
“Aether’s sister!? He’s been looking everywhere-“
“-for her. I know. It is unfortunate. She has been set in her ways for a long time now. The point is, she is missing.” The blond pauses, as if he was admitting the fact to himself as well.” I cannot find her. All I have been able to observe was that Ohthere somehow regained control of the Abyss. They have rapidly organized their forces in the past few weeks, with their advances directed towards Mondstadt.” Dainsleif starts.
Kaeya stares back, eye wide. His father was in control of the Abyss Order. This must be part of his plan, but if that was the case, why hasn’t he been a part of the Abyss Order this whole time? He was used to dealing with the Abyss Order, but they usually came in small groups in this part of Teyvat. He was aware that some parts of Liyue were more densely populated with the Order from what Aether had told him, and that they had a hierarchy. It would make sense if they were planning on coming from Liyue since the two nations were connected by land. They could plan to intercept them.
“There is no way he is not targeting you.”
He nods his head in agreement, tongue feeling like lead at facing the truth of the matter. The warm coffee alleviates the feeling. Somewhat. Was it really the right time for his father to act? He admittedly has tried to not keep tabs on the Abyss Order ever since he first met Dainsleif a little under a year ago and learned of his ancestry. The Abyss Order was more of Diluc’s thing anyway.
“I didn’t do anything to make my father angry at me.” Lies.” I don’t know why he would be targeting me.” Liar.
“You do not know? It involves a centuries-old plot.”
Kaeya’s blood runs cold.
“Ah.” He states simply, for lack of any better words. What was there to say? He knows he can’t lie to Dainsleif about everything. Not that he would want to. Besides his father, the two of them may as well be the last Khaenri’ahns alive. Dainsleif is still staring at him, the moonlight coming in from his large window reflecting pleasantly off of the details of his outfit, and Kaeya finds himself staring at that rather than making eye contact.
“You do know.”
He nurses his cup of coffee in his hand. He felt like his whole world was turning upside down again, just like that night when he told Diluc his true identity. Now here he was, years later, having to face his ugly heritage in the face.
“Yes.” He finds himself saying, but he can feel his mask slipping. How can he truly know where this man’s loyalty lies? He could very well finish Kaeya off if he responded incorrectly. It was distressing. Dainsleif wouldn’t hurt him, right?
“I’m aware.” He says now, trying to keep a neutral position for now. Dainsleif’s face hardens at this, frowning as he stands up from the couch now.
“And? Please tell me that as someone with your position in the Knights, you have prepared a contingency plan.”
Kaeya shakes his head. Now Dainsleif looks frustrated.
“No? How can you be so irresponsible if you knew?! As his son, you probably know more than I do-“ Dainsleif takes a few more steps towards him, approaching him quickly. Kaeya doesn’t move, doesn’t bother to say anything until Dainsleif closes in on him and a sudden, sharp, stabbing kind of pain shoots through his covered eye. It was so bad he reacted instinctively- yelling in pain and pressing himself against the wall, away from the other man as he reached for his burning eye. His coffee cup shatters onto the floor below, and Dainsleif backs away from him just in time to miss a bunch of glass catapulting in between the two as the window behind Kaeya’s desk all but explodes.
Glass flies everywhere, the two men doing their best to cover their faces as a man in a dark cloak and fiery red hair rolls in between them. The Darknight Hero stands up, unharmed, facing Dainsleif in a fighting stance.” State your name and purpose here, traveler. I know you're from the Abyss.”
If the situation was different if Diluc wasn’t wearing that STUPID bird mask, if his eye wasn’t in so much pain if Dainsleif wasn’t so intimidating, Kaeya would’ve teased Diluc.
‘How dare you not call him ‘strange yet respectable traveler’; I thought you studied the Knight’s handbook.’
‘Well, that was subtle. It’s a good thing you didn’t wake anyone up.’
Is what Kaeya would’ve said. But he was furious with Diluc. Destroying the Knight’s property, barging into his office, threatening his guest, and potentially ruining any future cooperation with Dainsleif- all because his brother had a stupid obsession with killing monsters.
“Ah, you’re the bartender,” Dainsleif states simply. Diluc stills at this as if he were surprised. Kaeya snaps at him.
“YOU THINK YOU HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO BUST INTO MY OFFICE LIKE THIS? DESTROYING PRIVATE PROPERTY?”
“It used to be my office,” Diluc states, not taking his eyes off of Dainsleif.
“That’s not an excuse to interrupt my work!! It hasn’t been your office for years now!”
Diluc finally turns to face him, looking at him through those slits in that archons-ugly bird mask, finally seeing how angry Kaeya is, how much he wants him to leave, how-
“You’re bleeding,” Diluc says instead, his voice calm.
Kaeya reached a hand up, touching his eye that was hurting, not removing the eyepatch. When he removes his hand there’s blood, not a lot, but still blood, and wetness from tears that he didn’t know that he shed. How embarrassing.
“Do you see why I stepped in?” Diluc deadpanned like it’s the most obvious thing in the world, like Kaeya wasn’t a highly trained knight.
The doorknob to his office violently jiggles but doesn’t budge. There’s a hand banging on the wood.
“Kaeya??! Kaeya are you okay?!” Jeans sounds panicked on the other side. She must’ve fallen asleep in her office again. Makes sense, it was a pretty common habit of hers. Common enough that Kaeya picked up her habit as well.
“Kaeya! Let me in!”
Dainsleif and Diluc don’t move, staring at Kaeya.
“Kaeya! Say something if you’re okay!”
Diluc narrows his eyes at Kaeya when he says nothing to calm Jean down. Kaeya’s face slowly turns into a lazy smirk, meeting Diluc’s eyes. He had him backed into a corner. He could either get out of his office to make his escape, or willingly let himself get caught in his cosplay outfit by Jean, giving away his identity. Diluc’s frown turns into a glare, like he might punch Kaeya just to get him talking.
With a gust of Anemo energy, Jean’s sword pierces through the wood of the door, right near the handle. It leaves a large enough hole for her small hand to reach through and unlock the door from the outside. Diluc swears to himself as the door flings open, Jean running in to see the three men. She regards Dainsleif wearily, who was standing closest to the door, unfortunately, pointing her sword at him.
“What’s going on?!”
“…the Dark Knight Hero is holding me hostage.” Kaeya spits out.
“No, I’m not! Stop being ridiculous! I’m protecting this idiot because that man hurt him.” Diluc growls.
“Master Diluc?!” Jean looks shocked.
“Come on- could it be any more obvious?” Kaeya facepalms, staring at Jean between his fingers.
Diluc sighs.” That’s not important right now.”
“Right.” Jean gets a little flustered, turning to Dainsleif fully now that she identified him as the only threat in the room.
“As acting Grand Master of the Knights of Favonious, you will leave my subordinates alone. If you have an issue then you can bring it up with me.” She states imposingly, still pointing her sword from a distance.
Kaeya pushes himself off the wall, past Diluc and getting in between Jean and Dainsleif now. He holds out his arm, trying to slip back into his charming persona despite the tense situation.” Come now, don’t treat our guest this way. I invited him here so the two of us-“ he enunciates the word ‘two’- “could talk about a confidential issue. Since you’re now here, I think it’s only fair that he gets an audience with you as well.”
“Are you sure he can be trusted?”
“I trust him.” He says wholeheartedly. Liar.” I trust him with my life actually.” Lies. He brings his hand up to his heart for dramatics.” He will be an immeasurable help to the Knights. Just hear him out.” He knew Jean wasn’t cold-hearted enough to deny him, but it was still a little nerve-wracking with his estranged brother present. He probably knew by this point that Dainsleif was Khaenri’ahn- there’s no way. Jean is staring at him, her expression softening by the second but she still hesitates. Kaeya can feel Diluc glaring at him, and can only imagine how his eyes must be bugging out of his skull right now. He probably assumed that Kaeya was about to betray Mondstadt.
“Alright. Let’s take this to my office. Jean puts her sword away, nodding towards Kaeya before turning to leave.
Kaeya is right behind her. He glances over his shoulder to glare back at Diluc.” Sorry, this is a knights-only issue I’m afraid. I hope you’ll understand Master Diluc. Dainsleif, follow us.” He says, before leaving the room.
“So you’re telling me, you think they are organizing their forces to target Mondstadt?” Jean looks so tired that Kaeya feels guilty for bringing this upon her. They kept the details vague, not mentioning anything about Kaeya being their true target or who exactly Dainsleif is. He trusts Jean, but… he also trusted Diluc before he told him his secret. The public consensus regarding Khaenri’ah was that the civilization was made up of sinners who deserved the wrath of the gods for their destructive desires. There wasn’t a single person he met yet besides Aether who might have had a different perspective on the cataclysm. But Aether wasn’t from Khaenri’ah. He wasn’t even certain of Dainsleif’s true position on the matter… not that Kaeya needed to know anyway. He wrote off that part of his history a long time ago. After all, he had no loyalty to Khaenri’ah. He felt no pity for them.
“Correct,” Dainsleif confirms, bringing Kaeya back to the conversation.
“And how can you be so sure? How are you getting this information?”
“I cannot divulge too much, but I have been tracking the abyss order for years now, throughout the entirety of Teyvat. I know their patterns and know that they are deviating from how they normally operate; they have new leadership. I can tell, they are preparing for something big.”
“Remember that new domain in Dragonspine that you wanted me to check out, Jean? There was quite the unusual congregation of Abyss mages and such there.” Kaeya speaks up.
“Right.” Jean swallows.” Okay. I just don’t understand. They don’t seem to have a motive.”
“It is their leader.” Dainsleif states, closing his eyes.” He is extremely powerful, like a slumbering beast. Once woken, destruction will rain down in its wake. I will continue tracking their movements, but I think in the meantime it is best for both of us if I stay within Mondstadt in the meantime, since they are targeting here. I hope this is alright with you.”
Jean nods.” You have my permission and my thanks. I had no idea that this was going on under our noses. If you need a place to stay we have a few temporary rooms here that we can hold for your use.”
“I appreciate it, but that should not be necessary for now. I have my own accommodations already.”
“I understand. The offer still stands. Someone who Kaeya places his trust in is a friend of the Knights by default. I hope we can work together to prepare for the Abyss Order.” Jean says.
“Of course. We have a common goal.” Dainsleif states.
“And Kaeya, I can help with delegating some of your current tasks and missions in order to clear your schedule. I understand that you will be jointly involved with Dainsleif, so I don’t want you to get bogged down with low-priority items. I will also alert Eula of the circumstances, and direct her team to keep watch over Dragonspine in case more monsters of the Abyss try to establish camp in the area.”
Kaeya’s eyes light up.” Eula’s going to be on this? Sounds great.” He says with a smile.
“Also… are you sure you don’t want me to heal you?” Jean asks for the third time since they entered her office. She saw the blood smears on his cheek just as much as Diluc and Dainsleif did.
Kaeya waves her off.” I’m fine.” She just stares at him and sighs, before changing the topic.” Next time I see master Diluc I can talk to him about his attitude toward you-“
“It doesn’t matter, you know you can’t change his mind.” Kaeya shrugs.” I would appreciate it if I could get some help cleaning up my office after that confrontation though…”
“Of course. I’ll get Noelle on it once she comes in for work.”
“Thank you.”
After Kaeya said goodnight to Jean and Dainsleif, he decided to stop by the medic room that the Knights had. After locking the door, he carefully undid his eyepatch in front of a sink with a mirror and set it down on the porcelain. It had some crusted blood on the underside, but it was nothing he couldn’t clean himself. Looking into the mirror now, he was met with his own reflection, diamond-shaped pupils with mismatched blue and gold irises. He hated his golden eye, especially since it used to match his blue one when he was younger. It made him look almost inhuman, that and a nasty scar that ran along his eyelid from that fateful night when he told Diluc his secret.
He stares at his reflection, amazed that he hasn’t lost his vision yet from keeping it covered almost 24/7. He even wears the eyepatch to bed most nights and it hasn’t affected his vision.
“Father, I know you can’t hear me, but can you see me now?” He smirks rather indignantly at his reflection, putting on another facade. More lies.” It seems we will be reunited soon. Is this really what you want though?” He closes his eyes, sighing. Sometimes he wonders if the details of his life are real or some sort of psychological torture brought about by his father. He leans forward, gripping the edge of the sink.
“I’m sorry I’m so indecisive. I couldn’t face the truth.” He whispers, more to himself than anything as the blurry memories come back to him.
His father can’t hear him, but he can see him. When he was younger, before he was adopted by Crepus, his father performed a procedure on him with some freaky magic that turned his eye into a tool for spying. His eye became multifunctional, serving as a direct link for his father to see everything that he saw. He doesn’t remember much of the procedure other than his vision going purple and a burning, full-body pain radiating from his eye. Now that he thought of it, it wasn’t unlike the pain he felt earlier with Dainsleif. He opens his eyes again to inspect his right eye. It seemed irritated but it didn’t hurt anymore, nor did Kaeya see any visible injury. It was odd, but he went ahead and cleaned up any remaining blood quickly, wondering what could have caused this. Dainsleif didn’t even raise a hand toward him, so he was hoping that this meant that Dainsleif didn’t mean to hurt him. But the reaction he caused made Kaeya wonder if it was due to their Khaenri’ahn blood or something.
He puts the eyepatch back on, sighing to himself. He’ll just have to ask Dainsleif about it tomorrow, if he’s willing to speak to him, that is.