Chapter 1
Diluc stared at the mirror, tracing his appearance over with his eye.
Looking at himself now, with his memory back... He could hardly see the similarities between the man in the mirror and the boy from the past.
His hair is a mess, falling far lower than before and almost reaching his knees. The white that was mixed through it was so abundant one could mistake his red hair for a dye job gone wrong. It was barely restrained by the metal hair tie, and he knew that once all the knots were tugged out and the mess of hair washed, it would hang even lower than before.
His skin is deathly pale like someone had drained all the colour from it. The red of his eye stood out all the more because of it, and so too did the rich amethyst colour of the crystal in his left eye socket. A small scar cut through his lip, but outside of that the mask that rested next to the mirror had protected his face from further injury.
The most prominent of the scars on his skin, the ones he could oft not avoid were the burns. The ones that painted his flesh so vividly after he fought in the Phlegethon. The ones that held a fluidity to them that only a liquid flame would cause. How amusing it was then that the blazing substance was one of few things he could drink?
The burns that crept up his left hand were different from the ones caused by the liquid fire. These were caused by the Delusion that now rested in the back of his prosthetic hand. Channelling the power of a god had taken his hand and his eye, but that was preferable to staying trapped within the time loop.
And then there was his right leg. Taken by the Amalgamation on his first encounter with it, leaving now a metal one that Aym had taught Diluc to make.
The redhead sighed, leaving the bathroom and moving out through the large bedroom, slowly opening the doors to the balcony and trying not to make any noise. The silent night greeted him, and he stared out at the sky.
For so long, he had only seen the moon when it was below him. For so long he had not seen the sky, and when he looked up he was only greeted by the fog that separated layers of the Abyss.
The fresh, cold night air tasted so... He didn't know how to describe it. There was no toxin forcing its way into his lungs and making him choke. It did not taste like ash due to the dead monsters. Nothing was dangerous or trying to kill him here... And it was just so odd.
The gentle breeze felt like freedom.
"Can't sleep?" Diluc spun around quickly, chains almost summoned with a flicker of flame when he realised it was Kaeya that had spoken. His brother leaned against the door frame, looking up at the moon and stars, before looking over at Diluc with a small frown.
How had he not noticed Kaeya's approach? Diluc was always vigilant, making sure to be aware of what was around him, so why had he not been?
"...I already slept for an hour," Diluc answers, turning away from his brother to look down at the fields of grape vines.
"Did you get accustomed to not sleeping long in the Abyss?" Kaeya asked, receiving a small nod. The last time Diluc had slept more than an hour was when he had been in... No, that place doesn't matter. Not anymore.
It's nothing more than ruins now.
"With the Amalgamation hunting me down and everything else down below... More than an hour would have been asking to die," Not that Diluc would have particularly minded dying. It meant an end to the pain, and now that the Abyss is no longer the punishment he's forcing himself to endure, perhaps it's time he just... stopped.
No, no. Diluc still deserves plenty of pain for what he did, even if his father and brother have forgiven him.
Diluc doesn't think he'll ever forgive himself.
"Ah, that makes sense..." Kaeya frowns, moving to stand beside Diluc and look up at the moon with him. He seems to hesitate to say something for a moment, thinking it over before sighing.
"Back in the Abyss, when you killed that thing to make the Seed of Saeradr grow, you called yourself the "Vessel for the God of the Forge"," Kaeya says, and Diluc hums. Yes, he did, didn't he?
Oh. Oh, Kaeya doesn't know what Aym is.
"Delusions are made from crystallised Archon Residue, containing the power of dead gods. In the case of my Delusion, the god that dwells inside it retained consciousness," Diluc explains, raising his left prosthetic hand and showing the red orb that powers both it and his leg.
"Wait... Is Aym...?"
"Yes, Aym is the God of the Forge," Diluc nods, and Kaeya snickers. He quirks a brow at his brother, wondering why he's suddenly laughing and Kaeya's eye flicks over to where the bird made of flame is currently napping.
"Seriously? Aren't gods supposed to be all regal, divine and threatening? The most Aym's done is be annoying," Kaeya says, rolling his eyes and leaning against the railing. A faint smile flickers onto Diluc's face, and he chuckles lightly.
It's... nice. To just be here. To be safe.
To be home.
Kaeya grins wide, seeming triumphant for whatever reason.
"He did try to act like that at first, but Aym is not that good an actor,"
"What, did he see something shiny and suddenly go bird mode?"
"Yes," Kaeya laughed, and Diluc thought back to the number of random items Aym had stolen throughout their time in the Abyss. It reminded Diluc more of a dragon's hoarding tendencies than a crow's gathering.
"...Just another thing my birth father was wrong about then," Kaeya looked up at the moon and stars with a sigh. "He always went on and on about how I should be terrified of the gods. How it was us or them. I wonder what he would think if he saw me now..."
"Does it matter?" Diluc questioned, and Kaeya shook his head with a smile.
"Oh, not in the slightest. But the more horrified, the better. You think he'd cry if we sick Aym on him?"
"Maybe. If you ever need I can get North to maul him,"
"North?" Kaeya questioned, and Diluc hummed. "...Do I want to know?"
"North is a Rifthound, one around the size of a Wolflord. He's still growing too," Kaeya facepalmed, and Diluc quirked a brow at his brother. Had he said something wrong?
"Of course you would get a pet Rifthound," Kaeya yawns, rubbing his eye. It was clear that the knight captain was still tired, and Diluc didn't blame him. It was a few hours before sunrise and after the events of the past... Oh, wow, it hadn't even been a month, had it?
"Go get some rest, Kae," The nickname slips off Diluc's tongue, and Kaeya smiles. He slings an arm over Diluc's shoulder.
"Only if you try to get some more as well,"
"...Alright," Diluc sighs, following Kaeya back inside.
For a moment he freezes, turning to look outside again as he closes the doors. There had been a pulse, a hum of energy, of power carried on the wind. Like something had awoken.
The air tasted bitter, and Diluc locked the doors. Whatever it is could wait.
Kaeya passed out before he could even finish dramatically flopping onto the mess of blankets. Adelinde had set up an extra mattress in the room for Kaeya, but Aym was the one who had stolen half the manor's spare blankets before turning the two beds into a mess of a blanket nest.
Diluc lay on his own mess, though he could not sleep. Instead, he pulled out the journal he had been keeping.
Now, with his memories intact, he wondered if the things he had written down would finally make sense.