Hey, don't die on me. That's no fun

"Please, please!"

Kaeya ran desperately through the streets of what was left of Mondstadt, everything was destroyed, the survivors had already been pulled out by Jean and his brigade earlier.

Amber had been the one to lead the operation, this had not surprised Kaeya, he knew that the young girl's dream was to honor her missing grandfather.

They had saved most of the inhabitants, although many had succumbed to the destruction, inevitably dying.

The reason Kaeya was running desperately now was because he had not seen a certain someone among the survivors.

"Please Diluc, come on!"

A certain redhead who had been seen helping civilians escape wasn't with the group, Traveller had been in charge of protecting and helping them but that didn't mean he had enough power to go against Celestia, yet.

With his powers sealed Traveller could do nothing or so he had told them, he could only defend them and reduce the casualties.

Kaeya kept running as he listened to the glowing pieces, similar to the drangonspine pillar falling on Mondstadt.

" Quicker, faster, faster, please!"

He could finally glimpse red hair under some rocks.

"Please no, no, no, no!"

-Diluc! Hang on for a bit I'm getting us out of here please just, please don't die on me.

Kaeya slowly lifted the rock that held him down, trying to ignore the grotesque sight that was the redhead's wound.

-Kaeya, it's okay, leave now or there will be two deaths instead of one.

This infuriated Kaeya completely, how dare he give up so easily on himself.

-Don't you dare, don't you dare to die on me, we are both going to get out of here and we are going to give you medical treatment.

Diluc just smiled and patted Kaeya's head.

-Hey Kaeya tell me, where did I go wrong?

The light in the red-haired man's eyes faded away shortly, the question still echoing in the blue-haired man.

- Hey... Diluc... don't die on me... That's no fun...

But the red-haired man's body was already cold, from the beginning there was nothing to do to save him, he had such a big hole in his stomach that it was surprising he hadn't died before Kaeya arrived.

-Diluc please, is this a sick joke of yours? Another joke to bother me? Please Diluc, please say something... anything...

Dropping to the ground with the red-haired man's body he decided to look up, only to see a pillar heading at an unthinkable speed towards him.

Then Kaeya saw dark.

"Well that was unexpected..."

Kaeya could see Dawn winery from where he stood and could see his father's back walking away.

It wasn't too hard to figure out exactly what had happened.

"Thank you so much for this opportunity, Barbatos..."

Now he had two choices, let Crepus find him and try to avoid everyone's death or live on his own.

After thinking about it for a while he realized that staying would only slow down his training and endanger Diluc and Crepus.

Having made this decision he set off to Liyue, where he planned to stay for the time being until Diluc's 18th birthday.

As soon as he started his way he could see something shining in his hand, a vision had appeared, smiling softly now he set off to Liyue.

Not that Kaeya was bad with a sword, in fact he was really good since he had been taught by his father but that didn't mean he didn't know how to use a catalyst.

Stealing from nearby chests only left him to his own devices and that meant he had to use the weapons at hand.

Or he could make his own ice sword in case of emergency, but practicing how to use more weapons wasn't bad either.

If he remembered correctly Mika knew how to use several weapons, among them a catalyst, being both cryo users they had shared tips more than once.

The thing is that now he only had a catalyst and a bow because for some reason no chest contained even a dull blade.

At least he had that book that Barbara used so much when it came to healing, Drangon tales wasn't too bad, now Kaeya would rather get to Liyue in one piece.

After what could have been more than two weeks he finally got to see what the city of Liyue looked like, as soon as he arrived he went to the adventurer's guild to talk to Katherine.

Getting used to Liyue was not as easy as it seemed, but the locals were quite welcoming, surprisingly for his age they didn't let him do anything serious yet but they still paid him the same as an adult.

Little by little his name became known and little by little everyone started to think of him as every grandmother's grandson.

He helped everyone and improved the quality of life in the city easily.

Still Kaeya feared the day he would have to return to Mondstadt.

Kaeya was not a coward, but he was a very impulsive person who now knew how to use too many weapons.

In his stay in Liyue he had learned how to use a Polearm, a catalyst, a bow, and so on.

To be honest he had simply learned to use any weapon he could get his hands on, better to be prepared for anything.

Although he now had a sword he preferred to keep it hidden and use his own sword made with cryo, he also kept a catalyst hidden in his bag just in case, catalysts were one of the most flexible weapons after all.

The thing was that it was 2 years before Diluc turned 18 and Kaeya had decided that it was time to appear for the first time in Mondstadt.

At Liyue they wouldn't let him drink because they saw him as a child.

The thing was that it was time to get going and Kaeya was beginning to regret his decision.

-Kaeyaaaaaaaa you weren't leaving without a warning, were you?

The funeral director had come out to say goodbye but behind her were more children.

The daughter of the owner of the most famous restaurant in Liyue and the child of the Fayun guild... Feyun? Kaeya had never liked complicated names, and lastly there was the poor exorcist whom Kaeya had tried to help in his search for ghosts.

It seemed that the four of them had gathered to say goodbye.

-Well, I guess nothing escapes our dear director.

Smiling mischievously Hu Tao snapped her fingers, causing Xinyan and Yunjin to enter the scene with a goodbye cake.

-Come back soon, the gossip night is not so much fun without you!

Kaeya didn't know what to say to all this farewell, but he decided to say thank you, when he first came to Liyue he didn't expect the children of the village to stick to him like limpets.

Although now he had become Liyue's older brother, he still did not understand what to do with all the attention he had received.

-I'll be back after the Mondstadt's festival, don't worry!

-You'd better bring us food from there!

Xiangling was really looking forward to the food, while the others just sighed.

-Don't become my customer too soon!

"I don't really feel like it!"

When he finally made it out of the city it was almost dark, sighing he realized that he would arrive, hopefully, around midnight to Mondstadt.

"I hope they won't arrest me for looking suspicious."

One of the reasons he had not stayed to live in Mondstadt was for fear of forging relationships but after many years in Liyue he had ended up doing just that anyway.

In the end Kaeya had had many difficulties in his stay in Liyue, like that time he was mistaken for an Adeptus and had to explain to a certain conqueror of demons that no, it was not his intention to pretend to be an Adeptus, yes, he was just doing a commission.

In the end he had ended up knowing almost everyone in Liyue, being an Adventurer was easy for Kaeya and people had started giving him more difficult commissions when he turned 14 and looked like he was 17, a few lies here and there and magic! Everyone thought he was an adult already even though his age was now 15.

"Diluc must have turned 16 by now"

Kaeya had decided to cut through near Dragonspine, where there was a good chance he'd run into Rosaria, his favorite person for a good day at the bar.

"Rosaria must be 18 by now, so as long as I lie a little I can get a good drinking buddy."

In Liyue he hadn't been drinking at all, he had to look good for his clients, and even if he wanted to they wouldn't let him, but nobody knew him in Mondstadt so a drink or two wouldn't hurt anyone.

So now he was patiently waiting for Rosaria to show up, yet he kept walking calmly.

"Come on Rosaria show up, drinking alone is quite depressing."

Kaeya was perhaps a little desperate to see a familiar face.

"Bingo!"

So he decided to pretend to stop and rest for a while, by the time he turned around he had a spear pointed at his neck.

"Perfect, let's play innocent."

-What are you looking for here

" Ouch so cold Rosie, I hope you're not like that with your future partner."

-I'm just an adventurer on my way to the festival, the real question is, who are you?

"Ha! Let's see how you answer that Rosie!"

-It's only Monday, I can't do this on a Monday.

Rosaria, tired of everything decided to give up.

-Hey you brat, first of all I don't know how you ended up here but for now I'll let you through with a warning, second, why do you have so many weapons on you?

"Rosie's pretty tired, looks like she's still a rookie? Wow Rosie rookie, the unheard of."

-I don't know what you're thinking but go away.

-Yep! I'm off now, my pleasure! Hope to see you at the bar!

And so he calmly decided to turn his back on Rosaria who still hadn't gotten any answers to her questions.

With a sigh Rosaria took out a bottle with a transparent liquid that from a distance could pass for water.

Well now came the biggest problem of his journey, the knights and how to enter the city, in Liyue they all knew him and never closed the way since he became friends with Ganyu but here he did not know anyone, which was a small problem, the identification of the adventurers guild should serve but he did not know if they would leave him alone with only that.

"I have nothing to lose..."

-Stop right there, take off your hood and show your identification!

"Let's see which annoying person I'm bothering on their night shift..."

What he didn't expect to see was the person he had missed all these years, Diluc looked the same as he remembered him but there were some changes, he wasn't wearing the shirt that Kaeya had told him that looked good on him but a simpler one, also his hair was less neat since there was no one to tell him in the middle of the day that his ponytail had been ruined.

Kaeya noticed all the changes and did not know what to do, the Diluc in front of him was a Diluc he did not know.

And Kaeya didn't know if he wanted to meet this Diluc.

Not knowing what to do he took off his hood showing his face, still with a eyepatch but instead of the simple one he normally wore he had one that Yunjin had designed for him, this patch was more decorative and flashy than necessary but Kaeya liked it. Also his lovelock had moved, making it look like he had long hair.

-Hey your papers uh miss?

" You're fucking kidding me."

Kaeya was dumbfounded, he had never in his life been mistaken for a girl, if it was true that when he was young his facial features were not very defined in any case he would look something in between.

"It's because it's dark Kaeya, it's okay, take it as a compliment, girls are prettier than boys generally, take it as a compliment."

Sighing he pulled out the adventurer's guild papers and passed them to him, trying to keep his poker face on.

-Uh Kaeya Alberich? You can come in, but if you cause any trouble we'll have to send you away.

-It's okay, I don't have a problem with that, oh and uh I'm not a girl.

Diluc went blank and checked the papers again.

-Oh

The silence became awkward.

-Well uh, see you around Diluc!

-Oh yeah right.

"Perfect first impression."

With a sigh he decided to walk to Angel’s Share, hopefully Rosaria would arrive soon.

He really hoped she would.

Not knowing Diluc was questioning how the newcomer knew his name.

Rosaria was not at Angel's Share, who was there was Barbatos, and Kaeya did not know what to do.

Venti was someone he considered his friend, although it was true that at first he didn't think that way about him, after so many years of working together to protect Mondstadt he had begun to see him as someone very close.

Venti was a person who no matter how friendly he was on the outside never talked about himself.

For this very reason Kaeya didn't know if approaching Venti was a good idea, "Would Venti know about him this time? What if he didn't? What if Venti hated him this time?"

In situations like these Kaeya would flip a coin and leave the outcome to fate, he had done it when he took a commission from Hu Tao and she offered to stay for dinner, he had done it when Chonyun offered to go on a picnic, the list went on but so far Kaeya had always been lucky, as he had always ended up happy with the outcome.

Not that Kaeya was very lucky, in fact his luck could be considered bad, but still knowing that the decision would not have to be made by him was reassuring.

"Heads I talk to Venti, tails I wait for Rosaria."

He flipped the coin in the air and it returned to his hand, it had landed on heads.

"I no longer have an excuse."

He quietly approached the bard with wine in his hand, begging that there wouldn't be a strange reaction.

-Also drinking alone? Don't you also think it's better with company?

The bard's look was calm, a smile as usual and completely happy that the bottle seemed to be for sharing.

-Ohhh! You do have good taste, dear visitor! Join me then tonight if you feel lonely.

Sitting down at the table he could see how Venti was fiddling with his lyre, Barbatos was using a bow but in reality he should be using a catalyst, for some reason he hadn't used it until things got ugly, though Kaeya was pretty sure it had to do with the friend he rarely spoke of.

-A pleasure, I'm Kaeya, from Liyue.

-Venti the bard, at your service!

After introducing himself he immediately began to chug the bottle of wine.

"There really are some things that never change."

-By the way, you don't look like you're from Liyue, are you really from around there?

-Actually I'm not sure where I was born but since I grew up in Liyue I like to think I'm from there.

-Really? Too bad you smell like Mondstadt

"What the fuck does that mean?"

Kaeya tensed immediately, Venti knew something but knowing him he wasn't about to blurt anything out.

-Is that so? Well it's true that I'm quite fond of the city of freedom.

-Is that so? I thought you were one of us because of the way Barbatos' blessing surrounds you!

"Blessing? It can't be, perhaps Venti at that time?"

-Quite curious, the only blessing I remember receiving is from an old friend- he said smiling.

-really curious

Venti was smiling as he looked at him, Barbatos, someone who had never told the truth, someone who used a weapon that was not his and wore a face that was not his.

Barbatos part of the thousand winds who was said to be able to control the time.

Barbatos, the protector of Mondstadt and the murderer of the supposed tyrant.

And also, Venti, one of the few people who after all that happened stayed to protect everyone equally, no matter where they were from.

In the war Mondstadt became a sanctuary for the wounded and Venti became their guardian, to the point that his energy weakened and he could not move from where he was.

The last time Kaeya saw Venti he had not moved for months, but he was still protecting the city and had enough energy to talk to him for a while every time he visited.

Hey Kaeya, when do you think we can walk again without fear?

Hey Kaeya, don't be silent, we have to think about the future!

Next time we meet at the tavern, drinks are on me.

Hey Kaeya, please say something.

How long have I been here?

How many survivors have there been this time?

Kaeya, why are you the only one who visits often lately?

Kaeya, why are you crying?

Kaeya, I think if we keep going like this we won't have much time left, so in case something happens to me, go to Liyue, Morax is better at protecting than I am.

What do you mean Liyue is gone?

Kaeya please tell me you're lying, tell me it's a lie!

So survivors from other nations keep coming? That's good, it means Celestia still can't do that.

What is 'that' you ask? You don't need to know because even if you did, you wouldn't be able to stop it.

Kaeya, it's been a long time since Master Diluc visited... Hey Kaeya, why are you crying?

How is Traveller? Still no news?

Hey Kaeya you don't talk much lately, could you sing a ballad for me, I don't need something magnificent, just please listening to something would be nice.

Kaeya when I'm gone, could you remember the face I have for me? I don't want his face to be forgotten please.

Kaeya, may the winds always protect you.

The tavern door opened but to Kaeya's misfortune the one who entered was not Rosaria, but Diluc.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."