The Tears of Orpheus
“Listen to me until the end”
Lisa knew, even if they tried everything they could, her fate was sealed, she had known for years and she would continue to do so every time her body forced itself to rest, trying to slow down her imminent dead.
In the end every attempt had been futile, so the best she could do was use what she had in hand to make sure no one suffered a worse fate than her.
Not Jean, especially not Jean.
“Nibelung’s ring, please let me be the one using it”
The god of wisdom observed her, no, inspected her, as t+she talked, they didn’t have the ring, it wasn’t even forged, but Lisa knew it was only a matter of time, Dainsleif would find Rheingold and then he himself would try using it, but the old captain was too much of a useful asset to give up on.
They both knew that using her would be the optimal choice, even if a small sacrifice would be needed.
“In the meantime, find a way to send Ajax to Natlan, back then he wasn’t a descender but now he meets all requirements to fulfil his original role”
How much the child would be affected by this they didn’t know, but even then, Lisa wouldn’t be around long enough to regret her choices.
“Are you sure?”
What a funny question, she was someone who sought knowledge back then, making the one in front her god but she couldn’t bring herself to believe that the one in front of her could give her the answer she was looking for.
Maybe it was the god’s young form that made her gather the courage she didn’t want and answer, maybe it was just her foolishness.
“Send the gnosis to the Tsaritsa, tell her the plan must proceed faster than we thought”
With that she left the god in the jail she pretended to be trapped, deep down she knew how much lives depended on her and a poor child, and in the end the final sacrifice would be neither of them.
I’m so sorry Kaeya, at least like this I’ll fulfil the last promise I made to you.
Kaeya fulfilled his promise, he wrote to Diluc, he wrote several letters yet he only sent one or two, he knew they would likely be left unopened or would be burned before someone could see what was inside.
He didn’t care.
That’s what he told Hu Tao when they returned home, that he didn’t care, he had many friends, one more or one less couldn’t make a difference.
Even then for some reason everyone in Liyue seemed to be worried about him, more than usual, they had after all saw him grow and even if Kaeya didn’t want to admit it they knew him.
Arriving to his home finally he let himself fall flat on his sofa, now decorated with cats thanks to Hu Tao, and simply prayed that Ajax hadn’t arrived home yet.
He couldn’t do anything today and he knew, it had been at least a year and no news of a dark night hero had arrived them yet, but seeing how Ajax had been called back they would soon arrive.
He hated the fact that he knew how much this would affect Diluc, but luckily this time around he would use his vision and not his father’s delusion.
Delusion were harmful for one’s body unless used in weapons or props, which Diluc didn’t.
Once he confirmed Ajax hadn’t arrived home yet he opened some wine he had bought from dawn winery, without a second thought he drank from the bottle’s mouth.
Deep down he knew this wouldn’t get him drunk, and even if it did that wouldn’t make him feel better, but old habits died hard.
He probably looked like shit, sitting in the floor bewailing at his own decisions, Diluc probably remembered by now and he could do nothing more than cry bitter tears.
Fuck, he was crying.
He had things to do, he could travel and find the remains of the khaenri'ah people, he could find what was left of the ruins, he should be doing all that.
Maybe talking to Dainsleif would help but he wasn’t sure he wanted any of that, at least Albedo was trying his best to find his master and make sure Klee grew up correctly while Alice.
Kaeya didn’t know what Alice was doing at all.
And after a lot of thinking he realised he didn’t want to know so he chuckled down what remained in the bottle and got up, maybe tomorrow he would be able to think better.
His door was knocked before he could successfully go to bed and when he decided to not open, the door was kicked open.
Well, that was extremely rude darling but I’m too drunk to care.
Maybe it was the extra wine he had drunk while the knocking had gotten worse, not that he would ever admit that.
“Kaeya Alberich, out, now.”
That was big ass hat the man was wearing, he laughed and then stopped when he realised he looked stupid.
“Are you drunk?”
How could he get drunk for just a bottle and a bit of something he had in his cabinets that he wasn’t sure was actually wine anymore?
Oh yeah he was a kid now, fuck.
“No?”
The hatguy was angry but it was a funny angry so he smiled, people liked smiles.
It seemed hatguy didn’t though.
“No, I’m not dealing with this shit I’m way too old, Collei come help me carry your terrible uncle”
Uncle? Since when was he an uncle? Did he have any brothers? No, he didn’t, probably.
Albedo?!?
No, impossible, that man only feels romantic love for his weird scientific experiments, and dirt?
No, maybe? His head was hurting a bit.
“For the last time I called him that one time as a joke! And Oh my archons Kaeya are you okay?”
What was Collei doing here anyways? Wasn’t he in Liyue hidden?
Oh right he wasn’t hidden anymore because he had told Diluc, he groaned in frustration, this was too much too late at night.
“Collei, hi, is a pleasant surprise to see you here?”
The faces in front of him morphed into concern, probably due to the fact that he was walking in what he for experience knew wasn’t a straight line.
He wasn’t going to survive with his pride intact, was he?
“Kaeya get into my wagon, we are going to Sumeru, a khaenri'ah ruin opened sooner than it should”
Were was the hi nice to see you again? Sighing he let his weight fall into the vehicle while listening to the two, three? Unless he was hallucinating, possible, there was a third voice, explain the situation.
“Is close to the Varana, not the new one, the old one, which we have been purifying these past years but I’m we’re not sure what’s inside, we also have a friend helping us check Inazuma’s ruins, Kuni here is the one in contact with him”
Kuni? Oh yeah hatguy, he had a name, because people had names, even if he didn’t feel human, he didn’t even feel like god’s did, he felt a bit like Albedo but more unnatural.
Or maybe he was thinking too much, the insomnia had finally caught out to him.
“Sleep for now, we’ll explain tomorrow”
Well, he wasn’t going to complain, he did need to rest, and maybe he would stop thinking of Diluc like that.
Maybe Kusanali would take pity on him let him have a dreamless sleep for once.
Diluc tried cleaning his hands to get rid of the smell of blood, he knew it was stupid, and that they were clean by now but much like a phantom pain his hands never stopped smelling like blood.
He had stopped having dreams since he fought with Kaeya, he also had begun to sleep worse, his father only grew more worried with every passing day and after weeks of having made sure he was alright Diluc begun hunting down Fatuis, he would prefer not killing them but sometimes they were just too uncooperative.
He soon couldn’t sleep without dreaming of his hands bathed in blood, he had begun hunting every single one he could get his hands on until finding out who was behind the delusions, bringing him to Dottore.
He also found out that the description of the eleventh Fatui harbinger matched Ajax way too much, in another situation he would had discarded this ideas as mere coincidence but now.
Looking at it from perspective it made sense, he cleaned his hands again and finally gave up, maybe he would be luckier tomorrow in Snezhnaya.
Taking the time to put his hair in a braid he finally let himself sink into sleep next to a field of calla lily’s, at first he had wanted to burn them all but he had discarded the idea for some reason after some thinking.
The flowers weren’t at fault for Kaeya’s lies.
Not making a sound he knocked himself out and fell to the ground.
“Uc- Luc- Diluc!”
A face, so beautiful that could take his breath away woke him up, he couldn’t control his body so he could only follow the youth.
He knew it was Kaeya but he was dressed in Mondstadt’s knight’s uniform, his eyepatch was gone and while he knew it didn’t make sense his eye was gold, a beautiful gold with a star shaped pupil, it glowed somehow.
It was really faint but he could smell his favourite hair oils on Kaeya, making the scene more impossible by every minute.
The smirk in the youth face meant trouble but he didn’t remember how he knew that.
“Shouldn’t we celebrate our dear Luc becoming a captain? I have a gift of my own”
Before he could react, he had been pushed to the ground, his body hadn’t even reacted, at least not in the way he wanted.
He wanted to stop this stupid dream yet he couldn’t, he felt every inch of his body reacting positively to this affection and he could only stare.
Kaeya’s face came closer to his as he gulped, then he was kissed, it wasn’t too good, it definitely lacked practice, not that he could know, but the face Kaeya made, so eager, so sweet, almost made him forget his inhuman nature.
Now that was the least of his worries, if he ever came across Kaeya he would just pretend he didn’t exist, he despised the man, he despised how much hope he had for no reason in him, even after not having been contacted in two years.
For some reason it didn’t feel like they knew each other for so little as the two weeks they had spent together and he hated it.
He hated how much it was affecting him.
Especially in this dream were he could see Kaeya smiling at him sweetly and hugging him while handing him some wine.
“Don’t tell Crepus okay! Got it just for you!”
And this time it was him kissing Kaeya and he felt just how soft those lips were, just how he remembered.
He had missed him, he had missed something he had never tried for no reason.
“Love you Luc”
Diluc woke up wanting to puke, he hated dreaming, he hated that the moment he had let his guard down those stupid dreams had returned.
This time he did burn the calla lily field.
He pretended he didn’t notice the wind protecting the poor flowers, even if they were beyond salvation by now.