It Must be Love

Leaving

"Sometimes I feel like running away is the only way." ~Anonymous.

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The group bid their goodbyes and walk into the night, the full moon lightning their way.

Kaeya almost completely forgot about his plan to run away. Almost.

"It's better this way," Kaeya said. Kaeya makes his way to the Knights' headquarters. He was supposed to stay there until he grew up, but he didn't want to grow up. Packing a bag that one of the commoners gave him today while he was exporting the small town, before he eventually went to Albedo.

He was half exploring and half collecting things for his travels. Food and water from Good Hunter, supplies from Adventurer's Guild, and anything else that he thought he would need. The only thing he didn't have was mora. It completely slipped his mind since Klee and Ella occupied the rest of his day. Now it was night and his time to leave. They would be sad, but Kaeya knew they would understand.

Kaeya didn't need much mora. Then he remembered something. When he was looking at Jean's book selves he also noticed that she had some money lying around.

Quietly and carefully walking to the Acting Grade Master's office he opens the door. The door opens with a creak then Kaeya realizes that he is alone. Sure, there were guards outside, but inside no one would be there to stop him.

Now waltzing into the office, Kaeya goes straight to the bookshelf upon the raised platform. He finds it quickly since it's right next to a picture frame.

It's the picture frame that proves he was an adult before this, though he has no recollection of any of these people before yesterday.

Kaeya grabs the mora and as he does the door opens.

Dropping the currency, Kaeya looks to the door. In rushes past him is Jean. She doesn't see him at first but he hears her mumbling his name, "Kaeya... Kaeya... Where are you Kaeya?" She says the question out loud.

"I'm right here," he says.

"Oh thank Barbatos!" she says as she crashes into her knees and hugs the child, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Kaeya just stands there. Confusion swimming in his brain. He doesn't like the loving pose and tries to get away, pushing Jean's body away from him. When that doesn't work he hits her arms.

That works.

"Ow, why did you do that?" Jean asks, looking at the child. They are almost eye level at this point.

"I wanted you to let go of me," Kaeya says with no emotion.

Clearing her eyes Jean notices the mora on the ground and Kaeya's bag. "You're not going to leave."

Jean grabs Kaeya, and puns him to the ground.

"Ow, let me go!" Kaeya yells.

"No, you don't get to run away," Jean says while taking off Kaeya's backpack. "Excepally now."

"Please let go of me. I promise I won't run away," Kaeya says.

Jean gets off the boy, but keeps a hard fist over one of his hands. "I'll give you two choices. Either you run away and become an outlaw or you become... a knight. If I was you I would choose the latter."

Kaeya gives Jean an odd look. 'An outlaw or a knight,' Kaeya comtiplates. 'An outlaw is someone who isn't protected by the law. That means that anything can happen to me and they won't do anything about it. Isn't that extreme? Or I could become a knight. Diluc and I were training to become knights. I guess I only have no option.'

With a sigh Kaeya whispers, "I'll become a knight."

"Yes!" Jean says. Coughing Jean tries to regain her professional tone. "We will start training tomorrow, but I must tell you something. A few Abyss Mages have been spotted around Mondstadt; so be careful. That's why I was looking for you. Pretty lucky that I found you when I did. You could've died-"

"Leave me alone," Kaeya interjects in an impassive voice.

"I want to be alone. Take me to my room," Kaeya says, looking to the ground. "Please."

"Okay, it's just in solitary confinement- I mean, in the extra room..." Jean looks down and notices that the bluenette is gone. She walks to her door and catches a look of him.

"Goodnight, Kaeya..."

***

The sun rises welcoming another day and one less day for Kaeya to return to normal as Kaeya wakes up in the Knights' headquarters.

Getting out of the bunk bed that was there Kaeya notices that clothes are all wrinkled. He shrugs, he can't really do anything about that. After all, Jean had forgotten to order a pyjamas for him. Tugging off his bow, his long, blue hair falls down, slides down.

After walking into this room last night Kaeya went straight to bed. Even the time he went here before the change, he didn't really look around, he was focused on getting charged and leaving.

In the room called Solitary Confinement it didn't look like a cell, just a boring, not well decorated bedroom. He looks around the room while re-tying his hair with the navy blue bow.

It had a bunk bed with a single pillow and a thin blanket for both of the twin bunks. The beds were on the left wall if you were entering the room. To the right was a simple, bare desk. Kaeya couldn't imagine there was much in the desk, but it was there. In the wall between the two which would be the front door was a window. It was split perfectly into four panels and was framed. Transparent currants lightly blow in the morning drift.

The final items were not that important. There was a mirror which Kaeya utilized when he changed. It was tall and thin and did the job. Another item was a potted plant. It seemed that the Knights' headquarters had too many plants because every room had at least one and this one was no exception. The pot was probably the most interesting thing in the room, with its many colors and patterns.

Young Kaeya exits Solitary Confinement, leaving his bag in the room, sighing with a slight glare at nothing in particular, thinking about his new role as a knight.

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Have any of you Seedlings ever ran away from home or thought of running away? Share your story.

I personally never ran away, but I've ran out of my house and so my sister said I had ran away because I had ran out, and away of my house. She told our friend which freaked her out and they were going to call the police or whatever. Thankfully she told them the truth. Also I came back to my house to discover what she'd done.