It Must be Love

Leftovers

Kaeya walks confused about how he ended up on a cart. 'Where am I going? How did I get here? Who's driving me?' None of his questions were answered and yet all of them were. He saw the small bluenet blue with an eyepatch. "Of course..." Kaeya grumbles. "It's another memory. It doesn't matter where I'm going or who is driving. It's all a dream.... Ugh!"

Kaeya looks outside the cart. "This looks familiar," Kaeya notes.

He quietly waits for something interesting to happen watching the boy just for something to do. Noelle and his younger self are travelling together. He looks excited and won't sit still. "I was such a kid when I was under that spell..."

Finally something interesting happens. The boy goes to the front of the cart where Noelle is and they look at the building in front of them, their destination; Dawn Winery.

"These must be the leftover memories, how boring."

They finally stop and Noelle cannot stop the boy as he jumps out of the cart and runs to the door. Swinging it open he stares at his brother. "Diluc!"

Diluc notices the young boy and glares at him.

Kaeya's heart, both the real life version and dream land version, breaks at the look.

"D-Diluc?" Kaeya chokes out in pain. His hand is above his heart, the fingers clutching his skin.

As if another dream interrupts the one he is having right now a memory pops into his head.

A flaming sword.

Two men fighting.

Anger and mourning.

The truth and unacceptance.

Kaeya lays on the ground, the flames licking at his skin. Sweat and dirt clogs into his tan skin and rumpled clothes.

'This is how I die...' the bluenet thinks and accepts his fate.

A cool breeze straight from Dragonspine.

An exploration of ice and light. Diluc is disarmed and lays on the ground.

A gift from the gods.

A vision.

Kaeya almost misses his brother leaving. "Brother, Wait!" His hand reaches out.

"We are not brothers!" Diluc yells before picking up his pace to a spirit.

Kaeya falls to his knees, discarding the vision to the dirt. "No... I can't lose you too. We've already lost too many..."

"Kaeya."

"Diluc?"Kaeya says, looking around.

"Over here..."

Kaeya turns around looking everywhere for his brother.

Kaeya blinks awake. His breathing is heavy but only for a short amount of time. Kaeya quickly calms himself down.

"Where am I?" Kaeya asks no one. He looks around. First the bed. It is a simple bed. The duvet is red and velvet. Kaeya would have liked to sleep it in. It reminds him of Diluc's bed.

The door creaks open and Kaeya stands up getting ready to attack. "What are you doing?" Diluc asks, closing the door behind him.

"Oh, it's just you," Kaeya says, sitting down on the velvet duvet. He wipes his eyes which have tears falling down them.

"Are you crying?"

"No, I had a nightmare."

"What was it about?"

"...You."

Silence surrounds them. It is suffocating and it doesn't help that there is no wind or open window in the bedroom. The brothers don't dare say a word.

"How was I involved?" Diluc dares to ask. The sentence echos in the small room.

Kayea doesn't answer. He looks at his hand which is currently grasing the velvet blanket that the two sit upon. "You scared me." Kayea looks up to face his brother. The one that made him cry. "I was a child at the time. Under the spell or what not... I remember being so excited to see you. It must of been before your father died and our fight because I cannot remember being excited to see you afterwards..." Kaeya's gaze retreats back to the duvet, not able to maintain eye contact for the phrase he is about to say. "I... I thought you hated me..."

Diluc moves his hand towards his brother and opens his mouth, but Kaeya quickly speaks, "When we arrive, Noelle and I, I ran out to see you." A choked/stifled laugh gurgles out of the bluenet. "Isn't it funny; me running to you now?"

After a sigh he continues, "When that door opened I was greeted not by a loving brother, but by an older version. One hardened by battles and death. It broke me. My perception of you is still a little broken right at this moment. I know that you don't hate me now, but that emotion I just felt makes me scared. That's why I cannot look at you right now..."

The words that Kaeya spoke above the brothers' heads, echoing and being reasoned by. Just how questions like 'What is the meaning of life?' are discussed in grave detail and by the elders of the community. So was the question, 'Do I love him?' was asked on repeat in the young gentlemen's minds.

"Kaeya," Diluc says, breaking the mantra in both of their minds. The bluenet flinches at his name. They both notice. The red-haired man doesn't open his mouth and instead wraps his arms around his brother. Kaeya's eye widens, but he accepts it without saying anything. Diluc rests his head on Kaeya's shoulder.

Diluc moves his head and whispers, "I love you Kaeya and I'm so sorry for what I've done in the past. Will you please forgive me?"

It doesn't' take long for Kaeya to say, "I forgive you and I love you too."

The two sit there in comfortable silence.