A lost friend's journey

Chapter 22

One reckless, stupid, stubborn, Anemo Archon.

By all means, Kaeya should have suffered the wrath of the elements when his nation was burned to the ground.

Except, that wasn't exactly the case.

Khaenri'ah had perished while Kaeya had survived.

The Anemo Archon was nothing like what Kaeya expected him to be.

At first, he never particularly thought of any Archon. Then, the Cataclysm happened and no Archon made it into Kaeya's good books. Until the Anemo God saved him. Then, and just then, did Kaeya imagine him to be a kind Archon. The kindest, in fact. Kaeya had imagined him to be a gentle God, one who listened to his people, one who disapproved with the other archons – for there was absolutely no way that the Anemo Archon who had saved his life agreed with the very ones who had wanted to take it away.

The naïve young child that Kaeya had been back then used to only see the world in black and white.

Now he knew better.

And then, he had arrived at Mondstadt, left there by Dainsleif in front of the Dawn Winery with a promise to come back eventually.

Apparently, in that time, Dainsleif had had many things happening to him, but so did Kaeya.

Eventually, he met the Anemo Archon. Rather, the bard the Anemo Archon was acting as. Kaeya had found It endearing, and the very fact that the God chose to hide in plain sight from his people, simply relishing in their happiness and freedom, was what confirmed to Kaeya that yes, his assumptions as a child concerning the God of the Wind had indeed been correct. Or at least, most of them.

Sure, Barbatos was someone who was perceived by his people as a drunkard, also someone who could not, for the life of him, get serious enough to hold a deep conversation, he was at the same time worshipped by those very same people in a church built for him, or in front of a massive statue that represented him, or prayed to anywhere in Mondstadt.

That's when Kaeya learnt to make the difference in his mind between Barbatos, the divine being, and Venti, the seemingly human bard the God chose to become around his people.

Neither bothered Kaeya, as long as he could stay close to his savior, to the one he owed his life to.

Kaeya was rather shamefully never able to break from the habit of seeking Barbatos out, feeling safe whenever he was in the other's presence. He knew very well the God was aware of who Kaeya was, but neither of them ever approached the subject.

It was just fine like this. Kaeya was happy with the new life he had found for himself, serving the nation of the one who had saved him. It was such a small thing to do to repay the debt he felt he owed to the God, but it made him happy knowing he was doing something, at least.

And although Venti never told him, Kaeya knew he was pleased that the once traumatized child had found a place in the nation the God of Freedom had tried so hard build. That he was happy in that very same nation.

And sure, Kaeya's fight with Diluc sent him back for a while in a state he liked not to dwell on now. And sure, that very same fight had hit too close to home for comfort. And sure, it had reminded Kaeya of the nation that had been completely wiped out from the map in front of his very eyes in the span of a couple of hours only, but he liked to think he was in a better place now.

Kaeya was as happy as he could be. He relapsed sometimes (often), but he was not alone either whenever he deigned to speak of his troubles, even when he only briefly alluded to them.

And, thinking about it – truly thinking about it – Kaeya would never ignore the fact that this would never have been possible if it weren't for one Anemo Archon. And Anemo Archon who, if Kaeya's eyes were not deceiving him, was about to do something extremely stupid.