The characters Kaeya was sitting at a table and interacting with were truly suspicious, that much you could see from afar. There was a certain look to treasure hoarders, one you recognized in those men as well. Their behavior and gesture reminded you too much of those men that had threatened you outside of the city some weeks ago. It didn't help that one of them was playing around with a knife. Somehow, the fact that Kaeya was hanging out with them left a sour taste in your mouth. You turned away from the sight.
"Kaeya truly does take his job seriously," Eula spoke from the seat across you. She had followed your gaze and realized what was going on in your head.
"His job?" you asked. "As a Knight of Favonius?".
Next to her, Amber agreed with you, being not too big of a fan of Kaeya. "How would conversing with criminals help out the Knights?"
"In quite a lot of ways, actually," Eula started to explain to you. "Firstly, Kaeya gathers tons of useful information this way, not only about the treasure hoarders, but other opposing factions as well. And secondly, by being an inside man and being friends with them, he has accumulated tons of favors from them, can use the treasure hoarders against themselves and make sure they can always be dealt with by the Knights. Once, he even pulled the strings to get me out of a quite unfavorable situation. I will still have my vengeance for that incident."
"I see," you answered while Amber just laughed at Eula's last remark. But your heart felt lighter with this new information. Kaeya did this for the greater good, for the safety of Mondstadt.
You watched the scene for a few more minutes. They were interacting in a friendly way, laughing a lot and touching glasses. Then, suddenly, the whole atmosphere changed when Kaeya snatched the hand of the man with the knife and pressed it on the table. He leaned forward to talk to them, and whatever he had to say had quite the effect on them. They were paralyzed for a few seconds, then three of them left the table in a hurry, leaving only the man whose hand was still in Kaeya's grasp. Another few words were exchanged between them, then the treasure hoarder let go of the knife. Kaeya consequently backed away and took the blade into his own hands. Mimicking his opposite, he was playing with it in a laid-back way while the other trembled in anger. And the, shortly before the last one left as well, you could make out the fear in his eyes. Kaeya apparently enjoyed the situation immensely, looked after the fleeing man and took another sip of his wine. After a few seconds, he noticed you watching him intensely.
Quickly, feeling embarrassed at being caught staring, you averted your gaze, but it was too late. Kaeya, who was now sitting alone at his table, got up and walked over to you.
"Good evening, ladies!" he greeted you as he approached your table and sat down next to you without even asking. It was evident that he was in a very good mood. "I hope you are enjoying it as much as I am."
"Good evening, Cavalry Captain," Eula returned the greeting in her way, while Amber and you just said, "Hello, Kaeya."
"My dear Spindrift Knight, there is no need to be so formal, is there?" With a light 'cling', his wine glass touched Eula's and taking another sip, Kaeya finished his wine. Eula did the same. Despite their formal words, they seemed to like each other quite a lot.
"I will get you another glass of wine," she suddenly said to him. "I told you to mark my words!"
"Fine, fine," Kaeya seemed pretty happy about her suggestion. "Have your vengeance."
"I'll help you", Amber said and got up with her, as she had noticed that all glasses were empty (and she knew Eula would get a new drink for everyone).
Again, you were alone with Kaeya, this time in his territory, the Angel's Share.
"You're quite the nosy one, huh?" he asked you, referring to your staring from before.
"I was curious as to why you were drinking with treasure hoarders," you defended yourself - a very plausible explanation, in your opinion.
"That does not excuse you putting your nose into other people's business."
"I wasn't. We are at a bar, Kaeya, everyone could see!"
"That might be true," he grinned at you. "But most people in here know me and my ways already."
Despite being accused of being nosy, you couldn't contain your curiosity, "Just what did you do to them? They looked so scared all of sudden?"
Kaeya answered with a dark smirk. He seemed so pleased with himself. "You don't need to know that. Let's just say that if he values his own safety, he won't stir up any trouble in Mondstadt for quite some time." Another chuckle escaped him, really emphasizing how much he enjoyed what he had been doing.
"You sound like a sadist," you remarked after thinking about the situation for a bit.
His immediate answer was a cheeky smile. "Well," he stated, "I can't deny that I quite enjoy seeing people struggle." Then he unexpectedly changed the topic. "That is also the reason why I enjoy teasing you so much. Your reactions are just too fun to watch, and oh so very easy to achieve. With the right sentence, I can make you a blushing mess. That actually gives me a lot of power over you, wouldn't you agree?"
More than just blood running to your cheeks, his little speech resulted in a tingling in your stomach and your mind suddenly feeling light. Instinctively, you covered your face with a hand and turned away from him. And just as he had predicted, Kaeya was insanely amused by your reaction again.
"That's exactly what I mean, little miss," he laughed. "Thank you for this wonderful demonstration!"
"Stop it!" you squealed while still hiding your face in embarrassment.
"Really? Do you really want me to stop it?" he asked, which took you by surprise. You made eye contact with him again, raising your eyebrow questioningly. He repeated his question. "Do you really want me to stop teasing you altogether?"
You wanted to say yes immediately but stopped your answer before it was spoken. Because actually, you didn't want him to stop. But why? Did you just like the attention or did you like the way it made you feel?
Kaeya of course noticed the pause. Before he could remark anything, however, Amber and Eula returned to the table and handed both of you the glasses of wine.
"Oh, the way," Amber addressed you with a wink, "... your fiancé just arrived and is bartending. Just so you know!"
"Diluc is here?" With this fact came the realization that Kaeya might not have known his brother was engaged to you, but he didn't show any visible reaction.
"You should go say hello to him," he told you with his usual smiling face.
"I should," you agreed, taking the opportunity to flee from Kaeya's teasing.
A small stroke of guilt ran through you, after all, having conversations like the one you just had had with Kaeya was not suitable for his brother's fiancee. You just couldn't help your reactions, but you could try your hardest to stay away from him. You wanted to be fair to Diluc, since it was your fault you were engaged at all. On your way down the stairs you remembered how you had pleaded.
"Please, father! If loving someone makes results in this, I don't ever want it again! I don't want to take the chance to be betrayed like this again! I don't ever want to feel like this again!"
Indeed, Diluc was there, behind the bar, preparing drinks. You could already see him from the staircase. He had his red hair up in a high ponytail, which you had to admit made him kind of handsome.
"I beg of you, father! Please chose someone for me to marry! I trust in your decision more than mine! If you chose someone, I know it will be alright. Please, father, please!"
Your father's decision truly had been a fine one. Diluc was smart, calm-minded and kind. You surely would be fine with him. All you needed was to avoid Kaeya until your feelings had calmed down somewhat.
The door to the tavern opened. This in itself was not unusual at all, what was unusual, however, was the people that entered. They were soldiers, carrying a familiar crest on their clothes. The belladonna flower. You stopped in your tracks.
It felt like ice running through your veins instead of blood. Panic set in, but you were frozen in place. Why were they here? Were they looking for you?
It was four soldiers that entered, followed by their young master. You just spotted his shape and felt sick immediately. Finally, you managed to end your paralysis and stumbled backwards onto the stairs. Stumbling, you hurried back up, your mind filled with only one thing, to get away, get away, get away! Thankfully there was a backdoor in on the upper floor, to which you frantically ran. You exited the building and in your hurry, missed a step and almost fell down the stairs. But you didn't care for the small accident, you didn't care for the sudden pain in your ankle. All you wanted was to run.
"There she is!"
You recognized the voice, it was one of his servants - your throat tightened as you realized that not all of them had entered the tavern. Not looking back, not stopping for even a second, you continued your flight.
Why? Just why was he here? Why was he looking for you? He had obviously realized that he had already destroyed you completely, so what more did he want? What did he have to gain from more of your misery? You had run away so far, all the way to Mond, to hopefully leave your past behind and to one day be free of the shackles of your trauma.
Behind you, you heard the steps of the soldiers. They were fit, of course they would catch up to you quickly. Once again, you were unable to escape, unable to do anything at all. Tears started to well up in your eyes.
You didn't want to be so helpless. You despised yourself for running away. Kaeya's words came back to your mind, he told you to fight your problems, take them head on. And you knew that he was right, that you would never truly be free if all you did was run away. You had to face your problems. Instead of running away, this time, you finally wanted to face everything. Face him! Fight and break free! Even if you ended up dead in the process, you just couldn't stand running away anymore!
In the middle of Mondstadt, empty and dark, you stopped moving. Immediately, his guards had you surrounded, they had been even closer than you had thought.
"Well, my darling," the voice that made you feel sick to your stomach reached your ears. He was stepping closer to you. "It has been some time. I've been searching for you."
Slowly you turned around. Your nails dug into the palms of your hands, almost drawing blood, but you took deep breathes to keep yourself calm. You stood upright, not caving the least bit, and looked him straight into his eyes.
"Rich," you spoke calmly, but coldly. "What do you want?"
"I just wanted to talk to you!" Rich opened his arms as he walked even closer to you. "I missed you, you know?"
"Missed me?" you spat out. "Don't lie to me, I've stopped believing your bullshit!"
"Bullshit? Of course I missed you! I love-"
"DON'T YOU DARE FINISH THAT SENTENCE!" you screamed at the blonde, and he finally stopped moving closer to you. "After what you've done to me, you dare claim you love me? You're sick in the head, Rich!"
He was surprised at your sudden outburst - understandably taken aback, since you had never dared to stand up to him before.
"I loved you, I trusted you more than I trusted even myself," you continued. "... But you took advantage of me and betrayed me in the worst ways. I despise you! I want nothing to do with you! Just go, Rich, I never want to see you again!"
"What happened?" he asked with a smirk. "You've grown fangs."
"Just leave! There's nothing more to gain from me!"
Rich didn't like your attitude, you could see that clearly. Soothingly he tried to continue the conversation.
"I'm sure we can just look past everything that happened, forget it even happened," he spoke. "We were happy before, right? We can be that happy again, darling."
This statement was your breaking point. Forget what happened? Like it was nothing? After how it destroyed you? How dared this man claim these things after everything he did to you? All your different, difficult emotions turned into anger, you took a step forward and punched him as hard as you could.
Taken by surprise, his head flew to the left and he stumbled back, where you still managed to kick him, before one of his guards rammed you backwards. Rich send you the most hateful glance you had ever received and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.
"Get her," he ordered with a calmness that inflicted fear in you. "Break her arms and legs if you must, just don't kill her."
The guards didn't waste any time, and you almost didn't manage to grab your dagger to parry the first attack. Your training was good, you managed to evade quite a few blows, but they were still soldiers. Sooner rather than later they managed to get hits and cuts on you and with every bit of blood you lost your concentration got even worse. You knew that in the end you'd lose. But not without a fight. There was no way you'd give up, you'd rather die than go back to Rich.
Suddenly, a bright light appeared in front of you, blinding the men momentarily. Then, a blazing arrow met one guards chest plate and sent him flying back while an ice wave took two others. To your left and to your right, Kaeya and Eula appeared, with their weapons ready to defend you and from a railing behind you Amber had her arrow pointed at Rich.
"Who are you and what do you want?" Eula asked him loudly.
He panicked and looked at the three people that had come to your help, pretty quickly realizing that he and his ordinary soldiers had no chance against vision users. Angrily, he spat some more blood onto the floor, then motioned his men to retreat.
You looked him straight into his eyes just before he turned, your gaze a silent promise that he would have a hard time if he continued to come after you.
"Are you okay?" Kaeya asked. "Who was that?"
Even if you had wanted to answer his questions, you wouldn't have been able to. Your knees suddenly gave in and the pain of the whole ordeal caught up to you. Unable to speak, unable to process what had just happened, unable to even think clearly, you just sat on the ground while your friends kneeled next to you and tried to talk to you.
"I don't think she wants to talk right now," Amber said, remarking on your unwillingness to react to any questions.
"Apparently," Kaeya agreed. "Let's get her into the headquarter, it's not far and she can rest and get taken care of there."
The other two Knights agreed. Kaeya took your arm and put it around his neck to stabilize your walking. Carefully, he pulled you up with him. After a few steps, you realized just how weak you really were. You must've lost a lot more blood than you had thought.
In your right hand, you clutched the vision that had appeared in front of you in the middle of the fight.
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A/N:
My dear readers, now it's your turn to decide. What element should the reader's vision have? You can vote until I publish the next chapter, and I will make the vision whatever element most people decide on!