The Chalk Prince (Kaebedo)

Chapter III: Varka

Kaeya woke up to a knock on his door. He yawned groggily and went to get it.

Lisa stood outside, papers in hand. Jean was beside her. "We're going to ask Varka about that boy. Are you coming or not?" Lisa said.

"I'll go, I'll go. Gimme a second to get ready." Kaeya said.

He finished his morning routine quickly, locking the door behind him when he was ready. "Alrighty." Jean said and turned to walk away. He and Lisa walked silently behind her.

It was a short journey, often being stopped by shop owners and kids saying hi or asking questions, all to which Jean replied nicely to, of course.

Once they finally made it to Varka's house, Lisa knocked on the door twice. The old man opened the door a second later.

"Ah, Jean, and Lisa and Kaeya! What a pleasure to see you all. May I ask what you're doing here so early in the morning?" Varka asked, ushering the trio into his home.

His house was neat and tidy. Paintings covered the walls and expensive furniture littered the hardwood floors.

"We have come to talk about work. There's something we need to show you." Jean said and sat down on the fancy red couch. Lisa handed him the papers.

He read them over, eyes darkening in the process. "My, my. Where did you find these?" He asked.

"In a lab under the library. There was a boy too." Kaeya answered, tone serious and sarcastic.

"Do you know anything about these "Projekts", Master Varka?" Jean said, her tone also falling serious. The former Headmaster stood up, papers in hand.

"Well. I do, indeed, know about these Projekts. I was actually the person who wrote this journal." A sinister smile sprouted on his face at the shocked expressions the Knights had.

"You... You knew. You were there... You-you let Mondstadt fall-!" Jean also stood up.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, Headmaster Jean. But I'm afraid you're right. Humans are greedy things. In fact, once we got to Celestia — not that we did — I was already planning on killing Rhinedottir and taking "that boy", as you said. I would later use It to kill Barbatos and take the title of God. But unfortunately, Rhinedottir's creation failed. It's emotions got out of hand. And since Rhine got killed, she couldn't create anymore Projekts. But it's okay though, she was getting too emotionally attached to Projekt 103 anyways." Varka sighed. The Knights were all in shock.

They should have known the signature on the journal pages was Varka.

"I... I demand you be executed!" Jean exclaimed after a moment of shock and silence.

"Ah, ah, ah. What would Mondstadt's people think? Their new headmaster suddenly executing the former leader without reason? Is that the kind of reputation do you want, Jean? Because you can't tell anyone about the Projekts, now could you?" Varka said with a small pout that soon turned into a toothy smile.

Jean stuttered, thinking about his words and then finally glaring at him. "What do you want?" She said.

"Oh, well... You know. Maybe-" Varka faked a gasp, "-could you bring Projekt 103 back out of hiding for me? Get him to good health, then bring him back to me. Just to see how much his power has grown, yeah?"

"No. Absolutely not." Kaeya interrupted Jean from speaking. "If you're going to use him for power, then no. My father was killed 10 years ago due to him. I'm not letting anything like that happen again." He pulled out his sword, preparing for a battle.

Varka put his hands up. "Okay, okay. Fine then. Make It a knight. Introduce some sort of... Alchemy club or whatever. It'll be the Chief Alchemist. Maybe add It to the investigation team as well. Make It feel like It's human. If you don't, then I'll expose It to the public. Frame you for keeping the Projekts a secret. You'll all be cast aside." Varka smiled.

Jean huffed, glancing at the two other knights who nodded in sync.

"Fine. We'll do as you say. But no funny business behind the scenes." She glared at the man. He just smiled and nodded.

"Oh — and, mind if I keep these?" The former headmaster smirked. Jean snatched the papers and walked away. Kaeya and Lisa following close behind.

They walked back to the Headquarters, a tense silence washing over them.

After Jean's office door was closed, they all sighed.

"What do we do? If we don't comply to what he wants, then there's no stopping him if he..." Jean trailed off.

She looked so stressed. She was so overworked, the knights couldn't ask her to help them rehabilitate the boy.

"I'll do it. I'll go try and get him back to normal and out of those chains." Kaeya said finally. Jean and Lisa looked at him in surprise.

"Oh, Kaeya, no. I can't ask you to do that. I'll-"

"Jean. You're so in over your head with work, you can't possibly do all that and rehabilitate that boy." Lisa said. "I'll help him. Library duties can wait."

Jean sighed in defeat. "Alright. I'll leave that responsibility to you two. If you need anything, please come and tell me."

-

Kaeya made his way down the dark staircase once again, this time with two sandwiches and three bottles of water.

After opening the door to the cell, he stepped through. He saw the boy still sitting in the far corner, unmoving.

He flinched when Kaeya stepped forward, a small whimper leaving his gagged mouth.

"Hey," Kaeya said, nerves tingling in his stomach, "I'm Kaeya, Cavalry Captain of the Knights of Favonius. I have some food and water for you."

He got no reply, but the boy looked like he was listening, so Kaeya continued.

"I'm going to come into there, okay? And I'm going to need to take that gag off." His voice was soft, trying hard not to scare the poor boy.

Again, he got no response.

Kaeya stepped through the worn and rusted metal bars.

He thought whoever made this cell must have been pretty stupid putting the bars so far apart. Someone could have gotten through. But then, he looked at the boy's arms, legs, and neck, all bound with metal cuffs and chains.

Kaeya stepped close enough to notice how the boy was shaking, tiny whimpers escaping his mouth.

"I'm going to take your gag off now, okay? No need to be scared. I'm here to help." Please don't hurt me.

He reached around the boys head and undid the tight knot. He pulled the piece of white fabric away from his mouth and immediately the boy breathed in.

"See? All better." Kaeya saw that the gag had left a mark along the sides of the boys mouth. Whoever tied it, did it way too tight. A sudden feeling of remorse bloomed. The boy had to live like that for so long...

"I've brought sandwiches and water. I'll give you the water first." Kaeya brought the tip of the bottle to the boy's mouth. He immediately began to drink, gulping down big amounts of the liquid.

"Carful, you might choke." Kaeya warned. The boy slowed down a bit, listening to the bluenette's words.

After the first bottle was done, Kaeya capped it and put it back into his bag.

"Now, time for a sandwich."

-

Hi guys! Updates will be slow bc school and stuff. I'll try to update as soon as I can, so expect one probably every once a week. Ty for reading!! ❤️