⊰casted spell⊱

• wine industry •

"another bottle of beer please Mr Diluc!" Venti, the bard, showed up in front of the cashier's desk again persuading for bottles by bottles of beer.
"Venti, you've had enough beer already, now disappear"

"awh.. how upsetting..." Venti whined, looking at Diluc in a tired manner.
"hey... where is my bud? you know... Kaeya" Venti asked. Diluc would never answer such questions about his brother, he wouldn't care much about it.

"why are you asking me? now get lost already!" Diluc growled while staring at the drunk Venti sternly. "ah... still the normal you... alright, I'll go off now! thanks for the treat!~" the bard joyfully waved at Diluc and skipped out of the tavern.
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Diluc's POV:
this isn't right.. I saved some bottles for that thing but he never showed up? I'll just wait for him then... it would be a waste for the wine
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it was already dawn, Diluc had already fallen asleep on the cashier's desk. His head was limply leaning on the desk while his fluffy red hair surrounded him.
"Hey~... hey! Weird grown up!" The voice of Klee caused Diluc to arise from his slumber, he lifted his head up to see Klee waving her hand.

"Mmh... what are you doing here Klee? Argh-.. what time is it?..." Diluc rubbed his eyes. "Master Jean is quite busy today... so she told me to ask you why didn't you go home yesterday? Oh oh! The time now is 6:30" Klee said. It was at this moment when Diluc realised he had fallen asleep in the tavern.
He looked at the clock hanging on the walls of the tavern. "Oh... it's only 5 o'clock. Klee, promise me you won't tell master Jean that I fell asleep here... just say that I was busy in the wild ok?"

"Hmmm... master Jean really cares about you though... but alright! Klee will keep your promise!~"

Klee skipped out of the tavern saying goodbye to Diluc.
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Diluc's POV:
Did Kaeya come in here last night? No... the bottles are still here though... hm, too bad then
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Days passed, Diluc still haven't seen the sight of Kaeya yet but did see Venti, as usual, coming to his tavern for beer, but something was odd, Venti wouldn't ask where Kaeya was anymore, it felt like he didn't exist. Diluc kept his curiosity tightly for a long time until he decided to look for Kaeya.

First, he went to every corner of Mondstadt, followed by Dragonspine, followed by Liyue and other places of Teyvat but failed to locate his brother. The thought of Kaeya's death consumed his mind and he felt stressed out every now and then. Diluc had the patience to ask people around Mondstadt which was a good thing, but the people whom he asked didn't care much.

Another day in the tavern arrived, with the usual noisy chattering atmosphere and the making of wine.
"Hey, the wine's kinda bitter, has anything gotten into you?" Someone asked holding a bottle of wine. Diluc ignored that person, he didn't believe they would care about the bartender.

"Venti... have you seen Kaeya anywhere?" "Nope! I think he's really busy, so I'm not bothering him anymore... but sure is weird though, he just disappeared!" Diluc was glad that Venti believed that Kaeya was a person, but he doesn't really care, all he wants is to see his brother with his own eyes again.

"It's getting late, you should go home Venti" "yeah right...you just don't want me here don't you? Alright then... see you next time Diluc" Venti chirped as he walked out of the tavern.

"Knock knock!" A familiar voice sounded.
"Don't play games now... this tavern is closing and no one is allowed to come in by this timing..." Diluc replied, using a piece of cloth to wipe his wine cups.

However, the person outside didn't seem to listen, but opened the door. It was Kaeya, but he looked sick.

"K-Kaeya?... where have you been? I-I'm.. happy to see you..." Diluc stuttered in shock. "Hah! That's good to hear, you still have some leftover beer don't you?"

Just when Diluc wanted to get his last bottle of beer, he realised that Kaeya was covering his waist with his arms, and his hands was grabbing it tightly. "Kaeya... are you alright?" "Of course I am! Do I look okay?" Diluc couldn't reply with an exact answer, for that, he just grabbed the bottle of beer and placed it on the cashier's table.

"Thanks..." Kaeya said as he walked over to a table. Diluc was extremely confused and worried, he constantly looked at Kaeya checking for any weird symptoms.

"Mm...! This tasted good as usual, anyways, I have to go off now, thanks a lot Diluc for the beer!" Kaeya smiled and placed the empty beer bottle on the table. As he walked towards the exit, he finally let go of his waist and showed that he was bleeding badly.

Diluc immediately jumped across the cashier's desk and yelled, "Kaeya wait! You're hurt!..." as he reached his hand out, then Kaeya turned into a dark silhouette and everything started to fade slowly.

"It's alright... it's not your fault"

Kaeya said.

Diluc's eyes widened as he realised he was in Dragonspine, on top of Kaeya, who was partially conscious. He checked his surroundings and realised his claymore was struck into Kaeya's abdomen, blood was streaming from it. Diluc quickly plucked his claymore out of Kaeya, causing him to groan a little.

"Kaeya?..."

It was not long until Diluc realised the people around him, Jean and traveller was there and some abyss mages floating around. Diluc then remembered what had happened.

He had fallen into some abyss's spell and was being controlled to kill the people of Mondstadt, Kaeya was weaker than him as expected, so he was the first one to be killed. But since Kaeya was someone special to Diluc, he broke the spell that was casted on him.

Tears rolled down Diluc's cheeks, not knowing what to say to his dying brother.

"I enjoyed every moment we had... including the beer... also, help me to thank Venti for being a great buddy to me ok? Brother"

Kaeya's last breath was taken.