The Desert of Sumeru

Part 2

After moments of darkness, loud buzzing in his ears, his body seemingly disappearing, he finally makes sense of an image: a chess board, then, slowly distinguishing the pieces, the queen right in front of his eyes. He lifts his head up and, surprisingly, everything is familiar. As his surroundings start unraveling, Diluc recognizes the place he grew up in: his father's mansion. Next to him is the fireplace, close by a couch; a silhouette reading the newspaper. The walls are filled with paintings, all which he knows, same with certain art pieces. Now he is captivated by the silhouette, trying to figure out who it could be; for now it's just a shadow.

Loud buzzing turns to white noise, white noise turns to silence.

Then, an unmistakable voice: "Your move?" Diluc's gaze focuses on the figure in front of him, on the other side of the table.

He feels his eyes widen in surprise; in front of him: a child, looking to be around twelve years old. Star-shaped pupil, azure hair, tanned skin and a distinctive eyepatch covering his right eye. Diluc stares; the other frowns in confusion. "Kaeya?"

"Yeah? Something the matter?"

The redhead feels as though he's stuck for a moment. Why are his surroundings acting as if this is all normal? All turns to panic:

"I wasn't- I'm not supposed to be here! Why are you-" he stops, shocked to hear his own voice, a higher pitch than normal. "How old are you? How old am I? We are in Mondstadt, right?" A sense of dread hits him: he shouldn't be here... this shouldn't feel so realistic. It's not like a dream, he can vividly feel the matter around him, clearly hear the sounds around him distinctively, he will remember this for sure; just like real life.

"Well... We're both twelve, since my birthday was last week... and as far as I know this is Monds-"

Diluc stands up in shock, the chair he was sat on falling to the ground. With his heart skipping a beat at the sight, there are no words he can muster. There is no doubt in his mind though: the figure on the couch is his father, drinking a glass of wine while reading the newspaper. At the sound of the object hitting the floor, the figure lifts it's head up.

'No, for sure it's him.'

How can one react in a rational way at such an occurrence? For one had gone through such grave pain... he bursts into tears, everything is all too familiar, especially this one embrace being received. "Hey, hey, hey, you! A game of chess getting to you? What's wrong, son? " concerned eyes ask.

The smell of tobacco, wine and cologne: a mix oh so known to Diluc. 'It's him!'

"You're...y-you're alive?" he blurts out between tears.

"Hm?" Now, they're face to face. Then the man's eyes move to the other boy. "Did he fall asleep just now? Maybe a bad dream?"

Kaeya shrugs: "It seems so... though we were just in the middle of a match where I was gonna beat his-"

"A b-bad dream!? Just...a dream?" As much as he wants to, he can't believe it: so many years compressed into just one nap. But as real as they felt, this feels just as real, maybe even more so. It's home and he wants to accept it, can't help falling into comfort in his father's arms, feeling him caress his head, just as he used to do...just as he is doing.

"Come now, you should go to sleep. It's getting late and tomorrow won't be an easy day. Should take a while to get to Fontaine."

Right, one of their many trips.

"Aww! But we didn't even finish our game! Luc, at least lose with honor!"

It makes him smile to hear his brother's whining. Crepus doesn't say anything, but instead glares at Kaeya. As response there is a sigh, sound of a chair moving and the feeling of being grabbed by the arm, dragged towards the hallways. With a gentle tone, their father wishes them good night as they are leaving, but he can't bring himself to reply.

"My room or your room?"

"...what?"

"Where do you want to sleep tonight?"

Back then, they would share a bed almost every night, mostly in Kaeya's room, cause of his night terrors. Afterall, they slept best together. Being a light sleeper always helped Diluc be there to comfort his brother, help him feel safe. The other loved the warmth of the redheads's body.

Kaeya takes the silence as to make the choice himself: "My room it is..."

Laying down on the left side of the bed, he watches the other get ready for sleep: brushing his hair quickly, removing his eyepatch, brushing his teeth and lastly, washing his face. Seeing both of his eyes was always such a marvel to Diluc, but now his gaze was filled with guilt. He will end up hurting him.

"Listen, you want to talk about it? You aren't been quite yourself. Something the matter?" now they are next to one another. "Or maybe..leave it for the morning?"

"I...think that would be the best option."

"Alright... hmm... let me just" he unfolds the quilt "cover us both." Diluc lets himself be pulled closer, he remembers how they used to sleep forehead to forehead. They would almost never wake up in the same position; their beds were big so they had tons of room toss. "There. Good night! Don't let the bedbugs bite!"

It does take him some time to reply, but then quietly: "...good night, Kaeya." His brother is already fast asleep. Back then, they would spend almost all day outside doing Archons know what, but if they didn't nap after lunch, at night they would be absolutely exhausted, fortunately for Crepus - he would finally get some peace.

Rightfully so, he doesn't dare close his eyes, maybe this would all end. Kaeya's soft hair lightly touching his forehead brings him great comfort as he is trying to calm the chaos stirring inside him. To say the least, seeing the two people most dear to him alive and well, younger too, all the while knowing one dead and the other dead to him, deeply disturbs him. He wants to stay, not let it end, never close his eyes and sleep again, but at the same time he does not belong, not with all that he did and knows. But his eyes do get heavy, it can't be helped.

Suspecting what's to come he whispers:

"I'm sorry. I love you too.."

It all starts to break.