Bleeding Purple | Kaeya & Diluc

Jean Finally Gets Dragged Into This

Tw for blood and illness

When Kaeya woke up, it was not because it was morning, or because somebody woke him up.

In fact, it was because he couldn't breathe.
He began to cough, failing every time he tried to take even a short breath. He could feel blood fill his mouth and he forced himself up, he was not going to let himself die like this. Not now, not when he had just got his brother back. He twisted his body, ignoring how the movement caused a sharp pain in his chest, and put his hands on the nightstand. Forcing himself to stand despite the pain he was in, he looked up quickly towards Diluc, still sleeping on the armchair. The movement made his head spin, the room blurring. He fell to the ground as he tried to take a step forward, and reached a hand out, desperately trying to do something, anything. He couldn't stop coughing, all he could taste was blood. He made one last effort to call out to Diluc, coming out raspy and too weak for him to hear, before he gave up. He was too weak to fight. He should've known this would never end well by now. It was just now he noticed he was shivering, everything felt freezing.

Was this what dying felt like? He wondered briefly, before his thoughts faded to nothing, too focused on the agonizing and utter pain he was in.

Well, shit.

Diluc blinked his eyes open, the sudden noise waking him up. He was confused, what in Teyvat was he doing in Kaeya's old room...?

Then, it came back to him, and he realized what the noises were. He immediately lifted his head to look at the bed, panic spiking when he realized Kaeya wasn't there. He stood immediately, ignoring how it made his head hurt moving so suddenly, looking around the room frantically before spotting him on the ground not even a couple feet away.

Gods, he sounded like he was choking.

...

Holy fuck.

"Kaeya, fuck, what are you doing?!" Diluc moved to his side, immediately dropping to his knees next to his brother. Kaeya attempted to respond, instead breaking out into another harsh coughing fit, blood sprayed on the polished wooden floors.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck—" He grabbed Kaeya's shoulders, lifting him upright to rest on his chest, holding him close. He was struggling to breath, his breaths long but shallow, nearly coming out in wheezes, and he was cold. No, borderline freezing. Even despite having a rather high body temperature, Diluc knew this was certainly not normal. He clenched his teeth and picked Kaeya up, gently setting him back on the bed before hurrying to get the thermometer out of his old bathroom, flicking the light on. Adelinde was certainly right when she said it was dusty, he felt a shiver go down his spine at the many spiderwebs and the thick coat of dust blanketing the room. He opened the cabinet drawer and rummaged around for a minute before finding what he was looking for, quickly turning and speed-walking back into the room.

With the light leaking in from the bathroom, the scene looked much worse.

There was a trail of blood on the floor, splattered heavily in the areas he had been coughing in, and when he turned to Kaeya himself it was clear he had reopened the wound in his chest. Blood was beginning to soak the previously white shirt he was wearing, and even with the dim lighting, Diluc could tell he was far too pale for comfort.

And his vision, still set carefully on the nightstand beside him, was flickering between blue and grey, yet glowing brightly as if in use. He rushed over, taking his gloves off and putting a hand on Kaeya's forehead. Upon doing so, there was absolutely no doubt left that he had hypothermia. If Diluc looked closely, he could even swear he saw frost forming on his eyelashes.

How in the name of Barbatos was this happening?! Kaeya should have been fine right now, he was in stable condition the past few days—and now even his vision, the very thing that was created to protect him, seemed to be turning against him!